Frequently Asked Questions

Community Management: Frequently Asked Questions
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Frequently Asked Questions

Why would our community/association/subdivision want a web site?
The TOPS Software,LLC Community Web Site service was developed in order to help promote and improve communications in residential communities. Having a community web site allows residents to gather and share information amongst themselves and also with boardmembers, committee members, property managers and others in a quick and easy manner. In today's fast-paced society, there is often not enough time to perform the day-to-day activities and also keep up with what is going on in the community. With a community web site, residents who miss a meeting or a newsletter don't have to miss out. They can catch up and get involved on their own schedule. Maybe early in the morning, while on lunch break at work, or late in the evening when things have settled down around the house. When it is convenient, they can visit the community web site, catch up on what is going on, offer their feedback and opinion and even converse with their neighbors. The Internet is becoming a powerful force in our society and you can leverage this force to help create a more involved, better informed community.

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Who makes changes and additions to our community web site?
After TOPS Software,LLC has setup your basic web site, one or more people in your community become the "Community Administrators". This person or persons will be assigned a special "administrator" password that will allow them to add and maintain all of the necessary information for your community web site. This includes, but is not limited to, adding and maintaining announcements, surveys and votes, new users in the address book, documents, newsletters, hot links, volunteer needs and much more. See below for more information.

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How hard is it for us to make changes to the web site?
TOPS Software,LLC makes this maintenance VERY easy with "browser-based" administration. This means that the only thing the Community Administrator(s) needs in order to add and change information on your community web site is a web browser. No special software or knowledge of the Internet is required. All changes the Community Administrator makes are immediately available on the web site, no waiting. You can spread this job duty over multiple community volunteers or committees to make it even easier. The process is the same for each feature so, for example, once you learn how to add Announcements, you will know how to add Documents, Hot Links, Surveys, etc. If you get stuck, free E-mail and phone support is always available.

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How much space or storage are we allowed for our web site?
TOPS Software,LLC does not impose strict limits on the amount of storage space allocated to your community web site. We allow a large degree of latitude for communities to use the service as they see fit. Should the storage requirements of your community web site become excessively large we would contact you in order to help you improve the performance and usability of your site by reducing the size of the information stored. Most communities storage requirements are below 20 megabytes, which is well within reasonable limits.

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What if we want our own "domain name" such as www.GlenOaks.com?
If you feel that you need your own domain name for your community web site we have the Pointer and Premium plans. Both of these plans allow you to have your web site hosted under your own unique domain name, for example "www.GlenOaks.com". If you have not already registered your desired domain name we can take care of that for you. The current fee for this is $70 for the first two years and $35 per year after that. The other startup fee on the Pointer and Premium Plans is $150 to have a new web hosting account setup. On just the Premium Plan, you will also receive 10 customized email addresses (such as "board@GlenOaks.com") and you can add additional email addresses at any time in groups of 10 for $20 per month. We offer the Premium Plan for those communities that desire to have their own domain name and eMail addresses such as "board@community-name.com" or "info@community-name.com" or "social@community-name.com". With the Premium Plan you can also setup unlimited Email "aliases" which allow people to email you at a community email address (such as president@community-name.com) and yet you receive the email at your private email account (such as AOL or MSN).

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Will people be able to find our community web site on the Internet using a search engine?
That depends. Some search engines go out "looking" for web sites and may, over time, find your web site and list you in their search results. A much more common way of being listed in the big search engines is to request that they list you. This is often called "Submitting a Site" or "Submitting a URL". TOPS Software,LLC does not submit your web site to any search engines although, if you are interested, we will be happy to provide you with a list of popular search engines that allow you to submit your site for free and also the addresses of some services that will submit your site to hundreds of search engines for a fee. The decision to submit your site to the search engines really depends upon how much you want people on the Internet in general to be able to find your web site when searching for communities in your area.

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What does TOPS Software,LLC do for our monthly fee? In other words, why do we have to keep paying you?
Your TOPS Software,LLC Community Web Site is actually a web-based software program that dynamically gathers the latest information from your own private community database every time a user visits the site. This is how you can update the site so quickly and easily. TOPS Software,LLC is always working to add new features and improve existing features in this web-based program. Your monthly fee covers any new or improved features TOPS Software,LLC releases during the term of your contract. These new features will be offered to your community at no charge as soon as they are available. So instead of having to buy the latest "version" of our service, you will get it automatically. In addition to this,TOPS Software,LLC provides periodic maintenance to the underlying database in order to keep your site functioning properly and efficiently. The fee also covers any Email or phone support your Community Administrator may need from time to time. Finally the fee covers the cost of the storage space that your community web site takes up on the web server, which is often referred to as a "hosting fee".

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In what format can we place our community documents on the web site?
Your community can place documents or images on your web site in any of at least 8 different formats. These are: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat (PDF), HTML, Plain Text, JPEG image, or GIF image. The first four of these formats are viewable with FREE viewers readily available on the Internet. The final four formats are directly supported by all major browsers on the market with nothing additional needed. As other formats become more widely used, we will support them as well.

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Couldn't we just make our own web page if we know what we are doing?
Certainly you could. Many communities have done just that. However, if you look at a number of these sites on the Internet a pattern will start to appear. For the most part, these "homemade" sites are very limited in functionality. Few, if any, have message boards, chat rooms, surveys and voting, classified ads, and a number of other features available with the TOPS Software,LLC Web Site Service. The second thing you will notice is that most of these sites have not been updated in a long time and no longer offer timely, valuable information to their residents. This is usually caused when the "local computer expert" either becomes overwhelmed with the task of constantly updating the site and loses interest or moves out of the community. At that point the community is stuck because the expert was the only one who knew how to maintain and update the site.TOPS Software,LLC has automated and simplified the task of maintaining the site to the point that anyone with a web browser can do it without knowing anything more than how to type and click a mouse. In addition, our staff is constantly coming up with new and exciting features for our web site service and these are automatically available to your community without having to develop them yourself. Finally, while it may take months for your community to develop it's own web site, a TOPS Software,LLC Community Web Site is usually up and running in ONE WEEK, often less.

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Does TOPS Software,LLC sell its Residents data to third parties?
Absolutely not! Your residents can rest assured that TOPS Software,LLC will not sell Residents' names, address, phone numbers or other data within the community database to third parties. In fact, our contract specifically prevents us from doing this. We're in the business of creating web sites for Associations, not in the business of gathering demographic information and reselling it to third parties. Your residents' personal data is just that, YOUR residents'!

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