hello everyone, i want to speak on behalf of A_V, before you downvote please just read what i have to say. Take in account im a member of both of these vaping subs and im not a moderator of A_V just a member.
Authentic_vaping is not a group of elitist jerks (well not fully) while of course there are some people like that, you'll find people like that in every market. The sub was created for those who have an appreciation of the modders who quit their day jobs to sit down and design quality products for the consumer to use, without such innovators we would all still be using cigalikes and egos.
we have a ton of people in the sub that are using isticks, sigelis, IPV and many other products that dont cost tons of money, but they're not buying the products that have been blatantly copied and ripped of the people who spent the time to design the product.
rule #1 states that if you have any clones laying around (which if you support the ideals you'll have slim to none) to either sell them or otherwise get rid of them within a week of joining. Now no one is gonna come knocking on your door, if you don't get rid of them that's your choice, but once youre a member of the community, and you list a clone on the classies or try to buy clones, people tend to think that A_V are being hypocrites with what they stand for, supporting original modders and esigners. so thus those people are banned, the mods never tell anyone who was banned or out anyone.
sure you will find mods worth hundreds of dollars there, again, what people do with their money is their buisness, A_V is honestly filled with a bunch of stand up guys, sure theres some trolls but we all like to have fun, we all support the same cause.
if you want to buy clones and you like them, do it. just don't ask to be in the sub where that's againsts that subs rules
and if you think we are super exclusive and you're waiting to get in, its because theres like 5 mods and it takes a bit for them to sort through all the requests, if you don't buy clones, be patient, you will get in!~
also, about the raffles, there are a lot of mod raffles that members donate to the community to give everyone a shot at some nice gear, when the raffle gets filled (if it gets filled) a google hangouts chat is created, with a minimum of 5 people a randomizer is run with everyone on list for the raffle and the number of spots they have. on the 3rd randomization, the first person on the list gets it, this video is recorded and posted. there's no cheating, nothing sketchy involved, of course if you don't want to enter, again, just don't.
well i have said my piece, i hope you hung in there to read it, please don't think this sub is evil, the sub has it's beliefs, if you want to be in and stay in, you should also have those beliefs, otherwise you just don't have to join, thanks for you time!