Any chance that they're trying to get you to admit that adland is a commercial entity before trying it on vis-a-vis some copyright infringement thing.

Unlikely, but my spider sense is definitely tingling and that was the first "They're trying to take money off you" scenario my rusted old brain could come up with.

ooooh, good one Seanyboy. That's more likely than a bazillion-buckaroos google-style-buyout.

Still, they'd loose any stupid copyright infringment thing. It ain't infringement when you have the creators permision. Case close. NEXT!

You forgot the capitals. The Creator's permission.

Or something.

Sorry, where were we? Oh yeah. While seanyboy's point is worth noting, so is your own reply. I can see that in Bubble 2.0 loads of people would be seriously interested. I'd be inclined to respond to #4 a bit differently though. You are indeed a large part of what makes the site what it is. So think about selling and starting over with a new site. (If they are real lawyers, they'll probably have thought of that of course).

I suspect it's someone who wants the domain name. You ad types say "commercial" where we just say "ad". "Commercial" has all sorts of other connotations. I reckon it's the domain name they're after. (Though they would also want the content if they're smart).

Hmm. In 2002/03 ( I think it was) I totally would have sold the site and left it at the drop of a hat, but nobody was asking that year. ;) Now I dunno - to even seriously think such things over I'd like to know the askee is fo' real first tho. This guy, who knows what he is,

Yeah, well it goes without saying that you'd want to make sure he's on the level. You'd want to get something by snail mail that you could take to your lawyers. But I thought we were talking about how suss or otherwise it sounds. I'd say it is probably for real, but it isn't obvious what they are really after. INTUAA (I Need To Use An Acronym). But I am also not a lawyer. (Nor am I an account fumbler, a creative, or any other sort of addy type).

Paper trail! Of course! Why didn't I think of that! Real lawyers use paper dammit. At least they do when pressed for some in my experience. This is suspect but I can't figure out what they really really want (and yeah that's what I wanna figure out. Well that and who they really really are - and a zigga zig aaah).

Ya know...that comedian IS the lawyer by the way. See this page and the email domain leads to this page.

The expression "relinquishing the properties" in the email hints that english is not their first language which doesn't mean anything I guess or at least, like the allcaps subject line, it suggests 'unsophisticated'. {I mean, it is an 'oooook' phrase but sounds klunky in this context)

I don't think an initial enquiry via email is anything to be suspect about. [I have a vaguely similar story which I'll keep private but if you email me dabitch I'll tell you -- not a site sale though.]

I liked seanyboy's initial thoughts - good lateral thinking.

The only other thing that occurs to me is that, say you wanted to go and tout yourself to an investment group who like new media or similar. If this sort of email is being sent to a whole bunch of sites for instance and the guy got back say 20 people who said "hmm, yeah, maybe I'll sell" then they are able perhaps to approach investment people and say: "look, I've got 20 hot web properties, itching to be snapped up" or "At the moment I'm acting on behalf of 20 sites" etc etc.....it's easy to finesse the language and they would have backup emails as 'hard copy' evidence if they needed it.

It's a long shot I guess, but unless it really is a legitimate overture to wanting to buy the site, I can't see any other angle, other than to use as a piece of evidence or manipulation as some sort of negotiation tactic.

I wonder if publishing the email has helped or hurt your sale price ;- )

Hey, dabitch, did you get a bunch of Aussies signing up in the last year? I recommended your site to a friend who teaches advertising. Maybe I should remind her again.

when it comes to down on the other side of the world, kiwi's are making the most noise on adland.

Peacay - great input. My god you're right comedian by night lawyer by day, there's his photo. How odd is that!? I guess you can have stranger hobbies.... I think idea that they might be fishing for twenty companies makes sense, maybe that's whats going on...