Osmaneurope, i think that is a little harsh. I too, have been accused of not having the courtesy of replying to someone's application even if they are very clearly totally outside of the advertised criteria. You often hear, 'the courtesy of a reply would have been at least expected!'
The reason I give is that genuinely we do not have the resources necessary to reply to those 'wishful thinkers' or those that feel we set a paricular criteria for no good reason at all. I might disregard them now, but I certainly would not hold it against them for having done so when they ultimately do meet the criteria.
I do however admit that certain 'offenders' could and do cause some feeling of irritation to those having to sift through endless applications that do not fit the criteria.
In my own case, I specifically remember one lady that sent me lots of 'thank you, no thank you letters' until such time as I met their 'undisclosed' criteria, at which point it was 'how soon can you come and meet us?' I will hasten to add that, at no point had I applied for anything that I did not qualify for or meet the advertised criteria.
If you do, don't expect a reply, let alone complain about a lack of courtesy.