A question for Patrick and Alix,  

Although...
I agree that it would be fun, one has to realize Olive that some of us (that includes me) are doing this with the dictionary at hand...so it might not be as sponateous as intended...but yes, it would be soemthing to think about.

Olive...
I mentioned this to them once before and they replied with a good point. Most of these ideas take a few moments to sketch out, or in Koen's case, to artfully render with impressive ability. Even Koen has to go work in his flower beds occassionally, while he ponders what's next.
Frankly, I think you and I may be revealing a bit of our American-ness here. We like it when things happen FAST and RIGHT NOW! Now there is a place for FAST and RIGHT NOW!, but is it this place?
Designing (at least the collaborative kind being experimented with here), like love making, may perhaps be better performed when approached with some deliberateness, not just rambunctious ardor (though a little rambunctious ardor has its place too). Notice the pace of the posts started a wee bit tentatively, then got going, then slackened a bit, then intensified as an engaging new approach was tried that touched some new place in each of us. The general trend was to building excitement, but...there were tantalizing peaks and valleys that allowed anticipation, if you know what I mean. To continue the metaphor, we all built to a rather impressive state of excitement that seemed momentarily to be not sure WHAT was next, and then, voila, a petite death, as the French say, when Patrick uncorked Koen's associate's rendering that felt a dazzling and remarkable flowering (pun intended) of our group creativity (however heavily weighted and crystallized by Koen's contributions it was).
Then we all had a cigarette. 🙂
Ah, the love of design...
Then, after nights sleep and a good breakfast, we have all begun ruminating again about things again, not sure whether more is to come, or if this was just one of those occassional magnificiences life serves up.
Anyway, my point here is that maybe, just maybe, we have stumbled on the ideal medium for this sort of activity...and maybe, just maybe, going faster, or slower, would not be better.
Now the American in me says crank it up to real time and let's see what this baby will do.
But the several generations removed from European in me says, maybe, a certain deliberateness mixed with bursts of activity intermingled with savoring makes the wine (oops I'm mixing metaphors here) more subtle and wonderful when it comes out of the bottle in due time.
Uh, where is my espresso? Perhaps I will schedule a two hour lunch today, as they so wisely do on the Mother Continent.

Time differences are a large...
Time differences are a large impediment to live interaction. When Olive gets home in the evening from a hard day’s work, has something to eat and settles in online with DA, Patrick is probably already asleep in Belgium and Stephen is just starting his day in Australia (or is he in Sweden?). Some of us may interact during business hours and others in the evening. I know that having family 6 time zones away takes a little more effort to coordinate a simple phone call.
My favourite contributors seem laid back, relaxed and patient but still passionate – yes Don the passion is what does it. What you would really prefer, I think, is to sit down together and chat over a cocktail.