# Collaborative experiment **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341 "2017-03-16T20:58:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/1 "2017-03-16T20:58:42Z")
Suppose you wanted to form a group that would develop a metaforical ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/2 "2017-03-16T21:33:45Z")
spell checker that could spell the word ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/3 "2017-03-16T21:54:36Z")
> [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](#): > > spell checker that could spell the word Most of my post disappeared??? I will have to re post tomorrow. I wrote the post on MS word and copy and pasted I thought. This line should not have been here. ---
**Author:** ![Plumpudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Plumpudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumpudding)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/4 "2017-03-16T21:59:23Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > form a group In what sense, as in online or IRL, random people or people with certain skills? For what purpose? Do you seek help doing this, are you advertising, or is it a hypothetical scenario? Edit: snipped quote. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/5 "2017-03-16T23:00:53Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > metaforical And what’s a meta for, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/6 "2017-03-16T23:04:06Z")
Does a woman need a man like a fish needs a metaforical? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/7 "2017-03-16T23:29:13Z")
My well thought out post done on MS word didn’t show up so I will start from scratch. ``` Lets suppose I wanted to create a language of symbols that would correspond to a list of emotions and feelings. Say 250 words. I would be using all sorts of landscapes, tropical, forest, desert, ocean, maybe astronomy related etc. Every rock, animal, plant, planet, fish whatever would have a specific significance. The color and size of these symbols would establish their relevance. The pictures created could be used s avatars and express the current state of the user It could also be used in businesses and organizations as a motivational tool. A user cold start off using it in its most simple form and as his vocabulary and understanding grew so would the meaning of his avatar. Dictionaries in the various scapes would be created. A project like this would require artists, writers, computer people, concept people, psychologist, etc. Maybe 40 or 50 people could be involved. If no promise of monetary gain could be assured but the possibility of great monetary gain existed could that be enough to get such a project rolling? ``` ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/8 "2017-03-17T19:56:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > And what’s a meta for, anyway? Cows ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/9 "2017-03-18T07:18:33Z")
What would be the purpose of this symbol language? How would it hold ‘the possibility of great monetary gain’? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/10 "2017-03-18T09:59:32Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > What would be the purpose of this symbol language? How would it hold ‘the possibility of great monetary gain’? Otherwise, you’re not interested, amirite? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/11 "2017-03-18T13:33:07Z")
> [@Plumpudding](#): > > In what sense, as in online or IRL, random people or people with certain skills? For what purpose? Do you seek help doing this, are you advertising, or is it a hypothetical scenario? > > Edit: snipped quote. Actually I have been working on a novel for the past few years called " The Collaboration" This is actually a fictional collaboration. I had to find something low tech enough for me to be able to write about it, yet big enough to demonstrate the power of collaborations. I try to demonstrate in the novel that money is not necessarily the biggest motivator. More about being driven by passion and the need to establish our identities and find a purpose in life. Money and success are often a bi-product of these things. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/12 "2017-03-18T14:08:56Z")
You mean like this? [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9c/c5/d79cc52ccd7c7e37f7a8ccd928f1d493.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9c/c5/d79cc52ccd7c7e37f7a8ccd928f1d493.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/13 "2017-03-18T14:13:12Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > You mean like this? > > [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9c/c5/d79cc52ccd7c7e37f7a8ccd928f1d493.jpg](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/d7/9c/c5/d79cc52ccd7c7e37f7a8ccd928f1d493.jpg) Not exactly my idea was say for example you choose an ocean scene to represent you and your current state in life. You may have whales, porpoises, octopi, starfish, kelp, sharks, eels, sand, sunken ships etc. Each think would be symbolic of something else. The size of the object and location in the scene would establish its relevance. So an artist might do the figures, a phycologist might help with the interpretation of symbols and a writer would create a story for each symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/14 "2017-03-18T20:31:33Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Otherwise, you’re not interested, amirite? Not necessarily… that’s the way the OP posed it though, so I was asking for clarification. If this is simply for a fictional novel though, it doesn’t really matter. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collaborative-experiment/782341/15 "2017-03-18T21:37:01Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Not necessarily… that’s the way the OP posed it though, so I was asking for clarification. If this is simply for a fictional novel though, it doesn’t really matter. Hopefully I will be using a fiction to present to the public a new concept in using social media