On the internet there are lots of places where we can meet like minded individuals.

Nature's Nexus would recommend joining a group that has around 100 to 500 members. Any more than that and the group is often so long established that is can be difficult for a 'newbie' to find their feet. Sometimes a newbie can join a very large group and if they are real beginners their questions can seem naive and be passed over by the long term members as the incentive to encourage new members to the fold is often absent. With the smaller cozy groups everyone is more welcoming and helpful.

With commercial yahoo groups watch out as those groups can sometimes fall off the edge of the Earth if yahoo get wind that they are selling things. It also sometimes means that the groups owners motivation for running the group is commercial and this sometimes leads to an air of false friendliness.

If you want to sell something or plug your business, it's best to join private groups not owned by Yahoo that are openly commercial and then there are no false pretenses and there is usually a special place for advertising and promotion.

When you check out a group, look at the number of members and then look at the list activity.

Sometimes there are a lot of bogus members added by the group owner. This happens a lot as yahoo membership is free and the group owner can make as many accounts as he or she wishes and add them all as members to bump them up in the rankings.

Here are some links to groups that Nature's Nexus recommends: