Logistics…

1) Let's use Speechdrop.net for evidence sharing. If you are the first person to the room, please set it up and put the code on the board so we can all get the evidence.

2) If, for some reason, we can't use speechdrop, let's use email. I want to be on the email chain. mrjared@gmail.com

3) If there is no email chain, I’m going to want to get the docs on a flash drive ahead of the speech.

4) Prep stops when you have a) uploaded the doc to speechdrop b) hit send on the email, or c) pulled the flash drive out. Putting your doc together, saving your doc, etc... are all prep. Also, when prep ends, STOP PREPPING. Don't tell me to stop prep and then tell me all you have to do is save the doc and then upload it. This may impact your speaker points.

5) Get your docs in order!! If I need to, I WILL call for a corrected speech doc at the end of your speech. I would prefer a doc that only includes the cards you read, in the order you read them. If you need to skip a couple of cards and you clearly indicate which ones, we should be fine. If you find yourself marking a lot of cards (cut the card there!), you definitely should be prepared to provide a doc that indicates where you marked the cards. I don’t want your overly ambitious version of the doc; that is no use to me.

** Evidence sharing should NOT be complicated. Figure it out before the round starts. Use Speechdrop.net, a flash drive, email, viewing computer, or paper, but figure it out ahead of time and don’t argue about it. **

I have been coaching and judging debate for many years now. I started competing in 1995. I've been coaching LD debate for the last 10 years, prior to that I was a CEDA/NDT coach and that is the event I competed in. My basic philosophy is that it is the burden of the debaters to compare their arguments and explain why they are winning. I will evaluate the debate based on your criteria as best I can. I can be persuaded to evaluate the debate in any number of ways, provided you support your arguments clearly. You can win my ballot with whatever. I don’t have to agree with your argument, I don’t have to be moved by your argument, I don’t even have to be interested in your argument, I can still vote for you if you win. I DO need to understand you. Certain arguments are very easy for me to understand, I’m familiar with them, I enjoy them, I will be able to provide you with nuanced and expert advice on how to improve those arguments…other arguments will confuse and frustrate me and require you to do more work if you want me to vote on them. It’s up to you. I’ll tell you more about the particulars below, but it is very important that you understand – I believe that debate is about making COMPARATIVE ARGUMENTS! It is YOUR job to do comparisons, not mine. You can make a bunch of arguments, all the arguments you want, if YOU do not apply them and make the comparisons to the other team, I will almost certainly not do this for you. If neither team does this work and you leave me to figure it out, that’s on you.

The rules have changed for LD, however, that does not change my paradigm. The important change to the rules says this - "judges are also encouraged to develop a decision-making paradigm for adjudicatingcompetitive debate and provide that paradigm to students prior to the debate."

The paradigm I'm providing here should not be understood to contradict "the official decision making
paradigm of NFA-LD" provided in the rules.

Topicality is a voting issue. If the negative wins that the affirmative is not topical, I will vote neg. My preference is to use the least punitive measure allowed by the rules to resolve any procedural/theory violations...in other words, my default is to reject the argument, not the team. In some instances that won't make sense, so I'll end up voting on it. Topicality is a voting issue. This is VERY clear. If the negative wins that the affirmative is not topical, I vote neg. I don’t need “abuse” proven or otherwise. Not all of the rules are this clearly spelled out, so you'll need to make arguments. Speed is subjective. I prefer a faster rate (I can flow all of you, for the most part, pretty easily) of delivery but will adjudicate debates about this.

Attempts to embarrass, humiliate, intimidate, shame, or otherwise treat your opponents or judges poorly will not be a winning strategy in front of me. If you can’t find it within yourself to listen while I explain my decision and deal with it like an adult (win or lose), then neither of us will benefit from having me in the room. I’m pretty comfortable with most critical arguments, but the literature base is not always in my wheelhouse, so you’ll need to explain. Particularly if you are reading anything to do with psychoanalysis (D&G is possibly my least favorite, but Agamben is up there too). Cheap shot RVI’s are not particularly persuasive either, but you shouldn't ignore them.

