I’ve been mum about this until now, but I do actually find other ways to spend my time besides swiping away at that sweaty underbelly of geek culture. And then washing my hands. A lot.

Namely, I work on my Web startup, which is the closest thing I have to a real job. (Actual real jobs involve having a boss. And a salary. Oh, delicious, elusive salary…)

The site is called Lootist (www.lootist.com) and–in a nutshell–it’s a place where specialists guide people to the best products for a hobby or interest. For instance, our current specialist cover a variety of things like cooking, poker, green gadgets, and baby gear (which is, strangely, one of my favorites).

Of course, you don’t need to be a specialist to have fun on the site. Once you discover a product, you can add it to a wishlist. You can also share your own product recommendations; we have a simple bookmarklet that you can add to your browser’s toolbar that lets you quickly and easily recommend a product from any site on the Web.

Bookmarking products to Lootist is called looting. Partly because I want to singlehandedly(ish) make looting a not-dirty word. Put that on my gravestone: He made looting a not-dirty word. And had such a way with the English language.

The idea for the site formulated almost a year ago when I was looking for a gift to buy for my old roommate, who is a DJ. Now, I know as much about DJ stuff as I know about the nocturnal habits of furries–which is to say, not much. Back then I wished that I knew another DJ I could ask for advice, and thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could easily access all kinds of specialists like that in one place, online…”

…and here we are, at the launch of Lootist. And I didn’t even have to sell any of my personal belongings to get here. Much. Ahem.

The site has been in private Alpha testing for the past few months while we made refinements, crushed the most annoying bugs, and added features. This morning we quietly launched to the public, and next week will begin the big promotional push. So, you’re getting an early preview.

I have three things to ask of you… which is three more things than I usually ask of you, so take a moment to get used to the idea, if necessary. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt. I think you might actually enjoy it.

1) Check out Lootist and give me some feedback! (Everything you submit through the ‘Contact Us’ link at the bottom of each page on the site goes right to me.) Even thought Lootist is now public, the development team and I haven’t stopped developing enhancements, fixes, and new features. I’d love to have your input. Believe me, I’ll be happy to hear from you.

2) If you’ve got a hobby or interest that you enjoy talking about, sign up and become a specialist! Join the diverse group of specialists who have already signed up. If you’ve ever written a review for a site like Yelp, you know how fun it can be to build up your profile, share your opinions, and earn credentials.

If one of your friends is a hobbyist, enthusiast, or specialist who enjoys sharing his or her opinions, let them know about Lootist.

Bloggers: As a blogger myself, I wanted to make Lootist as useful to bloggers as possible. Your Lootist profile is meant to be a complement to your blog. For instance, see that fancy new widget in the right-hand column on this page? The one that displays the number of endorsements I’ve received from other people on Lootist for my contributions as a Comic Book specialist? It’s similar to the Feedburner “number of readers” chicklet (also in the right-hand column) in that it provides a social proof benefit; it shows readers that you know what you’re talking about, and that other people respect what you have to say. A great way to impress new readers and encourage them to stick around. Speaking of new readers, you can also include a link to your blog or personal site in your Lootist profile.

3) Show my Lootist profile some love! If you’ve been following Great White Snark for a while (the blog, I mean… I’m not actually referring to myself in the third person… this time), you know I’ve picked up a thing or two about comic books and the comic book culture. Click on the widget in the right-hand column on this page to see my Lootist profile, and endorse my Comic Book specialization! (You need to sign up for Lootist to endorse.)

Again, I’d love to hear from you. Click away on that ‘Contact Us’ link that you can find at the bottom of every page on Lootist.

In the meantime, I haven’t come up with a short tagline for Lootist yet. Any ideas? If I use your idea, I’ll give you ridiculous props on the Lootist blog. (Am I the only one to say “props” any time in the last year?)