Is it possible to create sub-groups within sub-groups?

The setting 'Members can create subgroups' in 'Edit group settings' of a subgroup is incorrect, and I'm sorry this is misleading and should be removed as an option.

There are no subgroups of subgroups... We have looked at it in the past, however the confusion and complexity such hierarchy brings weighs heavily against this.

There is a lot of flexibility in the way you can use subgroups - and I suggest to consider natural groups of people rather than a hierarchy. e.g. people working in formal teams such as a board, and people who are working together on a project that may form for a period then disband.

With the new release last week, we introduced the ability to invite people who are not a member of a group into specific threads or decisions. This may be a way to achieve what you're considering with sub-subgroups. You can also use Tags to help structure threads and decisions.

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thanks for the answer! My struggle is in that I would like to discuss more "private" matters in an open group. So sharing sensitive information on for example power planning (which is open because we want ppl to join without the necessity to "approve" membership), with a subgroup of ppl who are intimately involved in the power planning and need to know the minutae details...

In the subgroup there are slightly different visibility and permission settings:

If you go into the subgroup, then click on 'Edit group settings' and 'Advanced settings' you should see a screen like the example below.

Here you can set the subgroup to be Closed, and in the Permissions allow 'Members of [top level group name] can see private threads'

This should allow people who are members of the top level group to be able to see discussions in the subgroup, but cannot comment. (They can still 'ask to join' the group).

The subgroup needs to be open as well, where everyone can join... So that solution unfortunately does not work. I am looking for threads or subgroups within an open subgroup that can be secret.

I'm not following this well. I wonder if you could restate your requirement for me.

It's certainly possible right now to have an open group, with a secret subgroup within it if you wish.

Thanks Robert. Although that certainly is possible, we have one open group: the group for our general event. Within that group, we have several subgroups, related to the several areas that are relevant for us. Those subgroups are for the most part also open, so that anyone can indeed join the conversations and discussions that play out within it. But within those areas, we also need to discuss some more private matters, which is why the question came up about closed/private subgroups within subgroups or closed/private threads within those subgroups.

From a design and engineering perspective its actually a layer of complexity i want to avoid. Visually it requires more horizontal space to represent the nesting, and computationally it requires you to lookup the parent's parent.. I've actually considered flattening the group structure a few times so that we have an organisation which holds groups which holds threads.. no recursion and more like slack and other tools.

I suggest you fake the sub sub group structure with naming conventions and just have groups that are alongside rather that inside each other.

Ie:
- orgname > subgroup name
- orgname > subgroup name - private

Thanks for the advice and looking into it.

Just to report back: Loomio limits the number of parent groups you can have within packages. In addition it is not easy for people who join the main group to find another parent group that might be connected to it, but not within it. The issue of sub-groups within sub-groups remains something that is not great for organizing our very active space.