Taming NetworkManager's/GNOME's Wi-FI SSID list?

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

So, I live in the city. When I'm sitting in my house, there are no less
than *twenty* advertised Wi-Fi SSIDs visible to me, but there are only
_two_ of them that are actually accessible to me. All of the others
belong to other people around the neighbourhood (I don't even know who,
in most cases), and are locked. And the situation's not really much
better when I go to a shop or hotel that offers Wi-Fi to its customers:
it's great once I can find that one SSID and click on it, but it's
anguish to get to that point.

Is there some way to make either NetworkManager or the GNOME
NetworkManager front end just ignore all of those SSIDs?

It used to be that it was easy to find the Wi-Fi network I wanted,
because there were only a few--and they were all open; it was like,
I knew which house is the inn because it was the one with the
big "WELCOME" sign out front. Now the `scenery' of the wireless
landscape is totally different: it seems like there are more of them
every day, and already it's at the point where it's a major hassle to
wade through the sea of `"wouldn't it be nice if you were WELCOME here
but you aren't so gtfo" signs' to find the ones I'm looking for.

I'm not going to bother asking what the point is of publicly advertising
private resources; I'm just looking for a way of coping with it.

I'm drowning in Wi-Fi SSIDs.

Help.

-- 
"'tis an ill wind that blows no minds."