Overview
Use the tools on this page to find online and offline groups of all different types. Interest groups, clubs, associations, etc.
Forums and mailing lists
These sites are various forms of online message boards, also called forums. Some of them are also mailing lists, meaning members can receive and send messages through email.
LinkedIn Groups requires a (free) account in order to view search results. Even those that can be read by anyone require signing up in order to contribute, and some can only be joined with moderator approval. LinkedIn groups are often business-oriented, while the rest are general-purpose.
Reddit is a bit different than the others, in that in addition to posting text and links and commenting on those, users can also vote for or against each post. This means that the home page of each subreddit (as they are called) shows what is popular at the moment. Related subreddits shows subreddits that share users who post content with the given subreddit.
Google Groups includes Usenet newsgroups, with archives going back to 1981.
The others are Facebook Groups, Yahoo! Groups, Groups.io, ProBoards, and Delphi Forums.
General groups
This tool uses Google to find all sorts of groups by adding group-related words to your search.
In-person groups
Meetup is used mostly so that people with common interests can find each other online, and meet in person.
See also Nextdoor which host online discussion for neighbourhoods in the United States and some other countries.
Associations
The Yearbook of International Organizations, by the Union of International Associations lists a huge number of non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations, although the details of each one are limited for non-paying members.
CareerOneStop lists professional associations, mostly in the United States. The Trade Association Forum lists those in the United Kingdom.
Wikis
Wikipedia is far from the only wiki. Fandom hosts wikis on all sorts of topics.
Chat rooms
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an early form of online chat (predating the web), and is still popular. Kiwi, mibbit, and netsplit.de all offer search for IRC channels and web-based chat interfaces.
Slack is a company that hosts work-oriented chat rooms, and Slofile has a search for Slack channels.
Support groups
DailyStrength and SupportGroups (which has no search) both host online support groups for a variety of situations. Psychology Today helps find in-person support groups. You can search by location or group name.
Loose groups
Lists on Twitter are collections of Twitter accounts that have something in common. Often those listed form a loose online community. Find a Twitter List is a third-party tool for finding these lists.
Quora is a question-and-answer site, and people who frequently ask and answer questions on the same topic can form a loose community.
Specific sites
These are individual websites for specific interests that contain groups within them. Flickr Groups revolve around photographs, DeviantArt Groups connect artists and their fans, and Goodreads is for book-lovers.