If anything, it's the opposite. I often don't assume anything and only later find out that the other party had their feelings hurt.
I like to treat people well. I love it, actually. But when I'm being polite and gracious, especially to someone hosting an event or just to anyone, really, they can take it to mean that there is some romantic potential there. Small gestures on my part can get the wheels turning and create extravagant expectations. A couple of examples. I greeted a woman who had hosted an event: I shook her hand and thanked her. She started to msg me on Facebook and on my phone repeatedly. I didn't reply since I didn't want to encourage her, and now she has removed me from her Facebook group.
Another woman I had a casual fling with. She notified others that she was in love with me and implied I had broken her heart. What?!?
A third girl also removed me from a Facebook group. She's approached me several times, tried to tease and game me. I had some inkling of her interest level, but never thought much of it until she took her revenge for me not showing any interest.
I've even had random bro's throw tantrums in public where they accused me of flaking on hanging out with them, which was a total lie lol. Other guys spread rumors about me because they are jealous.
And yeah I've tried being explicit about a lack of interest. In fact, sometimes friends or people close to me have made it clear that I need do so to limit the emotional impact. Doesn't matter, the girl is devastated anyway.
I'm just smh writing this stuff down. It's hard to understand how grown adults can act so childish. Spoiled, entitled, bratty behavior is so common these days. It's actually the norm. I've realized there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm not going to worry about it. If they're going to act like children, that's on them, not me.
Oddly, I've had some 'miscommunications' with a few girls at their work site, where they came on very strong and I didn't reciprocate (their behavior was just out of the blue). It's probably just a coincidence, but some of these women ghost their jobs immediately afterwards. That may be a different topic, but I'm often surprised by how strongly invested people can become in such a short period of time, with such minimal interaction.