There is an anti-spam technique called "Grey Listing" which has almost completely eliminated spam from my main server. What's left still goes through my SpamAssassin and Amavis-new filters, but they have considerably much less work to do.
The technique is more than a year old but I've only installed a greylist plug in recently and I'm impressed at how well it works. I hope by writing this article other people that have procrastinated will decide to install a greylist system.
Usenix/SAGE has announced their call-for-papers for LISA 2006.
This is the 20th Large Installation System Administration Conference. Has it really been 20 years? Wow, how time flies. This year's conference will be December 3-8, 2006 in Washington, D.C. (The deadline for paper submission is May 23, 2006).
I wrote Bill LeFebvre and told him, "Ah heck, don't do the whole 'call for papers' thing this year! You're a smart guy! Write all the papers yourself! You gots tons of ideas."
But no, he wouldn't listen to me.
He said, "Tom, that's not how the conference works. We collect papers from all over the world that real sysadmins submit. These papers describe solutions and innovations from everything from video processing to new security issues to better ways to run helpdesks. So we collect them and read them all and pick the absolute very best. Just those papers are accepted and presented at the conference." (Footnote: By now I hope you realize this conversation is fictional.)
"Bah!" I replied. "That sounds like a lot of work! The conference has been around for 20 years! Why not just pick 20 past papers and reprint them. Nobody will know the difference."
"Tom, that'd be looking at the past." Bill rebuffed. "While it's always good to remember our history, LISA is about innovation. We look for papers that are forward-looking. Attendees come back from our conference saying, 'Wow! I just saw the future! I'm going to look like a freakin' genius with the new 'vision' I have for our little IT group." (Footnote: Bill would never use the term "freakin'")
"Oh well, I guess you're right." I said. That's a much better idea!
(insert "ABC After School Special" theme song)
And that's how I learned all about the importance of submitting papers to LISA.
(Disclaimer: Bill has no idea I wrote this. Click below to read the actual "Call for Papers")
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