August Platform Updates: A Year in the Making
In early August, we released a large overhaul of the Communal platform. These changes resulted in a high level of platform instability and increased the frequency of bugs and issues with the platform. In this post, we wanted to take a brief moment to highlight why these changes were made and why they were necessary.
Why This Was Necessary
The original version of Communal was created about six years ago, and since then, the tools and systems we use have evolved tremendously. Over time, as we focused on adding new features and supporting our users, certain underlying parts of the platform became outdated and harder to maintain or improve. It’s a bit like living in an old house: you patch up what you can while deferring bigger repairs until you have time to tackle them. Eventually, we recognized that to keep making Communal better and more sustainable, we needed to dedicate time to updating our “foundation” so the platform would be stronger, more reliable, and easier to enhance going forward.
A key part of this overhaul was addressing security. As software ages, vulnerabilities can emerge, not because anyone did something wrong, but because threats and best practices change over time. By modernizing Communal’s core systems, we were able to patch potential security issues and implement stronger safeguards, helping to better protect your data and the integrity of your organization.
Over the past year, we’ve invested a huge amount of effort into these foundational upgrades, all while continuing to release new features and updates. It certainly wasn’t easy, but we’re very proud of how far the platform has come.
With these changes, Communal will be much more dependable, secure, and adaptable for future improvements. We’ve also added new systems behind the scenes, so we can bring you helpful features and enhancements faster than ever before.
What's Next?
Moving forward, we don’t just want the platform itself to get better; we also want to improve how we deliver updates and communicate what’s coming. We recognize that keeping our community informed about new features, bug fixes, and upcoming changes is just as important as the technical work happening behind the scenes.
To that end, we’re committed to making product updates more consistent and transparent. We’ll be sharing more frequent release notes and clearer explanations whenever significant changes are on the horizon. Our goal is to ensure that you always know what’s new, what’s improved, and what’s coming soon, so you can make the most of Communal for your organization.
Communal has evolved greatly since we first created it, now operating in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia, serving thousands of people daily. We look forward to continuing to build the best platform we can to ensure your organization can continue to thrive.