When meeting someone, anyone, especially for the very first time or for the few first times, whether it's online or in person, I think there are just 2 essential things to consider:
- The harmony factor : whether the person is friendly or hostile (and to what extent)
- The skill factor : whether the person in strong or weak, that is, in the areas which are relevant to you (and to what extent)
Those 2 critical factors (or the way they are perceived) would determine the direction of the relationship; depending on the context, other parameters may affect the next steps, but the general idea is the following.
If the person is:
- Friendly and strong in your areas of interest: your next move could be to try and figure out how you could collaborate, what you could do together, etc.
- Friendly and weak in those respects: you could then try to figure out how to help them improve and evolve.
- Hostile and strong: this may trigger your defensive system or make you consider being relatively careful, watching out for opportunities while avoiding any crisis.
- Hostile and weak: in many cases, it may be ok to simply ignore them.