Those of you of a really geeky persuasion will probably know that AeroTechExchange runs on a platform called StackExchange. The really really geeky amongst you will also know that StackExchange is currently undergoing a radical overhaul.

For full information about this please read the following statement by StackExchange founder Joel Spolsky:

http://blog.stackexchange.com/post/518474918/stack-exchange-2-0

What does this mean to AeroTechExchange?
Basically we have 3 months to prove our worthiness to the StackExchange platform or else we will be shut down.  It’s time to come clean I think.  AeroTechExchange is operated and moderated by Wayne Enis and Paul Saunders of Conduce Consulting.  We started the site up just as a means to dabble with the StackExchange platform which was in beta release and free at the time.  We had no intention of making any money from the site, but we did intend to network with industry experts and hopefully showcase our own areas of expertise.  Having said that, our overheads are pretty low.  The site is current hosted free of charge by StackExchange, so the only costs at the moment are our own time and the cost of renewing the domain name.  The pin money that we make from Google Adwords help pay for that.  As the future of the StackExchange platform was uncertain we held off pushing the site and putting in any effort other than we normally would to normal blogging, forum discussions or tweeting activity.  Due to that uncertainty we kept the site anonymous.  We did assume that users of the site would twig that it was us behind it, but when we talked to one or two site users this actually wasn’t the case.

The forced closure of the AeroTechExchange on the current platform has sparked us into action and has been the catalyst for one or two decisions.

AeroTechExchange is going to survive!!
We have decided to come clean and treat the site as a by-product of Conduce Consulting’s operational activity the same as we do with our blogs and tweets.  We will be moving to a new platform at some point in the next month or two once it is tried and tested and we are going to promote the site.... not as a money making exercise (we still don’t think there is any to be made), but as a forum for a community of experts to share ideas and opinions about Aerospace Technology.


We are likely to be moving to an Open Source alternative to StackExchange that we host ourselves, so all content, links, accounts and so on will be ported across.  There should be no noticeable disruption of service (apart from when we port over the DNS).  We are going to do some work on branding and marketing the site and there might ultimately be a couple of unobtrusive adverts just to cover our costs.  However access to the site is free today and will be free forever.

We want AeroTechExchange to be the go-to place to get your aerospace technology questions answered. We hope you continue to use AeroTechExchange.  If you have any questions about this subject please post them here:

Many thanks for your support – Wayne & Paul