Looking for second opinions about
this. I engaged with the asker, with a view of getting them to eventually answer themself, and my comments seem to have helped them. A moderator later kindly reminded me of the principle of posting. I'm on a fence about this. It is, in some sense, my duty to compile the comments into an answer. At the time I felt like the question was lacking focus, often happens when the asker is confused about a concept.