I agree, but having to spend the time on the phone with them or writing up a crafty email where I actually don't use 'hello $NAME' just to find out the salary range would be nice.

Any competent recruiter should be able to open a conversation with a developer by quoting a salary range.

Perhaps, but it can also be a good filter. Experience replying to the messages would tell.

I've had some rather amazing opportunities that came without a salary range in the initial email. Using that as the primary factor is surely suboptimal.

Curious to know what these emails looked like. Were they random messages from recruiters? Or emails from friends or friends of friends?

From recruiters. I can spot the good ones.

Care to share your knowledge with us? I've just been ignoring them all as well.