I've been a member of Circle's own community since 2021. This is the community they run to support people who use their product. I participate in conversations the odd time and help others when I can. Circle itself is a good product. Clean interface. Intuitive design. Does what it promises. That's why I've stuck around.

But here's the thing: good products can be ruined by poor customer service. And that's what's happening at Circle right now.

For weeks, I tried to get an answer to a basic question through Circle's support channels. Nothing complicated. Just a straightforward support request. What did I get? Silence. The occasional "we got your message" reply. That's it.

No one told me there were support issues. No banner on the site. No email explaining delays. Nothing. I figured their tech team was just fixing something. Reasonable assumption, right?

Yesterday Sid Yadav (Circle's CEO) finally acknowledged the problem. Support response times have been "far from ideal" due to "unprecedented growth." He outlined some fixes:

Fine. But why did existing tickets sit for weeks? Why wasn't this communicated earlier? Simple courtesy would have gone a long way here.

I posted a question in the community about the support situation. It was basically asking was there something wrong with the support software Circle was using as I heard nothing for weeks.   Maybe there was a technical glitch they weren't aware of as my issue went on for ‘weeks’ and not days?

What happened next was telling. My post was immediately put under review when the US team came online. Effectively muted.

Hours later, I got a private message from Whitney Lauritsen saying they were "archiving" my post because "we leave the community spaces for community-building questions and topics."

So a post about support issues in a community platform isn't a "community-building topic"? That makes no sense.

When I questioned this approach, I was told all my comments now needed review before appearing. The representative would "speak with a colleague" about my "comment visibility" when they returned "this week."

No urgency. No ownership of the problem. Just bureaucracy.

A platform built to help people create communities is actively silencing a community member who's been there since 2021. And for what? For asking about poor support. For congratulating another member.

It's absurd.

What real community management looks like

This isn't complicated:

Circle is still a good product with a solid interface. But great software with poor support and community management isn't sustainable.

For those thinking about using Circle or joining their community, consider this alongside its strengths. A community platform should practice what it preaches.

I hope Circle sorts this out and aligns their support practices with the quality of their product. Simple, straightforward communication would be a good start.

Time to do better.