I have a standard rule that I use before going and bugging a co-worker or posting via social media/message forum about a technical question I might have. I invoke this rule except in cases where there's a production down or impaired situation and seconds count. Here's the rule:
Before I go ask for help, I'm going to look for myself via the following methods:
There's a couple of reasons for this:
I once had a co-worker who would ask anybody that came to him if they went down this type of checklist. If that person hadn't, he would politely tell them to do so and if they still couldn't find the answer, he'd be happy to help. It made the team around him better because he wasn't the single cog of information. Others became more self-sufficient.