fried bologna fans, disc golfers, woodcarvers, coffee friends

That's the question isn't it? I don't know that there's a cafeteria click answer to this. The whole, "I'm a burnout, I'm a princess" breakfast club themed way of finding a place to fit in seems like it's backwards to me. Real communities start at an individual level and build up. We shouldn't cast ourselves into arbitrarily assigned constructs. It limits us.
I think any place you belong is likely going to be one you made for yourself and people like you

My greatest connection with other I have found to date is with the members of the National Farmers Union here in Canada. I have belonged to many organization before but, never have I ever felt such a connection with people as there. It is more than the connection I feel with other farmers or rural people, more than I feel with like minded political people, people my own age, education level or ant other group of common connection.

The Time-Binders, Those that advance and those that preserve.
Even gods would be impotent without Memory. To forget is the great death.

my people are the self-thinkers, the doubters, the loners, the idealists. my tribe is nomadic, always on the move, putting the earth first & as little strain on her as possible. & sometimes i meet one or the other of them, mainly at places where protectors gather.

Good question, although it might be a bit hard for me to quantify precisely after having been separated from them for a while (let's just say I was the trailing spouse relocated to a more conservative neighborhood and then caught in a work/home/work/home/church to make religous ex happy/work/home cycle).

A good number of folks in my 'group" as it were have had quizbowl or trivia ties or other acitvities that show intellectual curiosity and a deisre for knowledge.

Even though my job is technical and I want to share my knowledge of that, I've found it easier to talk with people with interests, hobbies, and careers in the arts and creative pursuits these days than those climbing the corporate ladder..I'm not exactly sure how or when that came about, but it has.

Despite what my kids and some that know me say, I do have a sense of humor/humour, it's not everybody's sense, but somewhere between irreverent, witty, and offbeat enough that some people get me.

And then maybe the folks who live a place for family/professional/duty reasons but feel at home in another place, or maybe they've found the enclave surrounded where they can be themselves but yet are surrounded by other areas where the mores and attitutes of the community don't square with what they think and believe.

I've thought about this post very a while, and I really don't have a certain group toward which I have an affinity. I'm introverted, yet I don't necessarily focus on them. The only thing that I've found is intelligence. I had made the acquaintance of a man who is a self-named political conservative and attends a "Bible" church. His arrogant ignorance has finally caused me to let that "friendship" lapse.

When younger I hung around with hellraisers a lot. These days my drinking has slowed down and so have I. I love animals and love to talk and discuss. I'm also very introverted these days. I work with the public all week, then come home to be happy in my place and behind closed doors. Sometimes a movie out, but mostly not. I always have something to do. This morning I fixed a wall mount coat rack that had been too short for 12 years. Now the coats don't fall in the floor anymore.

Philosopher, EMT, loner, business own, gentleman

You pretty much named all my people. Writers and creatives, dog lovers, and gamers and readers. I would add musicians and very select sports fans. The sports fans who aren't crazy. You might think that's one in the same though lol

Any animal support group, fellow shooters (not the kind in the news), nature lovers and travelers,and kind supportive people.Oh yes progressive indiviuals,thinkers and people who can have a discussion without making a personal attack. I enjoy discussions with those who may not agree with my position but have a different point to make and can do it in a civi manner. I am able to learn even from these peoplel

This question was answered and put to rest decades ago:

[...]the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!
Jack Kerouac

Before I actually know them I'm optimistic about my compatibility with introverts, scientists, the highly educated, rebels, Raiders fans, liberals, progressives, highly compassionate people, non-comformists, people into metal.

I am a published technical author and so have some affinity for writers also. My wife is a B2B writer and former journalist and it was actually our respect for each other's writing styles that initially attracted us to each other.

I tend to be more heady and so groups that are about ideas are more my thing than just common interests like dogs. Although we do have two dogs and a cat, I don't feel much desire to join, say, a dog walking club or obedience competition.

I occasionally attend tech meetups / talks, university lectures, etc. My wife and stepkids and I used to volunteer with hospice.

Like you, I spend a fair amount of time in settings like this because I enjoy the intellectual stimulation and lack people in my life that are very curious about existential / philosophical matters, or, like my stepson who is actually studying philosophy, he's not functioning at a particularly practical applied level on that topic. I don't care for meta-meta analysis that much.

Political junkies, Social advocates, Animal/nature enthusiasts, Musicians, Specialneeds children, People who like to smoke weed, Travellers/adventurers.

I generally find myself associating with the misfits and outcasts. I don't consider myself among them because I have the social skills to fit in, if I need to. Other than that, I have more in common with the misfits and outcasts.

Being a poet and aspiring author it is difficult to locate people with complexities of certain artistic mental facilities. I do and find solace with the kinship in this realm that this website has to offer. This is my most recent poem thought I would share.

Pintle brittle:

Thump and bump eerie is the anbient light of hasty delight.

Crackle and snap are the toasty fires on a cold winter's sight.

Bustle and bristle are the twigs beneath your feet on a placid path to unusual reasoning.

Whoosh and thrush the blades of grass crack off like shattered glass in shards of embarrassment.

Squeal and creek do the rusted wheels yaw of forgotten memories leak in to infinity.

Shift and drift the glistening herbs of delight tickle into the complexities.

Whisper are heard through cotton veneers what images for yourself to adhere.

Iconoclasts. A few of those here, but in the real world they don't congregate, it seems.

Musicians, computer scientists, cat lovers, libertarians, malcontents, recovering alcoholics, bikers, high school dropouts who became "successful," UWSP alumni, and cosmology enthusiasts (including stargazers.) I could name some more, I'm sure, but this is what I came up with off the top of my head.

Third Culture Kids, musicians, writers, agnostics, horse and mule lovers, book lovers, dancers, travelers, nonbinary and trans people, highly creative/high IQ people, people who have lived in Haiti, Mexico, or Thailand.

A whole bunch of "Yeah! What SHE said."

I read and write less than I imagine that I should, and still I have a kinship with those who arem ore likely to be readers and writers. Musicians and those who do the technical side of music are a special draw, and though I rarely draw, I enjoy being around those who do. I enjoy dogs (I snuggle with my bitch every night), cooking, and though I am not a gamer, the type of person who usually is a gamer tends to be someone I have chemistry with.

Is marriage out of the question? [ducks and runs]

Yes readers, and creative people - I like teaching too - adults, not children wouldn't know where to begin with rugrats under 8 yrs old

Metalheads

Writers, artists, thespians, HSPs (highly sensitive persons).

Stoner-tolerant moviephile animal lovers who are on the left - although I don't support abortion or the DP. jobs-wise they span the gamut of society. I can't handle the wealthy peeps though. Wealth and materiality turn me sour.