In my opinion and experience, there is a give and take between the two. First, when meeting a stranger, you may make a small self-disclosure of no major consequence. Something as simple as telling your occupation or your hometown. It's hardly a disclosure at all, and requires little or no trust. If they respond positively and reciprocate, a bit more trust grows, and you disclose something a bit more meaningful. They reciprocate and gain more trust, and so on... It's not really a case of one coming before the other, they go hand in hand. — Meg 44 secs ago

It sounds like you’re having a hard time. I’d really like to help you, but unfortunately, we’re not equipped to do so here. Your best option might be to call a suicide hotline. People are on call there to talk to people struggling with tough issues, wherever you are. If calling is not good, you can chat with them live online. It might not help, but what’s the harm? — Spagirl 10 secs ago

@Noon I would tend to agree with DaveG that this answer is pretty gender neutral. I've both used a similar technique myself and have had dates use similar at the end of a date. — BKlassen 52 secs ago

I'm in the tech world, and I have generally seen it handled by asking, "Where should I direct technical questions?" Then the PM will either say that they can handle it, or designate a technical point of contact. I haven't found it to be usually true that PM will claim technical knowledge they don't have. It's not in their best interest to do the extra work (with likely worse outcome) of trying to cobble together responses to teach questions they don't understand. — Meg 1 min ago

Unfortunately, questions asking whether or not something is ok are off-topic per the help center. However, I do think there's a good question about how to tactfully join an existing conversation in your post. You should consider editing your question to focus more on that aspect to make it on topic here. — Rainbacon 1 min ago

As I wrote in the OP, my ex actually agreed to stay away from some meetings, but decided to break our agreement. Therefore, I see no point in trying to talk to her again. — hephaisto 55 secs ago

+1 for finding an ally. I have a huge family (over 40 cousins), and most of them are happy extroverts. Finding the handful of equally introverted people has been a huge benefit to me. — L.S. Cooper 8 secs ago