May have been disinterest, shyness, just lack of something to say. The best way to find out if he's interested is if you talk to him and he responds well.
I don't go out of my way to make conversation with people I don't know, unless I've got a vested interest most of the time (or something catches my attention).
To your second question: if I were him, I wouldn't mind. Unless you happen to have dreadlocks or something (dirt alert! :P ), shouldn't be much of a problem. You have to remember though, the way you are received by someone is hugely involved with how attractive they find you. Main reason why men don't want men falling alseep on their shoulders for example.
Also, you have to remember that you're talking to a biased sample. As large and wonderous as the TFP may be, it is undoubtedly populated with an abnormally large percentage of introverts and shy persons due to the nature of the internet (haven of the introvert, myself included). So take the friendliness factor you get from the thread and bump it up a notch.