Quick APC History lesson

From the APC forum inception in 2005, we were committed to offering a FREE venue for pilots. The two founders paid out-of-pocket for the platform for several years and avoided any type of advertising.

Running ads on the forum was a tough decision, although with the explosive growth of APC in 2005-2006 it became apparent that we couldn't keep up with bandwidth costs by writing personal checks.

In 2007 the forum achieved corporate sponsorship when APC was acquired by Internet Brands. The resources that IB brought were far beyond what John and I could provide on our own to the community, and frankly, the relationship has made APC a much much better online forum.

One change implemented in 2007 was the placement of ads on the forum. This allowed a return for IB while allowing the forum to remain a free resource to pilots. Occasionally we'll see an ad that doesn't seem to fit the content, however IB is extremely responsive to this community when an inappropriate ad is displayed on the forum.

In short, advertising allows this forum to remain a free resource. Our realationship with Internet Brands is fantastic - they get an ROI and we maintain creative input and operation of the forum. This forum is financially backed by Internet Brands, but is still run for pilots - by pilots.

It's a win win.