Background: I debated in Parli from 2003-2007. Asst. Coach at Pacific from 2007-09. DoF at Delta College 2011-2019. I prefer policy style debate over value.

debate is a competitive game. Have fun and kick some ass. Don’t be rude... I was rude when I debated; no good came from it. Be better than me.

What I like: clash. A plan. Realistic “Probable” impacts. Rebuttals that make me want change religions. A PM that makes eye contact during their PMC. Debaters that debate to the audience instead of their egos. Ks. Tag lines. Warrants, I love warrants. Evidence, at least some. Sarcasm. Penguins. Oh and topicality, this argument used to be so cool! Let’s bring it back 2020!

What I hate: two ships passing in the night. Bad speed: debaters who go fast to be cool, but they can’t be understood because they are bad at it. Rebuttals that just summarize. Not answering POIs. Expecting me to be persuaded by you when I have yet to see the whites of your eyeballs. I hate nuclear war as an impact... is that still a thing?...if so don’t run it, I don’t buy it... no really stop thinking illl buy it from you...you’re a dirty dirty liar and the truth is not in you! If your opponent runs nuclear war- collapse down to your opponent is an idiot that doesn’t understand international politics and they should lose the ballot. I will probably vote for the team that doesn’t say the word “nuclear”

okay, so probability over magnitude impacts wins my ballot. Nuclear war is an automatic loss. And yeah beyond nuke war have fun. I’ll flow ya, just speak slower than 260 WPM.

I do my best to let the arguments unfold in the round and not let my bias intervene. I don't mind any theoretical positions. All theoretical positions need to be won and fleshed out in round. In terms of speed, if you fly, I may need to ask you to slow a bit, and if your opponent needs you to slow and asks, I expect you too.

I have two years of competing Parli and LD, so here’s some of my stances? Over all I am okay with whatever you choose to read in the debate, I care more about your justifications and what you as the debaters decide in round I’m okay with speed, as long as it’s not stupid fast if I need you to slow down for me I will let you know. This being said I do my best to keep up with the debate and flow every argument. However, I also will not stress if your 5 uniqueness blips don’t ALL get on my flow. I am unafraid to miss them and just say “I didn’t get that”. So please do your best to use words like “because” followed by a strong logical basis for your claim and I will do my best to follow every argument. Also, if you stress your tag I will be able to follow your warrants more too.

AFF:

If you want to run a Kaff you can just be sure to defend it and prove that it has solvency for the issues you bring up. I do not find them as persuasive as running case proper, but won’t disregard or vote you down if you do. Other than that defend yo-self and prove why you’re preferable over the neg. I think that’s a fair request.

NEG:

Disads - I like to hear Disad vs. Case debate. However I am not against any type of Disads being run in front of me.

CP - Sure, they’re a useful thing, so run it if you want. Conditional CPs are perfectly fine, I believe they do make more sense for Policy debate. Unconditional CPs make more sense for Parli Debate. So, I won’t disregard Condo-Bad theory, on face. I will be viewing both as you characterize them.

I do not think that “We Bite Less” is a compelling argument, just do not link to your own disad. In terms of perms, if you do not in the end prove that the Perm is preferential to the plan or cp, then I will simply view it as an argument not used. CP perms are not advocacies- it is merely to demonstrate the ability for both plans to happen at the same time, and then the government team should offer reasons the perm would resolve the disads or be better than the CP uniquely. K perms can be advocacies, particularly if the Alt. is a floating PIC, but it needs to be explained, with a text, how the permutation solves the residual links.

T/Theory - I believe T is about definitions and not interpretations, but not everybody feels the same way. This means that all topicality is competeing definitions and a question of abuse in my book. Not either or. As a result, while I have a hard time voting against an aff who was not abusive, if the negative has a better definition that would operate better in terms of ground or limits, then I will vote on T. To win, I also think you must either pick theory OR the case debate. If you go for both your topicality and your K/DA/CP I will probably not vote on either.

