I mean, I love chatting to strangers on pubtrans, in daylight, and/or in places where there are a lot of people around. People are generally friendly and I like talking.

But if we're talking about situations in which people are trying to avoid being creepy, that implies to me a situation that's isolated and/or with poor visibility.

It's a matter of opportunity risk, really. Any given person you pass on the street has a cetain probabily of being "creepy", which is not very high. However, predators are much less likely to act in a situation where there are witnesses, so if you're in a public place the chance of entering into a bad encounter is much lower. Passing someone late at night on a lonely street does not make them more likely to be a creep, but if they are a creep more likely to take advantage of the isolated situation. Thus people taking interest in me in those situations are viewed with suspicion.

Of course, it being daylight doesn't mean creeps won't be creeps. I've certainly been flashed and groped and leered at in the day time in public places. But really, that was all they had the power to do. If I met one of those people late at night (and I have been followed and leered at late at night when I've needeed to walk alone), I think it is not unlikey they would try something more invasive.