Had some phone conversations and then a technical screen from a potential team member. Came on site for a round of interviews, I think five in total, and had lunch there. It was specifically mentioned that they don't do exploding offers because they believe they are the wrong thing to do. So that got them some points on doing the right thing. But then every time I could be cut off in discussion I was, so that they could take control of the situation and control the discussion about compensation. It wasn't really a discussion at that point and seemed like a berating of sorts. My opinion is that taking some moral high ground relative to your competitors (via not doing exploding offers, etc) is not worth anything if the psychological control is just moved to some other part of the process. Negotiations involve two sides, let people talk and express themselves and see if you can reach an accord. My advice for future interviewees: don't mention anything about compensation in verbal communication, tell them this is a big part of a big decision and, since it will all be in writing anyway, you want to do this part via email. Just to make sure you collect your thoughts properly and everyone is happy at the end. If they can't deal, walk. Because of this behavior, I short circuited the process after the on site. The individual people I interviewed with seemed great. Some senior people seemed a little full of themself in some smarmy, weird, laid back kind of way.