[dboreham]

Because then the candidate will be upset when you lowball them because they're not as strong or experienced as your range max merits.

[duxup]

And you won't feel the same when someone picks a number?

[pdimitar]

That seems to be the going theory in these circles, yes. If there were no initial expectations then the candidate can't feel low-balled.

[BurningFrog]

Might be a way to filter out the Perpetually Angry Engineers...