[SilasX]

I didn't have to, that's just a prominent, citeable example that immediately came to mind. People get ghosted all the time for being too difficult, it just doesn't make the news. It can always make sense to end negotiations when you expect the other person to have unreasonable expectations and/or if you have a backlog of difficult alternatives you can pick.

If you're going to reply, please drop the absolutes -- you're asserting a confidence you can't possibly have here. "No incentive"? Of course there is, you just don't think it's big enough to worry about. So say that instead of asserting a model that can't be true.

"No downside"? Come on, reality rarely works like that.

[OkayPhysicist]

I'm struggling to imagine the conversation that would take place. Do they just hang up on you / immediately shut up and have you escorted from the premises? I don't think I've ever gotten a written offer before a verbal one.

[psanford]

I'm comfortable with what I said.

It is fascinating that some people are so afraid of negotiating that they make up excuses why they won't try, and then they try to convince everyone else that negotiating is too dangerous to attempt.

[SilasX]

I wasn't making up excuses: the danger is real. If you don't have enough leverage to withstand the party walking away, you don't have enough leverage to ask for more. I didn't say "don't negotiate", or "it's too scary"; I'm saying, be ready for the consequences, and don't falsely zero out real risks. That shouldn't be controversial.

It's kind of telling that you have to resort to pathologizing me instead of addressing the concern.