No, sorry, just astonished anyone would down vote yr Q!

When I lived in a group house we always "interviewed" potential roommates to try to see if we were a good fit. You should definitely meet all your roommates before you move in, and have a little spiel about yourself and what you're looking for in a home. Also an honest assessment about your cleanliness and ability to follow up with dishwashing is important - cleanliness was the most frequent conflict in the places I lived.

I think being very upfront about the smoking is important - that's a dealbreaker for a lot of people because smokers stink (I'm a former smoker). I have a friend who lived in a quiet house and he was fine drinking and having fun out at bars; is that true for you?

I know that it's healthier to live with other people than alone, but it can also be really hard. At a certain point when I lived in the last group house I got really depressed, and I slacked off on chores and just wanted to hide in my room when I wasn't at work. I could hear some of my roommates saying things like "I wish she would just take care of her shit" and they weren't sympathetic at all. I know it sucked for them that I wasn't doing my part around the house, but it definitely didn't help me feel better.

I felt more alone during that period than when I lived by myself, because I felt like I was just an unlikeable, fucked-up person. It was kind of like not fitting into any of the cliques in school. I'm not sure if you have similar issues, but I learned that I really have to be responsible for my mental/emotional health and not put myself in situations where I feel judged like that. It might have been better for me if I lived with just one or two other people at that point.

For room listings, maybe check out Madison Market or PCC - they have bulletin boards where people post room openings, although they might all be non-smoking vegan houses.

I've been pretty lucky in situations where I was able to choose my own roommates. I had pretty much what you're looking for: reasonably friendly, responsible roommates who let me have my space and weren't uptight sticks in the mud. Unfortunately, I think finding that is mostly a crap shoot since people aren't going to be upfront about being lazy or uptight or fucking nuts.

One thing I recommend is trying to find a shared house vs. an apartment. A house will hopefully be more spread out, so if you do wind up with the roommate from hell, you can still get some private space. I also recommend looking for a place where you'll have your own lock (lockable from the outside) on your door in the event that your roommates have scumbag friends (or are scumbags themselves).