“We
received an unexpectedly high number of proposals, and we simply could not accommodate
all of the people who submitted papers. 
We are writing to relay the unfortunate news that although your project
was of great interest to us, after much discussion, we have decided to decline
to accept it for presentation at the conference.”

It was bound to happen eventually, and this was the first one I had submitted on my own in this area.  (The fact that the very first one I ever submitted on my own got accepted remains a mystery for me; I look back now and see what dreck it was….)

What bugs me most is that is pretty much all I got back.  No feedback or comments.  Which means I have nothing to use as I revise the proposal for another conference (due Feb 15).  Feedback would have been helpful.