Asking for help takes courage

in some circumstances. Surely we should therefore be careful about how we respond?
Asking for help or advice or even just information is not  uncommon on social media.There is also plenty of "help" and "advice" handed out  -not all of it welcome.
I was therefore a little puzzled when someone who is apparently a student in the area of textiles asked for some ideas for her thesis and had some, to my mind, less than helpful responses. Some were critical of the student even asking for help. 
    "Shouldn't you be thinking about this yourself?" someone asked.
I presumed the student was and was having the courage to look for ideas from further afield in a language not his or her own.
Of course there were people who would have no idea what sort of thing such a student might be expected to produce. There were plenty of responses which suggested politically related topics. Some of the topics suggested would make good subjects for research - but not in the area of textiles. Others might be challenging but  I doubt they would be suited to a thesis in textiles.
I was sure that the topic would need to have a practical component and some people ignored this. They did this even though the request for advice and information had come up on textile list which is concerned with actual textile work rather than any discussion about theory or artistic philosophy.
Textiles is a huge area. In a life time of study you will barely scratch the surface. I can understand a student seeking help. It won't necessarily be because they don't have any idea what they might work on. It is more likely that they do have ideas, too many ideas, and they are trying to work out just what they can do in a limited amount of time and space.
Having raised the issue of a practical component - more for the sake of some people who had commented than for the student - I did make a suggestion. I didn't say "do this" or "do that". I kept politics strictly out of it. The student's name gave me a clue as to cultural heritage. I put the suggestion as a question - something to get the student thinking in a more focussed way. 
I was talking to someone else yesterday and she said,
   "But you could do that because you are a teacher."
Is that true? I don't think so. I don't teach textiles to students at that level.  I was making an educated guess at the sort of thing a student is likely to be asked to produce. I wanted to encourage the student to think so that the idea they eventually pursue comes from them.
What is more the student actually helped me think. I've solved a problem as a result. 
I might just send them a message and tell them that. Asking for help can have unexpected consequences for others too.