Frequently Asked Questions

What is Lootist?

What is Looting?

Why should I declare an interest?

How do I declare an interest?

How do endorsements work?

What is a Lootist Expert?

What are badges?

What are blog widgets?

How do I invite a Lootist to be my Friend?

How do I invite my real-life friends to Lootist?

How do I mark a Lootist as a Favorite?

How do I contact other Lootists?

What are tags?

Can I change my password?

What if I forget my password?

What browsers are supported?

How can I contact the Lootist team?



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We believe that making a satisfying purchase or giving a thoughtful gift is a matter of getting the right shopping advice from the right person.

That's why on Lootist, people looking for great products can connect with real-world enthusiasts, hobbyists, and other specialists to get informed recommendations. This guidance comes in handy when you know who you’re shopping for, but not necessarily what you’re shopping for. For instance, if you’re looking for a gift for a friend who enjoys cooking, wouldn’t it be helpful to get shopping suggestions from a professional chef?

So who are our enthusiasts? All the product recommendations on Lootist are submitted by our community, which is made up of real people, like you. We display every enthusiast's background, and the endorsements he or she has received from others in the community.

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Around here, 'looting' isn't a bad thing. Looting is the act of recommending a product from any site on the Web. All of your recommendations are displayed in your Lootist profile.

Get started by learning how to recommend products.

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If you have a hobby or interest that you enjoy talking about, there are several reasons to declare an interest on Lootist. First, it's fun to share! Doesn't it feel good to help people, just by talking about one of your interests?

Also, Lootist provides several ways for you to get the recognition you deserve for your knowledge and helpfulness. When you declare an interest, you can earn endorsements from other Lootists, get featured on the home page, get badges for your profile, and show up in relevant search results.

As an enthusiast, you can also showcase your interest and endorsements on your blog or personal Web site with a Lootist widget.

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To declare an interest, click the "My Interests" tab at the top of any page. You can declare up to three interests, and you can declare, edit, or undeclare them at any time.

Just because someone else has already declared a particular interest on Lootist doesn’t mean you can’t declare the same one. Two people with the same hobby or interest can have different sets of knowledge or tastes… demonstrate your unique expertise!

Don't worry about variations on your interest name. Our search technology takes care of that. For example, if you declare a 'skiing' interest, you'll still show up in the results if someone searches on 'skis'.

The Lootist system remembers the products and endorsements associated with an undeclared interest. Undeclared interests can be restored at any time. Click the "Tag Cloud" link in any of the three available interest fields, and click the name of the undeclared interest in the bottom of the tag cloud.

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Endorsements are like referrals. Every Lootist who has declared an interest can earn endorsements from other Lootists. A high endorsement score means higher credibility.

To endorse a Lootist for a particular interest, click the ‘Endorse’ button next to the interest’s description in the Lootist’s profile. Once you've endorsed a Lootist for a particular interest, you have to wait twenty-four hours before you can submit another endorsement.

The details of the endorsements that a Lootist has received are listed on his or her profile under the ‘Endorsements’ tab.

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We want to give special recognition to the enthusiasts who have demonstrated that they're founts of knowledge in their respective fields, and that they're willing to share the goods. Based on qualifications, endorsements, nominations, and other factors, we certify certain deserving Lootists as "Experts".

Every Lootist Expert's profile is highlighted in search results and is adorned with a distinctive raccoon-face 'Expert' badge.

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As you progress on Lootist, you'll collect badges, which are icons that appear next to your username. You'll earn badges once you Loot your first five 'public' products, get at least five endorsements for an interest, get at least five Lootists to mark your comments as helpful, or get ‘favorited’ by at least five Lootists. These badges change color as your Lootist statistics become more advanced.

You can also earn badges for being the first one to declare an interest in a category and for earning Expert status.

Hover your cursor over a badge to get its details.

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Do you have a blog? Lootist blog widgets let you display any of your declared interests and your number of received endorsements on your personal Web site. Anyone clicking a widget installed on your blog or Web site will be taken to your Loot profile on Lootist, filtered by the relevant interest.

Whether you want to gain credibility for your blogging identity or to promote your Lootist interest(s), the Lootist blog widgets can help. Find installation instructions on the Lootist blog widgets page.

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Sometimes you recommend products that you only want your friends to see. Or perhaps you only want your friends to be able to contact you.

To invite a Lootist to become Friends, send them a request via the ‘Send Friend Request’ link in their profile. You'll be notified if and when they accept your request.

A Lootist Friend displayed under the ‘Friends’ tab in your profile will be marked with a “New Loot!” indicator whenever they recommend a new product.

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Invite your friends to Lootist and get automatically notified when they sign up (assuming they sign up with the e-mail address to which you sent the invitation).

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When you want quick access to someone’s recommendations, add that Lootist to your favorites via the 'Add to Favorites' link in their profiles.

A favorite Lootist displayed under the ‘Favorites’ tab in your profile will be marked with a “New Loot!” indicator whenever they recommend a new product.

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Lootist is all about sharing, so there are several ways to get in touch with other Lootists.

Click the 'Contact' link in a Lootist's profile to send them a note.

From your Inbox, you can compose a message to any of your Lootist Friends.

On a product detail page or from the ‘Loot’ tab of a Lootist’s profile, you can click the 'Send' button to send a product link to an email address or to one of your Lootist Friends.

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Tags are keywords that you use to describe a product. Tags allow Lootist to return more helpful, interesting, and complete results to people looking for the right product.

For example, say that you Loot an iPod, and you tag it with: “MP3, music, portable, exercise, storage”. Someone searching on the term 'exercise' will see your Looted iPod in search results, which is an unexpected but helpful and interesting result.

Don't forget to separate tags with commas when you're Looting.

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Sure. Click the 'Change Password' link in your profile.

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Not a problem. Just click the 'Forgot Password?' link on the Sign In page, and we'll reset your password and send a new one to your registered email address.

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Lootist currently supports Internet Explorer 7.x, Firefox 2.x, and Safari. We're working on improving compatibility with Internet Explorer 6.x and older versions of Firefox. If things are looking wonky on your browser, please let us know.

Javascript needs to be turned on in your browser for Lootist to work properly.

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Whether you have a suggestion or a question, or want to report abuse of the site, please send us a note via the Contact Us page. We’d be glad to hear from you.