All Mariah Carey wanted for Christmas was you. Freddie Mercury and Queen wanted a lot more. All in fact. But what will the league of sysadmins desire most when their Appreciation Day rolls round next week?

Now in its 23rd year, SAAD or System Administrator Appreciation Day is slated for July 29, and the The Register is considering the best way to thank our resident techies for doing their thing.

To prove it's a real event, SAAD even has a [1]website and the tone leads us to believe real live sysadmins created it.

[2]

"This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgment. It's the least you could do," the site urges the reader.

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Why have a day to call their own? Because "System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year," the expectant sysadmins write.

SAAD is sandwiched between [5]Aunt and Uncle Day on July 26 and Father-in-Law Day on July 30. It also follows Pi Appreciation Day on July 22 – today, yay – and comes ahead of National Lighthouse Day on August 7 and Middle Child's Day later that month.

[6]An irritating itch down the back of your neck? Searing midsummer heat? Of course, it can only be SysAdmin Day

[7]Microsoft runs 179 admin portals, says sysadmin supergroup

[8]North Korean hackers pwned cryptocurrency sysadmin with GDPR-themed LinkedIn lure, says F-Secure

[9]It's always DNS, especially when a sysadmin makes a hash of their semicolons

"Without your friendly neighborhood sysadmin, you wouldn't even be able to see this page, or read and send email," the SAAD website continues.

"They're the hard-working men and women who bring you cool new stuff all year (new phones, tablets, laptops, huge monitors, and reliable new computers). SysAdmins love to spread the wealth – and this year you can return the favor."

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So what to buy the people that carry our corporate lives in the palm of their hand? We suspect our own sysadmin champs will want booze, hard booze, and lots of it, maybe a case of beer or wine Scotch.

Other [11]suggestions on the website include a cake and ice cream party, a punch and pie party, cookies/brownies, gourmet chocolates, a case of ice mocha cappuccino or tickets to a sports game. These all sound a bit obvious so we want to use our best resource, Reg readers, to generate some ideas.

It might even be something as simple as users refraining from being idiots for 24 hours. That's likely not doable but there's no harm in asking.

[12]

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and we'll run up a poll before the BIG DAY to see which idea has won out. ®

Get our [13]Tech Resources



[1] https://sysadminday.com/?page_id=41

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YtrJnSvBOkh8NL83lzXDwgAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtrJnSvBOkh8NL83lzXDwgAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YtrJnSvBOkh8NL83lzXDwgAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://www.cute-calendar.com/category/appreciation-days.html

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/07/31/sysadmin_day/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/04/179_microsoft_admin_portals_listed_at_msportals_io/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/25/lazarus_group_north_korea_linkedin_lure/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/23/who_me/

[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YtrJnSvBOkh8NL83lzXDwgAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[11] https://sysadminday.com/?page_id=56

[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YtrJnSvBOkh8NL83lzXDwgAAABM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/