Thursday, October 9, 2014

Who is Uncle Dave Mainwaring

 David L. Mainwaring  {aka Uncle Dave}

The Cluetrain manifesto is that "markets are conversations".
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Brief bio.

Graduated North Quincy High School, Quincy Ma, 1955.
Hold Associate Degree from Wentworth Institute, Boston, 1957
BS University of Mass, Amherst.1968 (Industrial Psychology major)

Served in the Coast Guard as Petty Officer{Port Security Boston, USCGC Evergreen WAGL295}. 



Worked as an electrical designer at the Fore River Ship Yard. Paid my way through college by teaching myself radio broadcasting electronics, becoming a licensed radio broadcasting engineer (First Class FCC lic.) then working as a chief engineer at local radio stations.

After college I was working in purchasing at the old Radio Shack Industrial-Division. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing , 3M, recruited me. I spent many years selling 3M electro products. After 3M I chased greener pastures including Elastimold Division Amerace Corp, industry sales specialist and Anderson Power Products div High Voltage Engineering sales manager.

I have done extensive professional level and craftsman upskilling training along with consultative selling. As a industry specialist, sales manager, and marketing manager. I traveled the East Coast from the Mississippi River east (Toronto CN to Florida). 


I've done many diverse jobs from being an electrician, to a radio station engineer, to launching, developing and managing on-line e-mail discussion forums:)

My teenage years were spent racing sailboats around Massachusetts Bay (Boston, Quincy, Wollaston).

I enjoy building ship and boat models, photography, developing discussion forums and learning new technologies.

Chuck Gehman and I launched PrintPlanet.com

In 1995 I was developing a Majordomo online email discussion forum for plant engineers when I needed to find out what the printers meant when they dropped the phrase "Computer To Plate". That little plant engineer forum had showed how helpful people would be when someone in the community asked for information. So I launched a Majordomo e-list forum named the "computer-to-plate-pressroom" and encouraged conversations with commercial content. CTPP caught the attention of printers, vendors, and the trade press. Membership grew and value became apparent.

Digital Art Exchange, DAX(Boston), bought the CTPP forum from me in 1996. In 1997 they hired me to build a family of discussion forums on a new site PrintPlanet.com.

Chuck Gehman and I worked together to develop PrintPlanet.

In 2001 Printable Technologies (San Diego) bought the PrintPlanet assets. I continued as "Managing Director, PrintPlanet" at Printable.

In February of 2007 Printable sold the assets to a company in Kentucky. At that juncture there were 17 discussion forums with a gross membership of over 55,000 active subscribers.

When I left the new owners at the end of August 2007, Steve Musselman Senior Manager, Corporate Accounts Agfa Graphics, wrote to the Computer to Plate Pressroom community: "I've been fortunate to work closely with "Uncle Dave" for ten years now. It would only be fitting to acknowledge the true community Dave built, which extended beyond these virtual walls. Dave not only seized the opportunity to harness the power of the electronic community, he helped write in practice the true "Cluetrain Manifesto".


Now in 2014 I am retired and have a full time job as caregiver to my wife who has Alzheimer's. I am in contact with hundreds of folks from PrintPlanet days on LinkedIn and other social networks.