Well, on our team their are two types of scouting. Pit scouting (The type you mentioned in your original post, and making note of team's attitude toward you asking questions.) and match scouting (Watching
EVERY match, keeping track of certain criteria, and making note of outstanding teams).
Generally, pit scouting is not so horrible as far as people not wanting to do it. I think this is true mostly because you can get it done in about 1-3 hours per regional. You also get to interact with the other teams and their members which is also pretty cool.
Match scouting is where it is really difficult to fins a willing scout. I have one reason for this, match scouting is
BORING! I am sure some may disagree and say its better that standing around in a pit wishing you had something to do. Here are a few reasons to defend my statement...
- All you do is sit there for a long period of time and watch robots
- You don't really get to watch each match as you are watching an individual robot
- You do not get to interact with other teams, students, or hang out with friends.
I'm sure some will disagree with me, but I have little hope that match scouting will ever get "fun" its still watching a robot rather than a match...