In terms of other theory, I evaluate theory based on interpretations and I think more specific and precise interpretations are better. Contextualized interpretations to parli are best. I also think theory is generally just a good strategic idea. However, I will only do what you tell me to do: i.e.- reject the argument v. reject the team. I also do not vote for theory immediately even if your position is a position I generally agree with. You will have to go for the argument, answer the other teams responses, and outweigh their theoretical justifications

At the end: Evaluating rounds- I evaluate rounds as a PMR. That means to me that I first look to see if the affirmative has lost a position that should lose them the round (T’s and Specs). Then I look for counter advocacies and weigh competing advocacies (K’s and Alts or CP’s and Disads). Finally, I look to see if the affirmative has won

PLEASE DO IMPACT CAL. TELL ME WHY YOUR SHIT MATTERS

I have two years of competing Parli and LD, so here’s some of my stances? Overall I am okay with whatever you choose to read in the debate, I care more about your justifications and what you as the debaters decide in round I’m okay with speed, as long as it’s not stupid fast if I need you to slow down for me I will let you know. This being said I do my best to keep up with the debate and flow every argument. However, I also will not stress if your 5 uniqueness blips don’t ALL get on my flow. I am unafraid to miss them and just say “I didn’t get that”. So please do your best to use words like “because” followed by a strong logical basis for your claim and I will do my best to follow every argument. Also, if you stress your tag I will be able to follow your warrants more too.

AFF:

If you want to run a Kaff you can just be sure to defend it and prove that it has solvency for the issues you bring up. I do not find them as persuasive as running case proper. Other than that defend yourself and prove why you’re preferable over the neg. I think that’s a fair request.

NEG:

Disads - I like to hear Disad vs. Case debate. However, I am not against any type of Disads being run in front of me.

CP - Sure, they’re a useful thing, so run it if you want. Conditional CPs are perfectly fine, I believe they do make more sense for Policy debate. Unconditional CPs make more sense for Parli Debate. So, I won’t disregard Condo-Bad theory, on the face. I will be viewing both as you characterize them.

I do not think that “We Bite Less” is a compelling argument, just do not link to your own disad. In terms of perms, if you do not, in the end, prove that the Perm is preferential to the plan or cp, then I will simply view it as an argument not used. CP perms are not advocacies- it is merely to demonstrate the ability for both plans to happen at the same time, and then the government team should offer reasons the perm would resolve the disads or be better than the CP uniquely. K perms can be advocacies, particularly if the Alt. is a floating PIC, but it needs to be explained, with a text, how the permutation solves the residual links.

T/Theory - I believe T is about definitions and not interpretations, but not everybody feels the same way. This means that all topicality is competeing definitions and a question of abuse in my book. Not either-or. As a result, while I have a hard time voting against an aff who was not abusive, if the negative has a better definition that would operate better in terms of ground or limits, then I will vote on T. To win, I also think you must either pick theory OR the case debate. If you go for both your topicality and your K/DA/CP I will probably not vote on either.

In terms of other theories, I evaluate theory based on interpretations and I think more specific and precise interpretations are better. Contextualized interpretations of parli are best. I also think theory is generally just a good strategic idea. However, I will only do what you tell me to do: i.e.- reject the argument v. reject the team. I also do not vote for theory immediately even if your position is a position I generally agree with. You will have to go for the argument, answer the other team's responses, and outweigh their theoretical justifications

For both Aff and Neg: on K's I don't find K's as persuasive as a running case proper. I'll listen to them, but remember that personally, it's not my preference and that you'll need to do more work for it to convince me ie. giving a realistic alt that functions both inside the round and outside of it, and that will actually solve the structural issue that you bring up. I don't vote on the risk of solving with the alt.

At the end: Evaluating rounds- I evaluate rounds as a PMR. That means to me that I first look to see if the affirmative has lost a position that should lose them the round (T’s and Specs). Then I look for counter advocacies and weigh competing advocacies (K’s and Alts or CP’s and Disads). Finally, I look to see if the affirmative has won.