one can go up to strangers and talk to them if there's some context.  one can tell if they're
gonna be scared just by looking at their body language.  but it works better if they've seen
you and spoken to ya a few times already in some place ya both go to.  this is the acclimatisation
phase, in which they decide if yer o.k. or not.  then ya can tell if they like ya because they'll tell ya
personal details, try to touch ya, try to get yer phone number or ask if they can stop by for a visit.

this brings up an issue where I screwed up in the chat room here.  it turned out that 3 or
4 of them were either autistic (as they described themselves) or had kids who were diagnosed
as such, and I said something stupid like "I'm so sorry", which was stupid and patronising.  but
when they have that syndrome they can't pick up on subtle cues of body language, inflection,
facial expression to know who likes them, hence they tell others (e.g. me) they feel isolated or
alienated.  I dunno the solution, as this is more an in utero or genetic issue than one with which
neuro-psychiatric methods are useful IMVHO.