And if that person has already answered the info in the thread, then you're taking their valuable time from them .... so, sorry, I really do think it's worth making the effort to do so yourself, first.
One thing I will do, if I'm trying to save time and yet get info in a thread is to scan thru, looking for the posts made by the OP (or whomever I'm looking for info from) and read only those ones while skipping over the post made by other people. However, you can be short changed, as often others contribute the info you can be looking for!