Well, first of all the only way to see the AvA at all is to come see for yourself. The rules that are broken are the same as in any other arena, with the exception of the NO PORK RULE. None of that is the CM's fault, until you discuss with them why the arena has to be reset manually, unlike the Main Arenas, it is hard to blame anyone for doing all they can to prevent it.
I suggested that the Arena Message include specific rules for new events, and pretty much I believe they are.
Squadrons don't need to make the AvA their home. A few squadrons had specific nights that they flew there. A lot of these squads also used the arena to practice for FSO and other upcoming events (not a bad idea at all). Even I don't push certain setups and always look to balance the one sided affairs, by changing sides.
To agree with you on a point, I recently saw a squad new to the arena, doing some practice and joined in for some of the fun. I heard some discourse from the newer players about the planesets. This is because they were forced to use planes that hardly anyone would think of flying without ENY being 30, having to compete with Me262s, Bf109 K4s, La7s, F4Us, etc. Not because the planes were crap, but because were not used to their strengths and tweaks (convergence, flaps, etc.) Actually, that particular setup was the most evenly match that I can recall in some time.
Then, the next day I read in a thread somewhere how horrible that squadron was (unlikely).
I found most of them to be very professional. They warned me from the start that they were practicing as a squad and I would most likely be attacked by groups and not 1v1s. When the numbers are large, that IS what you should expect.