Zakariya Abdullahi

Political Science w/ a concentration in Public Policy Major, Augsburg University 

Coach, Highland Park Senior HS

Abdullaz@augsburg.edu

Background: I did Policy Debate at Roseville Area High School. I am currently a student at Augsburg University majoring in Poli Sci, might also drop a Religion minor in there. Other than that, I am a coach at Highland Park Senior HS. 

Comments: 

• Speed should be inversely proportional to the complexity of the argument. I try to make it as visible as possible when you've lost me, so look up occasionally.
• I don't flow Cross-x, so if you want something to be on the flow for the round, say it in a speech.
• I am open to any argument as long as it flows well together, it is clear and well thought-out.
• I like seeing clashes in the round. Especially in CX. 
• Being kind to each other. I wouldn't vote you down simply because I don't like you, but, if you're a jerk your speaker points will suffer for your actions. 
• Time yourselves!

Remember to have fun, it is a learning experience. 

Pronouns: they/she (either is fine)

Please just call me Katherine.

Email: kbleth976@stkate.edu

I have coached at Rosemount High School since 2011 (policy until 2019, currently LD). I primarily judge LD nowadays, but I’ll include my opinions on policy positions in the off chance I have to judge a policy round. I’m sure it will mostly be an overlap.

Etiquette & Common Questions

1. I don't care if you sit or stand, where you sit, etc. Your comfort matters most to me.
2. Being rude to your opponent or to me will never bode well for you.
3. Bigotry will absolutely never be tolerated.
4. @ circuit debaters:If your opponent is clearly non-circuit/more local/more traditional...it does not look good to me for you to spread them out, read a bunch of crazy theory/arguments, etc. when they clearly will not be able to keep up nor have anything to say. I'm not saying to completely match their style/level nor abandon what you like to do, but try to at least be kind/understanding in CX and potentially slow down. Steamrolling people and then being condescending about it will never result in good speaks. To me, good debate is educational and fair. Keep that in mind when debating in front of me!

Spreading

1. tl;dr I have no problem with spreading and can flow it fine.
2. However, if you are not clear, that's not my problem if I can't flow it. I am not going to call out "clear!" because it is your responsibility to be clear.
3. The best way to be clear is to slow down on your tag/author. There is no reason for you to spread tags the same speed you spread everything else.
4. Sign-posting will honestly solve most problems. Just saying "and," "next," "1/2/3" etc. will make it significantly easier to flow you.
5. I don't flow speech documents. I flow you. If I didn't catch it in your speech, but it was in your speech doc - not my problem.
6. I hate when people spread theory/analytics. I'm not saying to read it at a normal speed, but slow down.

Paragraph long tags

I hate tags that are a paragraph long. I flow by hand. Tags that are 1-2 sentences? Easy. Anything beyond that? How am I supposed to write any of that down? Can you not summarize your argument in 2 sentences? If you write tags like this, I am not the judge for you. If you get me as a judge anyway, see my thoughts on spreading. Slow down on your tags.

"I did not understand your argument" is a possible RFD from me

To be fair, I've only given this as an RFD maybe 2 times. But still. It is on you to properly explain your argument, especially if it is kritikal/theoretical. You need to explain it in your own wordsin a way that is understandable to your opponent and to me. I'm familiar with a decent amount of K lit, but not a lot. I primarily judge on the local Minnesota circuit and attend a few national circuit tournaments a year. I don't know all the authors, all the Ks, etc. Debate is about communication. You need to properly communicate your arguments. I'm not reading your speech documents. Act like I only know the basics. This sort of explanation can happen in CX and rebuttals when answering questions and getting more into "explaining the story" and voters. It's okay to just read your cards as is in the constructive, but beyond that, talk to me as if I'm hearing this for the first time.

