If you play light tanks more than twice in World of Tanks you'll inevitably find yourself on a team with some impatient bush wanker who is screaming at you in chat to "GO SPOT!" If you're hiding at K0 that might be a reasonable request. If you're in a bush at F4 it might not be.
So what should you do? Here are my thoughts.
1. Reevaluate
Take a look at the map and figure out if there someplace you could relocate to for more effectiveness. It's possible there's another bush 30m over there that's worth trying. If it's at least not worse maybe give it a shot.
When you're reevaluating you have to consider if you can safely get to that spot and, maybe more importantly, even if you get there and instantly spot 15 enemy tanks will your team have any shots? There's limited value in spotting people nobody can shoot (If you have 2 or 3 arty there may be value and giving the team info about where people are is somewhat helpful) especially if it gets you dead in the process.
That said, sometimes just moving a little bit east or west can produce some additional useful spots and that may be worth trying.
2. Ignore them
If you've reevaluated and there really isn't anywhere you think you can go that would be worth it, then just be patient and stay where you are. Funny thing about World of Tanks - unless you're in an organized skirmish and it's your team's caller who is telling you to "go spot" you're not required to take orders from other players. He ain't the boss of you.
3. Teach them*
Occasionally if the battle is obviously going to be a loss and I'm just feeling spiteful I'll reply "Me pushing out there is just going to get me killed for limited gains. Be patient." If they insist, I'll sometimes reply "OK, let me show you why your idea is stupid."
Then I'll do what they ask and move forward to do an active scout run or get to a more advanced bush. 9 times out of 10 the result is exactly what I expect - I get spotted, multiple tanks from the other team shoot me, and my team does very little damage in return.
*The important thing to understand about the lesson you're teaching is that your teammate won't learn it. He'll blame you for executing his stupid plan, and 2 battles later he'll be screaming at some other poor scout "GO SPOT!".
What about the 10th time?
I said that 9 times out of 10 doing what your teammate ordered you to do just gets you killed. I have, on occasion, pushed out to do the spiteful active scouting run and had it actually work. Maybe the other team isn't very good, is surprised by your move, maybe the active scouting run wasn't that bad an idea afterall, or maybe RNG just smiled on you for that brief moment.
For whatever reason, every so often I've pushed out on the dumb scout run and been surprised that it's actually worked out.
You just need to give that one some honest thought. Was your evaluation wrong? Was the active run the right thing to do? Maybe.
Or maybe it really was a stupid idea and you got lucky. A stupid idea that works once is still a stupid idea. There are few metas in World of Tanks as prevalent as the player who does (or sees somebody else do) a particular play and have it produce a huge game...then they insist on doing that same move every time they get that map, even though it never works again.
4. Leave
If somebody's being a dick about insisting I spot the way they want me to, I will sometimes do as they say...by spotting the other side of the map. If they don't like me spotting 150m in front of them, let's see how they feel about me spotting 600m to the West instead.
At that point it's just me deciding not to help somebody who is being a dick in chat, and accepting that it may not be as good for the team.
This is also a lesson they won't learn. They usually just have a little tantrum that you left them to spot for themselves. Often they'll continue berating you even into private messages after the battle. The blocklist is a light tank player's best friend sometimes.
GLHF!
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