Even assuming that your friend had never talked to them about you before (which is not guaranteed—I can’t count the times someone I’ve just met has told me “you’re the one who did $thing? my roommate/sister/fellow $town-er/whoever $name [usually a friend or a former classmate of mine] told me about you”—and I’m not even Eliezer Yudkowsky), they at least know that you’re friends with [the person who introduced you], which provides a lower bound on your level of sanity.
Once in a while, shortly after I’ve been introduced to someone by a mutual friend, I tell them stuff which would make someone I’ve just cold-approached freak the hell out (I guess—I have to extrapolate, as I wouldn’t even dream of telling someone I’ve just cold-approached that [redacted], for obvious reasons), and as far as I can tell they react positively.
Even assuming that your friend had never talked to them about you before (which is not guaranteed—I can’t count the times someone I’ve just met has told me “you’re the one who did $thing? my roommate/sister/fellow $town-er/whoever $name [usually a friend or a former classmate of mine] told me about you”—and I’m not even Eliezer Yudkowsky), they at least know that you’re friends with [the person who introduced you], which provides a lower bound on your level of sanity.
Once in a while, shortly after I’ve been introduced to someone by a mutual friend, I tell them stuff which would make someone I’ve just cold-approached freak the hell out (I guess—I have to extrapolate, as I wouldn’t even dream of telling someone I’ve just cold-approached that [redacted], for obvious reasons), and as far as I can tell they react positively.