Some people don’t want advice, they want a dumping ground. You’re allowed to close the site.

Someone working through a hard thing and someone using you as the place to put it are not doing the same thing. You can usually tell afterwards: nothing changes, the same story arrives next week, and every suggestion gets turned down before you finish saying it. Caring about a person does not mean holding an unlimited amount of their weight.

You can be kind and still have a limit. Ask whether they want help thinking or just want to be heard, then give an honest amount of either. When you are empty, say you cannot do this one tonight and offer tomorrow.