Topicality/Theory

1. Proper T/theory has a clear interpretation/violation/standards/voters. Obviously if it's condo theory, just standards/voters is fine. If pieces of this are missing, I am disinclined to care as much.
2. Clash. If there are two separate shells that don't actually interact, which do I prefer? Compare interps. Compare standards.
3. Voters. You need to tell me why I vote on your theory. Why is it a voter? Was their abuse - a loss of fairness, education, etc.? Personally I'm more inclined to vote on theory if a proof of abuse is providedorthe case for potential abuse is adequately made. Is it drop the arg, drop the debater? Is it a priori, is it just another voter in the round? How do I weigh it? I need to know these answers before I make a decision.
4. This is a personal thing, but I just hate theory for the sake of theory (I don't necessarily feel the same way about T, but that is much more applicable to policy than LD. I think T debates are good in policy period.). I do love theory/T when done well, but if it's showing up in the rebuttals, there better be an actual reason why I care. If you're not actually checking any abuse or potential abuse, then where are we going?
5. If you go for T/Theory in the 2NR/2AR: Then you better go all out. I hate when people go for non-theory and theory at the same time. If you go for a DA and T - which one am I weighing? Which one comes first? If you never articulate this, I'm going to take this as the green light to just vote on the DA if I think there is more offense there.

Disclosure Theory

Unless there has been genuine abuse and you literally had no ground in the round, I strongly dislike disclosure theory. I've never seen it done in a way that actually checks abuse. Maybe this is because I come from policy where I've never seen anyone actually go for disclosure - I just don't get it. If this is your strat, don't pref me.

Tricks

No thanks!

K/Methodology/Performance Cases

1. I've voted on all sorts of fun things. I'm completely open to anything.
2. Provide a role of the ballot and reasons why I should prefer your RoB.
3. Be prepared for a framework (not LD framework - framework on how we do debate) debate. I've seen so many K affs (in policy) fail because they aren't prepared for framework and only attack it defensively. Provide a framework with its own voters. Why should we adopt or at least allow your methodology? I will have no qualms voting on framework even if you are winning your K proper.

Kritiks

See earlier remarks on tags, explaining concepts, etc. I don’t like vague links on Ks or super vague alts. Please link it specifically to the aff. Provide a solvency mechanism for your alt, and please explain how exactly it solves.

CPs/DAs/etc

No specific remarks in the realm of policy. I am fine with these in LD. I am okay with more policy-like LD rounds, and I’m very familiar with these positions.

Framework (LD)

Framework is very important to me. Surprisingly, I prefer more traditional LD rounds (framework, contentions) over the policy ones, but my preference doesn't impact how I view one over the other. Link your impacts into your framework, weigh frameworks, etc. It plays a significant role in how I vote.

Random thought on util

I am very tired of hearing "utilitarianism justifies slavery." I'm putting this here as an opportunity for you to look into why that is a bad argument and look into better ways to attack util. This is not to say I won't evaluate that argument, especially if your opponent doesn't respond to it and if you explain it fine. I just think it's very poor and easily dismantled.

Overviews/Underviews

I personally really like overviews when done well. I like overviews that are brief and simply outline the voters/offense you have before you go onto the line-by-line. Overviews do not need to be more than 30 seconds long. Underviews are for posers.

At the end of the day, I’m open to any position and argument. For the longest time, my paradigm just said "I'll vote for anything," and it's still true to an extent. Well-executed arguments can override my preferences. I want you to have fun and not feel like you have to severely limit yourself to appease me. If you have specific questions, please ask me. Happy debating!

UPDATE:

I am a current graduate student @ UCLA in Asian American Studies. I am a community organizer who focuses on Southeast Asian issues, specifically deportation. My research is about the prison abolition, critical refugee studies, women of color feminism. I am updated on more critical literature as a result of being in grad school, but less on this debate topic.

I will be frank, I have not judged a debate in about a year (1st year of grad school). I would suggest you take this all with a grain of salt.

If you have questions before the round don't be afraid to ask!

Bio:

Debated for Bloomington Jefferson from 2011-2015.

I coached for Minneapolis Washburn: 2016-2018.

Here is a little about myself:

-I use they/them/theirs pronouns. Know it!

- I have judged about 20ish debates this season. I have not been traveling with the Washburn team this year. I have mostly been judging in Minnesota.

-I did "kritical/performance" debate in high school but this does not mean I will NOT vote for framework. I would recommend running arguments that you enjoy and are comfortable with in front of me.

-I was a 2A for 3 years in school but then switched to be a 2N.

-I would like to be added to the email chains before the round my email is turtlewalker10130@gmail.com

-I like to flow on paper, so please share some flow with me!!!!!!!! I will just flow on my cpu, but I flow worst on it tbh. Maybe share some pens with me too lol.

