I think that it's okay for someone to share their own experiences of interacting with someone. That doesn't mean that the person you're sharing it with has to feel or think the way you do about the other. I think it's just another data point to consider. Personally, I'm likely to place less weight on data from other sources versus my own experiences, but I don't discount them entirely, either. And the weight you might assign to the data will be based, in part, on any motivations you perceive or infer about why the person is telling you about it.

All we can do is take in the information we're given, seek out what we can, and put it together with our experiences to come up with our own truth. Not an easy or predictable task, but I think an important part of maintaining balance.

gg