WELCOME TO THE REAL PROPERTY LAW SECTION
COMMUNITIES
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. On what date will I no longer be able to post a message on a RPLS Listserve?
As of Friday, April 24, 2015, the Listserves will no longer be available but after logging in just once to the general RPLS Community you will be able to receive and post via email just as you did on the Listserves. It is a one-time setup process and will take less than 5 minutes.
2. How do I log in for the first time?
- Go to http://communities.nysba.org. In the top right corner, you will see a button that says Sign In (have your NYSBA username and password ready). The Community link is also accessible at the top of www.nysba.org.
- Once signed in, you will see a drop down menu in the top right corner. Click Profile and go to My Account. Under My Account, choose Email Preferences. Scroll to Community Emails and hit Configure Your Subscriptions.
- Here, you can choose your email settings of Real Time, Daily Digest, Plain Text or No Email (further explained in Question 5).
3. How do I set up a separate Inbox in Outlook or other standard email formats?
In Outlook, right-click on your Inbox and hit New Folder. You can create a rule that automatically moves all Community emails to this new folder.
4. Will I need to set up a signature block or enter my name and other information each time I post a message?
No, your contact information as it appears on your NYSBA privacy setting will automatically appear. You may also modify this information or pull in a LinkedIn profile. In order to modify your contact information or supply your LinkedIn profile, please see the longer announcement which appears on the RPLS portion of the NYSBA website.
5. What are my choices for how I receive or view messages?
- Real Time: you will receive messages live as you would from the Listserve.
- Daily Digest: one clean email mailed with a list of the discussion threads from each day; it is mailed after 12:00 a.m.
- Plain Text: if you prefer the original Listserve text.
- No email: if you use the App, you can receive notifications in place of email.
6. Can I also access the Community from my smart phone?
Yes, simply go to the App or Google Play Store, search for NYSBA Communities, load the App and then search for the RPLS Communities and select your Community. (Entries will appear on your phone in order of posting rather than as a thread.) The App is highly recommended as the set up is quick and you can access your messages wherever you go.
7. Is there an email address for the Community?
Yes, it is [email protected]. You can respond to any discussion thread directly from your email, either to the section or directly to the sender.
You can also use these emails to post to the Community:
Real Property Law Section: [email protected]
Real Property Law Section Committee on Condominiums and Coops: [email protected]
Real Property Law Section Committee on Construction: [email protected]
Dear Real Property Law Section
Members:
We
are happy to introduce you to the NYSBA’s online professional communities and
the upcoming launch of three new RPLS Communities tailored to our membership. These Communities will be a resource for our
members to facilitate enhanced communications and networking between members.
The RPLS will be able to capture communications between members and build a
repository of real property law topics.
This
announcement provides a general introduction to the NYSBA communities, provides
basic instructions for their use and information as to how you establish or
enhance your profile. It also includes an
explanation for developing Communities dedicated to the RPLS membership and the transfer from the
current Listserves to the RPLS Communities.
On
January 5, 2015, we began a soft launch to allow some of our members to test
the waters and communicate via the RPLS Communities. This both gave us an opportunity to incorporate
suggestions to engineer a smooth launch and allowed us to establish content in
the form of initial discussions submitted by these members.
After seeing
that a number of the prior Listserve accounts had no activity within the past
year and some had very few messages posted, a decision was made to proceed with
three Communities formed from the membership of the most active Listserves. Beginning on April 6, 2015, you will no
longer be able to post new messages on eight (8) of the eleven (11) existing Listserves
however an archive of the prior posts will remain available for several
months.
Launching the RPLS Communities
Effective April 6, 2015, the hard launch will take
place and three new RPLS Communities will be activated:
- 1)The
Real-Property Forum Community; and
- 2)The
Real-Condos Community; and
- 3)The
Real-Executive Community.
The prior members of the like-named
Listserves will have their memberships transferred over to the new
Communities. All current RPLS members will
become members of the Real-Property Forum Community. The current members of the Committee on
Condominiums and Cooperatives will become members of the Real-Condos
Community. New members will be able to
select their preferences upon joining.
And the membership of the Real-Executive Community will be limited to
members of the Executive Committee. As
of April 24, 2015, no further postings may be made on the above-noted Listserves.
General Community Information
Community messages
will have a different appearance and you may need to adjust your email
filtering rules to allow the Community addresses into your In boxes. Specific instructions for Outlook and Gmail
users will be provided on the RPLS portion of the NYSBA website as we move
forward.
In
addition to offering an online discussion feature, the new Communities provide
a new tool called the Resource Library.