- I will probs be a point fairy @blake 2017 cuz I have judge a lot of bad debate this season without clash.

Things that I find important:

-Clarity. If I cannot understand you then I will not be flowing.

-Warrants. Tell me the reasoning behind your arguments. Do not just say “You don’t get a perm it’s a method debate” tell me why they don’t the perm.

-Do some impact calc, cuz why wouldn't you...

Case: NEVER FORGOT THE CASE DEBATE! You speaker points will be higher if you have a great case debate. I love me some good impact turns. DON'T READ STUFF LIKE RACSIM GOOD

Flashing:I prefer email chains tbh. I do not count flashing as prep unless used excessively. I know when your stealing prep just don’t do it if you do it will probs lower you speaker points I will start your prep. As stated above I want to be on the email chain.

Kritiks/Performance: I love a good K debate. K turns the case is my shit. You just have to give me a good explanation of the Kritik interacts with the AFF. You should explain the K not just use blipy K words. As stated above I have did performance debate my senior year in high school. If your reading a Kritical AFF I think the 1AC should be resolutional. If the 1AC isn't resolutional give me a reason why it isn't and why its important. I read arguments like queer theory, afro-pess, security, cap, fem, etc.

For alts, I would like to understand how it works. Material examples are always good and helpful. Most theory is written about real world shit, bring it back to that.

I read a good sum, but I am no expert. High theory args from European philosophers might have to do more work to get my ballot - meaning explain your shit. If you cannot explain that K or the alt to a working class person of color on the street, maybe don't read it infront of me or work on your explination.

Topicality: I view T as a DA. That the interp is just the link and the standers the impacts. I don't really like judging these debates, but they are necessary!!!!

DA: Anything can be a DA. I like a good DA debate but personally I find the politics debate to be boring use this information as you will. *UPDATE* PLTX IS GREAT I INTERN AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND FELT POWER IN MY HANDS. In high school, I thought the pltx da was gross, till this summer. While intern I helped with the nomination of the 10th Librarian of Congress, so I got a first-hand exp. of my boss using her pull cap.

CP: CP are chill. A good completive CP can reck people. PROBS NEEDS A N/B

Theory: My thresh hold for theory debates is kinda of high. I will probs not vote on unless the clearly drop condo bad.

Framework: Framework is how you frame your work. LOL, but for real I will vote for Framework. Most people I feel don't read framework well thought. Framework debates just become clash of civ. debates and it's hard to win framework if you don't answer the aff.

IS DEBATE A GAME. IS IT NOT A GAME. WHAT IS DEBATE IDK YOU TELL ME.

To me, framework seems to always come down to which model of debate is better.

FINAL NOTE: Have fun. Say funny shit. Make jokes. You should be having fun when you debate because if you aren’t when why are you debating. I am a human being at the back of the room. I think this something that is important to me. I feel like a lot of the national debate community is now hyper-focused on wins. I wish students don't feel so much stress from this activity. I want everyone to have fun!

Chris McDonald (He/Him) - chris.mcdonald@district196.org

Use the above email for any email chains during the round.

Head Coach Eagan High School in Minnesota

While I mainly have coached and judged Policy Debate for the past 37 years I do judge my fair share of LD, Public Forum and Congressional Debate Rounds.

Items for all formats to consider:

1. Disclosure theory: While I understand why this started out as something good for the community it has unfortunately morphed into an abusive argument and as such I will not consider it in my decision for the round.
2. Evidence sharing: Have a system for sharing evidence setup before the round begins. This will make this more efficient and your judges happier. If you are asked for a piece of evidence you just read and it takes you more than 10 seconds to find the card, you can use your prep time locating it or the argument will become unsupported by evidence.
3. Paraphrasing in Debate: I dislike paraphrasing and even though the rules allow it I find that is has become abused by some debaters. I would ask that teams read actual quotes from evidence and not paraphrase. If you do paraphrase your evidence must comport with current NSDA rules concerning how paraphrasing works in line with MLA standards.

Policy Debate - Please know that while I used to judge a lot of rounds throughout the season in policy debate it has been a few years since I judged more than a handful of policy rounds. I do work with my school's novice and varsity policy teams, so I should be fairly up to date on key arguments on the current on topic.

