Well, they had a better idea of what Arius was saying. He did not invent the ideas he was promoting. He was a popular preacher who had come from the Levant and was in conflict with his own bishop, the Patriarch of Alexandria. He was trained as a sophist and dealt more in slogans and shibboleths than in deep theology. He even spread the word by popular hymns.
Why your post to me about Arianism? I am as opposed to them as you are...if not more so. Though I don’t agree with the three divine people yet one God theory, I side with Trinitarians against Arians who deny the deity of Christ, and every other system of belief that does so. Nobody on earth has a higher view of Christ than Oneness Pentecostals, nobody has a stronger belief of the deity of Christ than they.