Has anyone ever emailed back or shown up for a meeting after you
replied to one of these requests?
Yes, at least one has emailed back. We don't keep records of folks that just show up once, so it would be tedious (and impolite) to poll our members to see if a particular person did attend.
That one of them mentioned "extreme
CPU" is not very strange since in the new iMac 2.8GHz is a Core 2
Extreme processor.
I searched for "Extreme" on Apple's website, and the first screen referenced only Airport Extreme and generic uses of the word extreme. After several folk pointed out that there was an Extreme CPU, I went back and did the search again. The first page of the more complete results mentioned the Extreme CPU in passing, while describing a VESA wall mount for the iMac. Apple sure isn't pushing the CPU term.
And if you're worried about harvesting of addresses in CC, why not put
them in BCC?
Out of an abundance of caution I long ago stopped putting my associates in CC or BCC lists when communicating with unknown folk. Can anyone tell me whether BCC lists are not sent to the primary recipients, or are they just suppressed by their email reader?
Since many of my "symptoms" have innocuous explanations and no one has given a rationale for any subterfuge, I'll just chalk it up to a touch of paranoia on my part.