This is an unlimited repository of information. Any member may add information to the
Resource Library and any member may access information in the Resource
Library. We envision this could be used
to share a case, a form or newly issued memoranda. You will be able to post an item in the
Resource Library simply by attaching a file to a discussion post just like you
attach a document to an email message. The
Resource Library can accept all types of files (PDFs, documents, spreadsheets,
presentations, audio files, videos and links).
The
Communities also offer an online searchable directory. Each user has a profile based on information
provided to the NYSBA upon becoming a
member. In addition, members will be
able to adjust this information as you wish.
Users can also update their profiles with additional information or add
a photo. Our members will be able to
import their LinkedIn profiles by clicking one button.
Community member
profiles make up the member directory for a given Community and provide members
of a common Community group with the opportunity to contact one another outside
of formal discussion threads. Click here to view a short video outlining
the basic aspects of Communities.
The
NYSBA has focused on your internet privacy concerns in designing the
Communities. NYSBA’s Communities allow
users to control their personal privacy settings at all times and on every
portion of their profiles. No commercial
search engines are allowed to index information from NYSBA Communities and
internal search results are only available to those logged in as members of
that specific Community.
As
mentioned above, current members of three RPLS Listserves will be automatically
subscribed to the like new Community using existing subscription
preferences.
Communities
offer several options for access on your computer or with an App:
- Real
Time: Members with Real Time
subscription settings will receive messages from their group as they are
posted. These are formatted HTML
messages. Real Time subscribers may interact with
their Community entirely through email.
Real Time subscribers can reply to the discussion through their email or
they may reply to either the sender or the discussion using the embedded links
on the right side of every message.
These right-hand links also make it easy to load content onto the
Resource Library. Log in instructions
are available below.
- Daily
Digest: Members who choose to subscribe to the Daily Digest format will
receive one email per day from their Community after messages on a certain
topic have been posted. The Daily Digest
compiles numerous messages into a string by topic and users can respond to various
threads using the embedded links in the Digest. You can click on a specific thread or scroll
to the bottom of your Daily Digest email for specific messages. At the top of each message are two
options: Reply All Online (log-in
required) or Reply All Email (operates like the current Listserves).
- Legacy: Subscribers
who prefer a plain text display (the classic Listserve format with mime code)
may select the Legacy format. Legacy
subscribers will receive messages as they are posted and may participate
through email only.
- Mobile
App: A Communities mobile app is available to NYSBA members from the App
Store or the Google Play Store but not via a Blackberry. Using the App is fast and easy. Search NYSBA in either store and download the
app. Then, search under RPLS. You do not need to create a separate email
account or log in. Community entries will come in one at a time but they can be
searched by member name, by date or by a subject or term which was part of the
entry.
Instructions to get
started with NYSBA Communities online:
- 1.Go to www.nysba.org
and click LOGIN on the top banner. Login
with your NYSBA username and password.
If you want to have the system remember your username and password,
check the box below the LOGIN. (If you
require assistance you may call the NYSBA Service Center at 800-582-2452.)
- 2.Once you have logged in, click Communities on
the upper right or go directly to http://communities.nysba.org.
- 3.On your first visit to the Communities portion
of the website, you will be asked to accept the Terms and Conditions. Review the document and click on “I agree.”
at the bottom to continue.
- 4.Next click on your Profile in the upper right
corner. Initially you will have a basic
profile from the membership database which can be edited as you wish. This is the information that will be posted
when you make an entry. You can also add a photo, enter additional information
or load an existing LinkedIn profile. Here
you can also manage your privacy settings from the “Privacy” tab on your
Profile.
- 5.After you finish editing your profile, you can begin
entering and using the RPLS Communities.
In order to view the RPLS Communities to which you are automatically a
member, click the Communities link on your profile (upper right corner of every
page) or click on the Groups tab on the navigation bar and choose MyGroups from
the dropdown menu.
- 6.Users can change their subscription settings to
match their needs. You can manage your
subscriptions from the MyProfile navigation link and the MyAccount sub-menu (Email Preferences). You may change your email signature under My Account and the Discussion Signature. Current members of the RPLS
will not need to select a subscription type as you will automatically be
subscribed to your existing preferences.
New members of the RPLS or those who have not previously used one of the
three prior Listserves whose members will be transferred to one of the new Communities
will need to set up subscription preferences when entering their first
discussion post.
- 7.Members who require additional assistance may
email [email protected] or [email protected] with your questions or
requests for assistance.
We look forward to joining you in the Communities!
Regards,
Susan
Scharbach
Michael
Stevens
Andrew
Posil
