Groups: How to find one
Daily Kos Groups serve two key functions: they help organize content for readers and they support site members who create such content.
Groups may be identified/found by 1) clicking on the Groups page linked above and adding additional steps as needed; 2) checking out the Groups that are featured on the Front Page on a rotating basis; 3) using the Search tool as applied to Groups, or 4) investigating group (re)publication of stories that have appealed to you.
Finding a group via the Groups page
The default display for the Groups page shows the Most Followed groups in descending order, but the display can also be sorted by three other criteria: Most Active This Month, the Most Prolific (of all time), or the Most Recent. Popularity and productivity are not the only important characteristics of a group, but the popular and prolific groups are also busy and well-received for a reason.
Finding a group via the Community Groups section on the Front Page
Community Groups have a dedicated section on the "new" Front Page, placed between the long section displaying "More Community Stories" and the section of current Community Spotlight stories. Four groups are featured at a time, with blue panels providing direct links to their group blog pages. Each group's most recent story is also displayed below. The section also provides a link to the Groups page, as shown in this representative screenshot.
Finding a group via site Search
The site's Search function comes in handy for a number of reasons. Perhaps you have an interest in a particular topic and want to see if a related group already exists. Perhaps you recall seeing a group whose focus seems appealing to you, though you don't exactly recall its name.
It's a two-step process to search for a group name. First, type a word into the Search bar at the top of every page, then click Enter. The next page you'll see is the main Search portal, where the default presentation shows you recent stories, not groups, with your search term in the stories' title or text.
Thus the second step is to click on the Groups link on the menu shown there. Then you can specify an exact search, or a search that contains/starts/ends with your search term, along with a creation date range. Usually there's no need to specify a creation date range, since the default will show you results for all dates.
Keep in mind that the default group search will be conducted on a group's username, as the page indicates, and NOT on the group's name. The distinction is important, and can result in some puzzling results if you are unaware of it--particularly because the list of results will display the groups by their name.
Note that setting the search parameters on a username to "contain" the shortest string of characters is potentially the most productive, since it will return the biggest yield. Thus, a search for a group username containing the term bird will produce results like "Backyard Bird Racers" and "Birds and Birdwatching" but if you search for birds you will have only the latter group name returned.
Also note that searching usernames for phrases works only within certain constraints: you must use the exact order of words in the phrase, and you may not include quotation marks around your phrase. Thus, for example, a search for groups containing or starting with birds and will return the group named "Birds and Birdwatching" but a search for birds birdwatching or "birds and" will have zero results.
Any results returned from your search will show group names as hyperlinks. Clicking on a group name from the results will redirect you to the group's blog, which is the page that displays all the stories published and republished by the group. Using "Birds and Birdwatching" again as an example, you'll see on that group blog that 1) the URL for the blog page is https://www.dailykos.com/blog/Birds%20and%20Birdwatching and 2) the header for the blog is GROUPS > BIRDS AND BIRDWATCHING. It is important to know that BIRDS AND BIRDWATCHING is a hyperlink redirecting to the group's profile page.
Once you've arrived on the group's profile page, please note a meaningful change in the URL compared to that of the group blog. Specifically, the middle of the URL switches from /blog/ to /groups/. Every group's profile page follows this same pattern. Continuing with our example, the profile page for Birds and Birdwatching is thus https://www.dailykos.com/groups/Birds%20and%20Birdwatching
A group's profile page offers a number of distinct options. Clicking Follow Group will get all stories from that group listed in your Activity Stream. Clicking Send Message will open a private group message (Kosmail) to the group, which can be viewed and answered by group Admins and Editors. This is an important process to know if you ever want to join a group (see linked resource, Groups: How to join one.)
Finding a Group via story publication information
If you are already reading a story that you like, you can look for an indicator that the story has been published to a group. The most significant indicator is the one sometimes found in the story's byline. If you see "for {groupname}" next to the author's name in the byline that {groupname} will be a hyperlink to the group's profile page. See, for example, this story, Dawn Chorus: PNW Nor'easter Fluffballs. Its byline is "OceanDiver for Birds and Birdwatching" where Birds and Birdwatching is a hyperlink to the group profile page.
Thus you can completely skip over the search process if you see a shortcut like this one, which can funnel you directly to the group's profile page.
Some stories will display names in their left sidebar, under the Published To header. (This may also happen for stories that have been published "for" a group. Links to groups in the left sidebar will include the author's own individual blog, which may or may not be identical to the author's user name, and any groups to which the story has been (re)published. Again, these links each will redirect to a blog page, not to the author's or group's profile page. From the group's blog page, click on the group's name displayed as GROUPS > GROUPNAME to arrive on the group's profile page.