Of course, Cable Forum was a name born out from the old official ‘ntl’ community, ‘nthellworld.com’, Virgin Media, (ntl as it was known back then) announced in June 2003 that it was to wind down its ntl based forums in favour of their new project which later, never actually ever took off, ‘community.ntl.com’.

Administrators fearing the political and corporate sanitation of the ‘nthellworld.com’ site and predicted eventual closure, decided to create a ‘backup’ ‘ntl’ community, the general feeling at the time was that thousands and thousands of ntl customers and members would have been left high and dry, and the community spirit, that was ‘nthellworld’ would have become lost. But we couldn’t allow that to happen. No way.

So in June 2003 ‘nthellworld’ had risen from the ashes in the form of nthellworld.co.uk, the ‘nthellworld.com’ domain is still to this day, owned by Virgin Media and forwards to their Virginmedia.com website.

In March 2004, it was decided that we needed to shift the emphasis of the site, by changing the sites overall ethos and name, thus, Cable Forum was born. By changing its image and removing the negative vibes which a ‘hell’ site can create, we were able to start afresh with new ideas and goals and we were able to attach ourselves to not one, but two of the largest cable companies, which at the time was ntl and Telewest. Of course, rumours were doing the rounds that ntl and Telewest, were going to merge, thus we needed to create a place for Telewest customers to come and visit, this was cableforum.co.uk.

Initially, there was some resistance with our changes and some members believed the changes would no longer put pressure on the cable companies to sit up and take notice of us. Of course, our sole aim was to ensure that we remained at the fore front of ‘ntl’s’ attention and our aims, with a little patience, finally paid off. In March 2005, then, Chief executive officer of ntl, Simon Duffy, invited Cable Forum to discuss overall customer service problems and ways in which ourselves, could work in co-operation, whilst at the same time, remaining totally independent, with ntl.

Official pathways were formed, and are today still in place, this means that any problems that customers encounter with their cable service and they had not received total satisfaction with customer services, we can, on the customers behalf, forward their issues to senior places within the business.

Update: Commenting on the milestone – Neil Berkett, chief operating officer at Virgin Media, said today:

“Congratulations to Cable Forum for achieving one million posts on the site. It is important that sites, such as Cable Forum, continue to offer an open forum for consumers to discuss and debate products and services, developments and news and views from around the industry and we wish the site continued success in the future.”

So what exactly makes Cable Forum tick? I couldn’t possibly answer this one on my own, but with a little help (which is what our forum is all about) from some members of the community, I have approached a select few of our members.

‘homealone’ has certainly been around since the early days, he says:

“It seems like an awful long time ago that I came across a website called ‘nthellworld.com’. As a newcomer to the world of the internet I was not used to the concept of ‘forums’, and as I had recently chosen to use what was then ‘NTL’ for internet, TV & ‘phone, I was intrigued by the lively debate going on about peoples different perception of the services from this company.

One thing that stood out for me, right from the start, was the community spirit which permeated the site & the mix of practical advice & humour.

I’ll not dwell on the eventual history of that site, suffice to say that I was pleased to transfer my membership to the shiny new ‘nthellworld.co.uk’ site, when it was set up by most of the admin team in June 2003.

It is probably fair to say that the site, then, did not reflect a favourable view of NTL, but the same sense of community prevailed – some members even forming real relationships with people they had met through the forum.

Over time, however, due to the efforts of the site admin team & co-operation from the company which eventually became Virgin Media, a more (in my opinion) professional attitude prevailed.
Subsequently the site has continued to evolve into being a source of help and advice, with high level contacts developed with senior members of the Virgin Media management. This was reflected
by the change in the sites name to ‘Cable Forum’.

But overall, and the main thing that has kept me coming back to browse the forums, is the sense of being part of a community. It wouldn’t be fair to single out people by name, but there are members of this forum who consistently go out of their way to help each other, both practically or just by offering sympathy & support.

I am proud to be a member of Cable Forum & sincerely thank all who contribute, the admin team, the Virgin Media staff & the other members.”

Another member, Zinglebarb, has been around long enough to know just what ‘help’ really means on Cable Forum. He says:

“Joined the forum February 2005 in line with NTL’s update to 3 meg speeds. I suffered from impatience in this instance and had an inauspicious start. After requesting a second chance I made every effort to make up for my poor beginning and gave as much support as I could in areas of I.T.

I have learned a lot from the forum on a lot of different subjects and am proud to pass on my knowledge as best I can helping those who need the support.

I joined the NTHW gaming clan and got to know a good group of guys who frequent the forum. I am just a small cog in a big wheel of people who freely and willingly give their time from Admin and
Moderator to the occasional poster and respect each and everyone involved for the efforts involved. Everyone who needs help and support in all aspects of I.T can expect quick and thorough
advice and now with the liaison between VM and our site the support offered is in second to none.

The net would be a lesser place in my opinion if it was ever to lose Cable Forum.”

Who says the forum is just for discussing Virgin Media issues? Incognitas certainly doesn’t think it does, she says:-

“I’ve been a member of Cable Forum from the start because I enjoyed the help I occasionally get mostly from the basement area of the site.Very good help it has been too I may add, with considerable patience from most members for someone whose technological expertise can be found on the proverbial postage stamp.I’ve stayed mainly because I’ve found lots of like minded people to debate with me,chat with me and to commiserate with when life gets just a little too serious. .Mainly though I’ve found many people to laugh with me as well as at me…It’s a puntastic place to hang out at.”

On a final note, the Team would just like to say ‘Thanks a ‘million’ to absolutely everyone for their continued support shown throughout the years, this is a massive achievement and I hope its realised that Cable Forum, now has a truly larger community status and in the final words of ‘homealone’s’ statement:

“Long may it continue, and here is to the next million posts.”

2,000,000 posts – here we come!!!