My philosophy has pretty much remained consistent throughout my career. I consider policy debate to be a test of policy based ideas between two teams. How those teams approach the topic and frame the debate is entirely up to them. Below are a few things to know about me on some specifics but please know my primary objective is for us to have an enjoyable round of debate.

Delivery Speed - Since it has been a few years for me since last judging lots of policy debate my ability to listen to really fast debate has faded. Please keep it to a slightly slower speed of delivery especially using the online platforms. I will let you know if you are unclear or going too fast by verbally indicating such during your speech. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being oratory speed and 10 being approaching the sound barrier (only joking here) I would place myself as a 7 these days.

Topicality - I enjoy a good topicality debate but have found that over the years teams are taking too many shortcuts with the initial development of the topicality violation. I prefer topicality to have a clear definition, a clearly developed violation, standards for evaluating the violation and reasons why it is a voting issue. For the affirmative side you really need to engage with the topicality violation and provide a counter interpretation that supports your interpretation of the resolution. Topicality is distinct from framework.

Framework - I also enjoy evaluating a debate when framework is clearly articulated and argued by both the affirmative and negative sides. Framework is focused around how you would like me to evaluate the arguments in the round. Do you prefer a consequentialist framework, a deontological framework, etc..

Critiques - I am fine with critical approaches by the negative and the affirmative sides. For the affirmative please keep in mind that you will need to defend your critical affirmative as either a topical representation of the topic or why it is important for us to debate your affirmative even if it isn't necessarily within the boundaries of the topic.

Flow - Please label all arguments and positions clearly throughout the debate. Signposting has become a lost art. Debaters doing an effective job of signposting and labeling will be rewarded with higher speaker points.

Disadvantages - Please be certain to articulate your links clearly and having clear internal links helps a great deal.

Counter plans - I think counter plans are an essential tool for negative teams. Please note that I am not a big fan of multiple conditional counter plans. Running a couple of well developed counter plans is better than running 4 or 5 underdeveloped counter plans. Counter plans should have a text to compete against the affirmative plan text.

Theory - General theory in debate rounds like conditionality are fine but have rarely been round winners without a lot of time devoted to why theory should be considered over substance.

If you have any questions please let me know and I will happily answer those questions.

Lincoln Douglas

1. I am not a fan of theory as it plays out in LD debate rounds. Most of the theory that is argued is pretty meaningless when it comes to the topics at hand. I will only consider topicality if the affirmative is presenting a plan text in the round or isn't debating the resolution we are supposed to be considering at that given tournament. I ask that the debaters debate the topic as it is written and not as they would like it to be.

2. Beyond my dislike for theory you are free to pretty much debate the round as you see fit. Please keep your speed to a level where you are clear especially considering buffering time with online platforms you should probably slow down from what you think you are capable of during in-person debates.

3. Evidence should be shared using an email chain. Please include me at chris.mcdonald@district196.org

4. If you have specific questions please ask. I will disclose at the end of the round but I will also respect the tournaments schedule and work to keep it on time.

Public Forum

1. Evidence is very important to me. I prefer direct quotation of evidence over paraphrasing. Please make note of the new NSDA rule regarding paraphrasing. Source Citations: make sure that you present enough of a source citation that I should have no problem locating the evidence you present in the round. This would include the author or periodical name and date at a minimum. So we are clear Harvard '23 is not a source citation. Harvard is a really great University but has, to my knowledge never written a word without the assistance of some human that attends or works at Harvard.

2. There is to be no game playing with regards to evidence sharing during or after the round. If you are asked for evidence by your opponents you must produce it in a timely manner or I will discount the evidence and only treat the argument as an unsubstantiated assertion on your part. Even if it means handing over one of your laptops you must provide evidence for inspection by the other team so that they may evaluate it and respond to the evidence in subsequent speeches.

3. Prep Time - you are only provided with 3 minutes of prep time, unless otherwise stated by the tournament you are attending. Please use it wisely. I will only give a little latitude with regards to untimed evidence sharing or organizing your flows, but please be efficient and quick about it.

4. Argument choices are completely up to the debaters. I prefer a good substantive debate with clear clash and that the debaters compare and weigh the arguments they feel are important for their side to prevail as the debate comes into focus but the substance of those arguments is completely within the control of the teams debating.

