"just enough crazy" for conversation. Well put, LOL.

The important thing is to differentiate between eccentricities that are merely amusing and tolerable ... vs. those that would make a person a liability and threaten the group.

Nothing will be an "exact fit." But people need to agree on some basic principles to allow interoperability. And hopefully things don't break down under pressure.

What happens if a few members want to up and leave during SHTF? Let them leave, and then "change the locks" ? Don't let them leave (what are they then, slaves?). Or let them leave, and how much gear and supplies do they get to take with them? Will they become compromised when desperate and lead the raiders in the assault to take over the main body of the group?

That is why I think a combination of private + public is best. People have their own living spaces, but their is some shared infrastructure and governance. Like a "co-op" but not necessarily with the "hippy connotations" that are often associated with that.

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At one point I was very gung-ho about working with other like minded individuals. The problem that I found was the I want, I want mindset was almost impossible to get past. People keep yammering about build a community, developed a group but reality is they just want that for just in case, or weekends. I personally see no reason to move out in the woods with a bunch of people I barely know and I can't be certain will invest their time and resources in developing the community. Most people are just not that committed no matter what they say.
I wonder how many of you can raise your hand and say, I have lived in the woods for years, I hunted, trapped, fished, gardened, prepared and preserved year round to survive the next winter, because that's the reality I know, it's not easy having no electricity, no running water, no outside communication. If you don't grow it, raise it, harvest it or make it you don't have it. Tell me after a bad winter of eating nothing but dried fish and an occasional rabbit because you got so sick you couldn't hunt or trap far from your cabin, how easy it is.
I personally think people should consider smaller towns and communities that are farther out but have the basics of existence already in place, are affordable and offer you a chance to grow yourself, your family and your community. Many small communities are dying out literally, the old people are what is mostly left, now that their children have left. There are communities that have elementary schools, houses, streets, utilities, maybe a store or two, security by simple fact that small town neighbors watch out for each other. No these communities are not within commute distance of Vancouver or pretty much any large city. If you do your research you can find many such communities within 30 - 100 km of a good sized city or community where you can get all the supplies you need. These small communities will offer you a better daily life and a better environment for your family without having to try and do the shoe string survival. There are many places where you can buy small homes and even small acreages for 100 grand, yes you might have to commute to work, but a hour of driving through the country or an hour in gridlock traffic don't even compare and yet they do because of time and frustration. I can tell you for a fact that I purchased ... These 3 things in the last 5 years on separate locations, a 3 bedroom mobile, a 3 bedroom bungalow with a double garage and small barn on 1 3/4 acres and 56 acres undeveloped on the outskirts of a community. 2 are near enough to a river to throw rocks at and within a 1/4 mile of Crown land and a main highway. Here's the kicker all 3 cost less than $140 grand total and I don't have a mortgage on either of those homes.
So can that be done .... Yes it can. Can you find work ... Yes you can but maybe you will just have to adjust how you do it.
I know a recording artist /producer who does a lot of work West coast / Vancouver who is a neighbour on one property, gambled on being able to do the job mostly via phone and Internet has been succeeding and now would never move back to Vancouver. It can be done, it can be affordable and it can be better.

I know I mentioned Vancouver in my last post, this can be exactly the same about Calgary or Edmonton, only you have a bit of a better chance of being closer to them than Vancouver.
Don't limit your search.. Here is how I find my properties most often. First off I use, Realtor.ca then I use a wide search perameter, I usually only go residential up to 100 thousand and I hit search, that will either ping you locally or Canada wide if the search engine can't pinpoint you. You will probably be surprised at how many homes are available Canada wide for under 100 grand. So maybe add Acerage to the search or water front there will still be many listings. This is just one search method I use but it is fairly reliable and seeing all the listing will make you think a bit. The more you limit the search the more you limit yourself.

I'm with Antsy on this one, my household has been serious into building skills and then live testing them out for about a decade now. I'm of the thought if anything I prep might have a chance to fail, I want to know before the shtf! Same with building a tight community of like-minded associates. It's definitely not been a fast sort of thing for us at all, and has been rife with lessons about people along the way. Making sure your values and mid-set match up well with new people is really important for team cohesion and long-term community building, and you need to know yourself and family's needs very well too in order to make sound decisions about who will be your closest associates.

For where we're at in our stream of learning/building, we want to match up with others that have at least as much experience in their fields of specialty. For a person just starting out and dabbling here and there, chances are unless they make some huge/fast leaps and bounds in terms of their plans, gear/supplies, skills/knowledge and are really -truly- serious about it, their chances of keeping up with us are slim and would put my family at some sort of risk in a shtf scenario. I can teach anyone the skills I have, but it doesn't make you an expert overnight by any means. Practice makes perfect, and if your crops fail you starve or suffer in other ways. If one has an established group, having a small ratio of beginners could be alright since they should be trainable. If they bring extra resources/tools/other useful skills that's even better. In shtf, everyone needs to bring something valuable to the table to make their group viable.

So yeah going out for coffee is a good thing, as well as going to regional events where the topic of the event happens to overlap some aspect of prepping. It's a good thing to get to know people who have farms all around the region you plan to settle in, and goto agricultural fairs and such in the area. Get to know the people already resident there and make yourself useful to them! Definitely learn to avoid the marauders!

there are many serious people with good plans on this site and I see people willing to make realistic and strong statements to go with skills and abilities.
There are also some that I would count my fingers after a hand shake. Or want to have an emergency contact for their doctor just in case they start frothing. 😯
I think this site is awesome in its concept and the sharing of our living experiences, so cheers to you all.