> maybe the OP is asking "for a friend" That's what I initially thought, but it's a throwaway account. There's no risk that the post will be traced back to a r

> maybe the OP is asking "for a friend" That's what I initially thought, but it's a throwaway account. There's no risk that the post will be traced back to a real-world person. And a first-person accounting would invite commenters to help directly. I've seen Ask HN threads where the poster had a substance abuse problem. The community is very accepting when it comes to these things.