5. Please respect your opponents and treat everyone involved in the debate round with the utmost respect. Speaker points will be effected by any rude behavior on the part of a debater.

6. I will disclose and discuss my decision at the end of the round so long as there is time and the tournament stays on schedule.

7. Finally, please remember to have fun and enjoy the experience.

tl;dr: You probably won't want me judging a performance aff. K's are cool if you make me understand it, and give it a reason to vote for it in the round (Have. An. Impact). Policy oriented debate is cool. I have no issue voting on theoretical objections/T if they're impacted and shown why it matters.

I won't vote on a position I don't understand. Make sure you explain your position if you want me to vote on it.

[MN Novice Only]: If you break the rules of the packet I WILL NOT hesitate to vote you down, especially if the other team says something. This activity is difficult enough to learn, going into a grey area of packet rules makes it un-fun for other students and un-educational when I need to only coach whack-a-mole answers to rule breaking arguments instead of debate skills.

Email: Nixon@RosemountDebate.com

Experience:
I was a Policy debater for 4 years at Rosemount High School in Rosemount Minnesota. I was a very Policy heavy debater and rarely utilized Kritiks. I have been coaching Policy debate at Rosemount High School since graduating in 2010 and have been judging tournaments in Minnesota.

Philosophy:
I will listen and vote on almost any argument or position you choose to read in front of me. With this freedom of positions you can run there are some caveats though. I prefer to see policy impacts in the round. I would prefer a Counterplan and Disad debate over a critical debate any day. I like to see impacts I can weigh in the traditional Timeframe, Probability, and Magnitude model. This does not mean you cannot run a Kritik in front of me though. It just means that if you choose to run one you should make sure it has an impact in the round. If this is not a traditional impact which can be weighed against the Aff, you need to provide me a way to weigh your impacts in the round or I will likely fail to see how your Kritik is going to outweigh the plan.

I tend to weigh Kritiks and anything non-traditional against the aff (or neg, if you're running a non-traditional aff) in a very policy oriented way. I look for impacts, either in the round or after implementation of the plan. I tend to evaluate procedural arguments very heavily in the case of performance affs. I am often uncomfortable judging performance affs.

Kritiks come with a caveat as well. As I stated, I was a policy impact focused debater. I did not read the philosophy y'all are reading in your Kritiks, and I haven't since being a debater. Your position should be clear and there should be explanations of your positions if you are reading some obscure author I've never heard of. I welcome Kritiks, but make sure they have impacts, and make sure I can understand them, or I can't promise my interpretation of your K will match your interpretation.

Topicality and other procedural arguments are fine with me but I have to see why it matters at the end. If you just do a "Extend all of my T" at the end, I probably won't vote on it.

Speed is fine with me. Read as fast as you feel you need to, but make sure your tags are clear. I cannot stress this enough. If I cannot understand you during your tags You likely are not going to get your position across to me. Annunciate and you will be fine.

Email chains: I'd like to be on the Email Chain. I do think that Debate is a speaking activity though, and if I miss something I shouldn't be using the speech docs as a crutch to help unclear presentation. Sometimes I miss things because I'm running slow in the morning (8am is too early for me) and it's not your fault, or after lunch, or because I haven't had caffeine. These aren't your fault and I will use the speech docs in these situations.

Flowing: Debaters are starting to use speech docs as a crutch and not flow. It's incredibly common now for debaters to answer cards which were never read simply because they were in the speech doc. Also it's becoming common for debaters to think they need to send out altered versions of their docs to take out cards they didn't read. This is incredibly annoying and actively KILLING debate as a verbal activity. If this happens in a round I'm judging I will be lowering speaker points.

Tag team cross-ex is fine, unless you ask me if it's fine. Then it's only fine if you physically tag your partner when wanting to tag team.

Background

I am a former debate coach and high school teacher, and I have been the program director the Minnesota Urban Debate League. Currently, I am a technical lead for a software company.

Basics

Whether you win or lose will depend primarily on whether you can tell me a coherent narrative of why you should win. In the second rebuttal, you need to be able to give me a brief, relatively jargon-free, overview of how all the arguments you are going for fit together.

