This helps. I didn't read every single post in the thread, but I read Frontier's stuff. I do have a couple more questions.
1) How does one join a player group / faction? Specifically, what does it look like in the ED interface?
2) How common are small player groups (between 5 and 25 players, for example)?
3) Can any Tom, John, or Mary start a group with little effort? If so, does this "dilute" the experience (compared to having big groups with hundreds of players)?
4) Is there a group leader, insomuch that a person or persons have access to some sort of interface in ED that allows them special control of the player group?
Any and all clarification from everyone is appreciated!
Oh, and one more very important question - where do I find a list of existing player groups & factions?
1. you can't join a minor faction or superpower ingame. you can join a powerplay "faction". than your hud read-out is like
Shipname
CMDR Name
Li Yong Rui (Powerplay)
Combat Rank.
generally, a player group minor faction doesn't work dfferently than any other minor faction ingame. you can get allied with "Hip 13675 Labour Union" as well as with "The Code", and you can help or hinder their doings, whether you are part of the group or not.
2. no idea, but plenty. of approx. 900 player groups with a minor faction ingame, i assume most of those are anything between 5-100 members. generally, as there are no ingame tools to manage group efforts, i'd even say it is easier to organise effort of a <25 people group, than of a >250 people group (i do both regularly, so i know what i'm talking about). i know a player group with a minor faction ingame and <10 members.
3. yes, they can. depends what experience they are looking for. if you play on the edge of inhabited space, you can perfectly experience the whole minor faction thingy in a really small group (even alone). if you are playing in high population or more traffic systems with a small group, you might not make much of a difference. and if you get into conflict with a much larger group, you will be most probably crushed - if you are clever, not directly, but in the long run. so - it really depends what you are looking for. it can be fun to run a group of outlaws, fighting for freedom, but ever loosing ("you can't take the sky from me"), never giving up. it can be fun to help a faction expand into 10-20 systems at the edge of space. it can be fun to be part of a larger group, and see goals reached while you are out on that 3 month travel. also, there a many groups not revolving around "gain influence - expand" - fuel rats have a minor faction ingame, but expanding it isn't what they do .... the buckyball racing club has one, but does its races etc.
I personally recommend first testing whether "playing the backgroundsimulation", which is all about minor factions, is fun for you at all. pick any faction in a smaller population system at the edge of inhabited space. expand them a few times, bring them into control of stations and system. i have done so in an adder, while other look at it more like an "endgame" activity. for me it was always what i did when in the bubble. so - give it a try, see whether you like it, and then request a minor faction for your player group. i got some exampels of player groups finally having their minor faction added, at which point they start getting into playing the background simulation (mainly via this thread:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/193064-A-Guide-to-Minor-Factions-and-the-Background-Sim), at which point they find out they hate the playstyle and the mechanics, and abandon their minor faction ingame.
4) No. the "group leader" is simply a point of contact for FDEV, (and has an own subforum here) - but ingame this role has no function at all. some hate that, some love that. groups organise outside of the game (discord, teamspeak, forums, ...).
Additional: As said, approx. 900 groups ingame, no list. FDEV has the data, you can use coriolis:
https://eddb.io/faction and check "is player faction", which isn't always accurate. you can also scour the groups subforum.
find their website/forum if they have one.
