Sadly, I think it's not so much elitism as rampant trolling or "I am going to find you" type stuff.
IMHO as a trading forum everyone should have had to register the same way/keep the same credentials on tap.
AVS does have some elitists, many from there I met in real life. Quite a few think nothing of dropping $10k in a weekend on some upgrade maybe 1 in 1000 would notice in their already epic systems.
My Klipsch Quartet/Academy setup (with a Yamaha receiver and PSB surrounds originally) came from an AVS member. He had that in his 'least used' guest room and was updating them all. He pushed all his stuff down. In his 'most used' guest room he was spending over $10k (this was in 1995, I didn't realize later he was a member) on just the turntable. I don't know the rest of the details, he is secretive. Even the shop owner wouldn't share what he buys. All I know is he much younger than me and at that time I was 26 and I think he may have been 18-21. He arrived via a driver and had an addition cargo vehicle to take his toys home. Sadly, the guy that owned that shop died way to young from a crippling disease. Literally, within 5 years he went from his prime to a guy wheelchair bound and losing function. We ran into each other (me with a g/f not the wife I bought from him with, but his pretty wife was still by his side), he told me the details and how he probably won't be around longer. It was sad.