Specific issues:

Exclusivity/Elitism in the debate community. This is my number one concern about this activity. If you are making an argument, advocating a methodology, using a presentation style, or doing anything else that is exclusionary and the other team calls you out on it, I am very likely to vote on this over any other issue. More debate for more students is my primary motivation for participating in this activity, and if the other team convinces me that you hurt participation, I will vote you down.

Education. This is my second priority. Outside of framework debate (see below), this primarily means that you need to demonstrate to me that you have mastered your arguments. This means not relying on cards or pre-written blocks as a crutch. It also means being able to explain your arguments at varying levels of complexity. If you can’t make a Thing Explainer version of your argument, you should think hard about whether you really understand it. Lastly, valuing education means I think that a well-explained analytic is as good as most carded evidence.

If education is a voting issue for your framework arguments, you need to explain exactly how your advocacy does a better job than the other team at educating people about an important issue. This also means you need to justify why that issue is important.

Framing. By framing, I mean the ethical principles I use to weigh competing outcomes. In the absence of any argument about what principles I should use, I will default to consequentialist impact calculus. That said, you should know that I am likely to discount claims about magnitude relative to probability and timeframe. You are better served to focus on the link and internal link debate than on terminal impacts.

If you don't think my default framing is good for your arguments, you need to offer an alternative version. If there's a disagreement between the teams about which frame I should use to evaluate impacts, you should spend time on that debate, because I will evaluate the framing debate before I evaluate any impacts.

Framework. By framework, I mean decision rules about what types of speech acts should be given weight within a debate round. This includes arguments like Role of the Ballot, Topicality, and whatever you call That Thing Your Read Against K Affs. Absent an alternative presented in the round, I will default to role playing a policymaker.

As with framing, if you don't think policymaker is a good framework for considering your arguments, you should present an alternative one. If you win any argument about the appropriate framework to use, I will use the framework you presented as I understand it. You can win the framework debate by demonstrating that your framework does a better job, on balance, at achieving these goals:

• Improving the climate of the debate community to make it more welcoming, accessible, and inclusive

• Educating the debaters, judge, and any audience members

I am unlikely to vote on fairness or abuse arguments unless it is an internal link to improving access or education.

Performance Debate. All debate is a performance. If you are trying to gain some offense from the specific nature of your performance, I will treat it exactly as I treat framework generally, which means you’ll need to demonstrate how your performance makes debate more accessible and/or more educational.

Tabula Rasa. I am not artificially tabula rasa. This means there are a lot of things I genuinely don’t know about, but that I won’t pretend that I’m ignorant about issues I am familiar with. If you have a card that makes a factually incorrect claim and the other team makes any kind of coherent challenge to it, I will likely not consider that card at all. If you make an analytic argument that is premised on something factually incorrect, I won’t consider it even if the other team never addresses it.

Specific issues which might plausibly come up in a round and about which I have substantial expertise based on my academic and professional background include: statistical analysis, US state and federal government procedure, US national politics, US history and prehistory, human geography, macroeconomics, and AI/machine learning. If you make a factual error in any of these areas, I am very likely to notice.

Kritiks. I am unlikely to be familiar with the details of your kritiks or the authors on which they are based. This means you cannot rely on me to read between the lines and give you credit for an argument that you didn’t make explicitly. If you have a hard time explaining your K to me, that's a good sign that either you don't understand it yourself, or there isn't any real substance to it. Either way, I'm not likely to vote on it.

Speaker Points. 30 means I think you are the best speaker at this tournament. 29 means I think you deserve win a top 10 speaker award. 28 means I think you might deserve to win a speaker award, but I’m not sure. 27 means I think you don’t deserve to win a speaker award. 26 means I think you don’t deserve to win a speaker award, and I’m going to make sure of it. Anything less means that you were insufferably obnoxious or endangered the physical or emotional well-being of other people in the room.

Personal Information:

probably will not be judging anytime soon, and i'm updating this paradigm simply because tabroom made me. and if i am it's prob gonna be novices (if in policy) bc i'm very out of practice.

i debated in high school policy.

