Rotten Grapevine

One thing I have come to learn is that second hand accounts of people are inherently unreliable. This may seem like a pretty obvious statement but there's more to it than you'd think. Typically the person being talked about (person B) is a friend or loved one of a friend or loved one (person A). We have never met person B, or possibly only met briefly, as a result the only impressions we get of this person are from other people's (person A's) accounts of them. So if our friend is upset at this absent person, that's going to color our perceptions about them. Rarely does one just bring up person B and go on about their virtues, it tends to be that person B has angered or upset person A and A is now venting. If this happens enough, all we know about person B is that they seem to be a total jerk and have no redeeming features. Then when we voice this opinion to person A they instantly defend person B claiming we've got them all wrong and they're really a good person. We will tend to be skeptical of this since we've never heard anything resembling that sentiment before. We lack the ability to forgive person B's flaws since we have no counterbalance to all this negative info. This both blinds us and gives us clarity on the true nature of person B; we have obviously never met them and have no way to judge their character as a whole. We might, in fact, like them just as much as person A does if only given the opportunity. On the other hand, since we are not friends with them we are immune to their charms and may see inexcusable behavior for what it is and not be duped into ignoring it.
Will knowing any of this prevent you from making judgments about people you have only heard about? No, of course not. The ultimate outcome of that is when, through differing accounts, I thought that Frank's friend Connie was literally three different people. With that in mind, remember until you actually meet them, you only know half the story.
Except for person C, they clearly suck.