Email: awyang2951@gmail.com

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POLICY

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TL/DR

I'm mostly tabula rasa (I try my best); just don't make any offensive arguments. I am probably (unintentionally, I'm sorry!) predisposed to policy-like arguments, such as framework against the kritik. BTW I have VERY limited topic knowledge, so be aware of acronyms or anything hyper-specific to the topic, especially T definitions.

I've also very unfortunately had to judge more PF tournaments than policy ones, so be patient with me about this topic.

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Specific stuff:

Aff: By the 2AR, you better have a cohesive, comprehensible story of what your affirmative does and what it is. Including K affs. However, if your entire story was explained in the 2AR and not before that, and it's difficult for me and/or the other team to understand you, the threshold for winning is very high.

DAs: I like disads, and most of my neg rounds I've gone for one with a CP. Ptx and specific topic disads are probably very good ways to gain education about intricacies of the topic and nuances of policy. The neg should also have a cohesive story on what causes the disad to happen and what impact this leads to.

CPs: CPs are pretty cool. I like them. Even some of the trashiest disads become viable 2NRs combined with a good CP that solves. They obviously need to be competitive and NOT link to the net benefit. Also, theory can be a reason to reject the CP. Agent, Process, States etc. can be reasons to reject the CP. Judge kick? Meh. I'll decide depending on the round. Condo is usually the only reason to reject the team even if the CP is kicked.

Ks: I'm probably unfamiliar with most of the literature so you'll have to explain it thoroughly. Framework is very important and I'm most likely subconsciously aff-biased on the issue. Otherwise, really weigh the impact of the kritik against the impact of the affirmative. You also don't necessarily need an alternative to win, case turns and/or root cause arguments might be sufficient to win my ballot.

T: T is about two competing models of what debate for the year should look like. That being said, I have no idea of anything on this topic, so please explain your stuff. Talk about whose model is better for the year, (limits and ground, education and fairness, etc.) and whether the affirmative meets either interpretation. T is a gateway issue and I won't be persuaded to weigh the aff's impact before it.

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Speaker Points (this stuff is basically all for novices. for jv and varsity, i'm same as p much everyone else):

A 28.4 should be average. If you're good, I'll make them higher, obviously.

A 26 is if you are mean. Like, substantially mean. Yelling at the other team. Or stealing prep. Or saying something offensive.

A 30 if you would have been able to beat my partner and me our senior year.

For novices, a 28.8 or above is only possible:

1. If you are actually a novice that DOES A LINE-BY-LINE. please. do a line-by-line. it makes my flow prettier.

2. If you are a novice team that ACTUALLY SPLITS THE BLOCK. I HATE when the 2NC just takes everything and the 1NR just repeats it. It just ruins my otherwise really pretty flow.

3. If you are nice to the other team and have tag team be REASONABLE.

4. If you FLOW IN PEN - flowing in pencils or worse, COLORED PENCILS, should literally be BANNED from debate

5. If you don't extend 5 off in the 2NR - please just go for one thing... for your own benefit?

A 29 if I feel like you are REALLY REALLY good.

A 29.5 if I feel like you should be in JV.

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PF

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TL/DR

I'm a policy judge so I may weigh things a bit differently compared to a typical PF judge. Weigh your impacts and actually answer the opponents' arguments; don't just use broad, sweeping claims with nothing to back it up.

Long Version

Again, I was in policy, so I will probably judge your round with a policy perspective (whether subconsciously or not), in that:

1. I don't really accept impacts that are not really impacts. I am not convinced econ growth in and of itself is a good thing, for example (the exception is climate change. I think that you can just say "climate change" without listing potential disasters, as the negative effects of climate change are implicitly obvious). However, I will be very easy to convince that this impact leads to some terminal impact: increasing the job market as a result of econ growth can inherently be a good thing (unless the other side convinces me that the jobs are exploitative or something).

2. I'll, in a round, consider nuke war and other extinction impacts likelier than they actually are (in reality). As long as you win an internal link chain, you're good.

I have judged too many rounds in which PF debaters just read and say things at each other instead of actually clashing. It makes my job incredibly difficult because I might as well flip a coin at the end of the round to determine who wins, as I have two (or worse, >2) completely competing versions of what reality is/should be and no reason to prefer either of them. Do impact calculus and ENGAGE with the other team's arguments, PLEASE.

Speaks

I've heard that a 27.5 is average. So that is your baseline.