Background: I debated for 4 years at Notre Dame High School. Debated for Cal for 1 year.

Judging: I try to be tab.

- Also if your rhetoric is sexist, homophobic, harmful in other manners - your speaks won’t be good. Just be respectful.

- I’ll try to give 27-29 for speaker points so impress me if you want more than that.

Debate:

Case Debate: that’s good

Cps: great. Don’t do time-delay or advantage cps - those are usually not good. Perms are fine.

Impacts: terminalize them - also, good link stories help me buy your impacts. If going for Nuclear War/Extinctions - please have a good link story. Also please do IMPACT WEIGHING IN YOUR VOTERS.

Ks: Please don’t. I can't keep up with the level of spreading that is usually required to execute a K properly.

Theory: It is fine. Just make sure you have good voters and how it operates in the round. If you’re running theory to skew your opponents out - reconsider. Also if you are going for theory, you should collapse to it in your voters.

Presentation

• Signposting will be helpful for everyone in the round
• Tagteaming is okay but be reasonable.
• POIs: useful: take at least 1 per speech?
• Speed: moderate speed; your opponents have the right to yell SLOW or CLEAR.

Other: Texts of CPS/Plans should be available to your opponents in round

Questions: Message me on FB or ask before the round.

P.S: Don’t try to shake my hand =) ... guess this doesn't matter now

*Format for this paradigm was copied from Steven Herman*

Basics: I have experience with parli and will flow + vote off the flow. Make sure you're clear with signposting and extend your impacts.

Experience: I debated parli for all of high school at Berkeley High. I'm currently a coach for Berkeley High debate, and I've coached for SNFI.

Speed: I can handle a reasonable amount of speed but if you spread too much I won't be able to understand.

Theory: Don't'run frivolous theory just for fun, it's annoying and I won't vote for it unless it's actually necessary. That being said, if your opponents do something unfair to exclude you from the round, run it!

Kritiks: I'm not a huge fan at all but if you reallllllllyyyyyy have to, run a K. Make sure you're CLEAR with impacts and if your opponents are completely blindsided and can't clash, I will be disappointed.

Main points:

I will vote on anything, but it's impossible to be completely Tabula Rasa.

I like interesting logic and dislike generic arguments. I will try to filter for these biases but you should be aware of them.

Please read all plans, counter-plans, alternatives, other advocacies, and roles of the ballot twice and slowly.

I believe that I have to personally believe real-world impacts are good or non-existent to vote for them (more on this below).

I assign speaker points based on persuasiveness.

Call the POO, I don't protect the flow.

I default to competing interpretations, but am very open to reasonability arguments.

Experience:

I competed in middle school MSPSD for three years, high school policy for one year, and high school (California) Parli for three years. I went to TOC, did well at invitationals, etc. I also debated in APDA/BP at Stanford for three years and coached Sequoia High School's parli team for four years.

Case Debate:

Case was my bread and butter as a competitor. I don't have any particularly hot takes about it. Structure is useful. I find generic arguments a bit tedious, though I acknowledge their strategic utility.

Kritiks:

I generally dislike the generic way people use kritiks to gain competitive edge. That being said, I will still vote for one if you win it, and if you have a relevant Kritik, please deploy it just as you would any other argument. I only ran one kritik ever in high school debate, and it was an argument of my teammate's and my own creation, so I am not familiar with any of the lit bases. (I also think completely original Ks are interesting.) If I don't understand your argument, I will have a hard time voting for it.

Theory/T:

My partner and I almost exclusively ran theory when our opponents were actually abusive. That being said, I will vote for frivolous theory if you win it. I default to competing interpretations, but am less anti-reasonability than most judges. I don't believe you absolutely must give me a specific set of criteria that define reasonability, and I think that the debate doesn't have to end when one team says "reasonability leads to judge intervention." (If it does end there, though, I will vote on that argument.) I think potential for abuse is a real thing, though of course you have to warrant it in round like anything else. I don't care if you're condo unless the other team does.

Speed:

I'm fine with speed up to a point, and will shout "clear" or "slow" if you're unclear or too fast. I am willing to vote on speed theory, just like any other argument. Please also shout "clear" or "slow" during your opponents' speeches if you need to.

Points of Order/Protecting the flow:

I don't protect the flow (meaning I won't discount new arguments in the rebuttals unless you call a Point of Order). Please call as many POOs as you think necessary. There were several times as a competitor when I didn't call POOs because I was worried about the judge getting annoyed, and I don't want you to feel that way. If you think they're making a new point, let me know. I will rule on every POO as "well-taken," "not well-taken," or "under consideration." After maybe the 5th well-taken POO, I will just ask you to stop calling them and announce that I am going to start protecting the flow for that speech, in order to save time. The exception is on panels, in which case I will not rule verbally on POOs.

Non-Technical Debate:

I am absolutely willing to hear a non-technical round, as long as this doesn't mean it's an unorganized round. I don't want you to feel like I will be biased against you if you don't have technical debate experience. If you are a non-technical debater and feel intimidated by theory, kritiks, and spreading, I encourage you to watch this round in which a team of non-technical debaters beat a team spreading and running a kritik, just with logic and good argumentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQ9kiCi1ho

Real-World Impacts:

If you win any real-world impacts in the round, one of two things has to happen for me to vote on them. Tl;dr at the bottom.

1. If you win in-round that voting for you will affect the real world, and I believe personally that voting for you will affect the real world, then I have to personally believe your impacts are good to vote for them. This is because if I believe that voting for you will actually affect the world in a negative way, the result of the round matters less than the negative effects that voting for you creates. So, for example, if you argue that voting for you increases the chances of a Marxist revolution, and I believe that is true, I will vote against you because I personally think a Marxist revolution would be bad, and I can't let my ballot increase the chances of that, even if you win the argument in round. Just as you would argue that actual good done to the outside world comes before in-round or in-debate impacts, actual bad done to the outside world comes before in-round and in-debate impacts, and I have to do what I believe is best for the world first.

2. If you win in-round that voting for you will affect the real world, but I don't personally believe that voting for you will affect the real world, then I will just vote on the flow, because there's no moral imperative for me to affect the real world if I don't actually think voting for you will affect the real world. So, for example, if you argue that voting for you increases the chances of a Marxist revolution, and I don't believe that's true, but you win that it's true in-round, I will vote for you even though I think a Marxist revolution would be bad, since I don't actually think that voting for you will cause one.

Tl;dr: So basically, if you want to win a real-world impact argument, you need to either:

1. convince me personally that you have real-world solvency and convince me personally that your impacts are good, or...

2. Win real-world solvency in round, but fail to convince me personally that you affect the real world.

Political Spectrum:

I highly value viewpoint diversity. I think that there's a lot more room in debate for politically diverse arguments than we usually hear. I encourage you to make arguments from political perspectives different than your own.

Non-verbals in round:

I'm a somewhat reactive judge. If I'm nodding when you're talking, you're doing well. If I look confused, please explain further until I nod or otherwise indicate that I understand you. If you talk really fast, I will have to sacrifice some or all reactiveness to focus on flowing. I will also be less reactive when I'm on a panel.

Speaker Points:

I assign speaker points based on persuasive speaking abilities. This doesn't mean don't spread, I've seen many people maintain persuasiveness while speaking fast, but if spreading causes a detriment to your persuasiveness, then it will be reflected in your speaker points. What is persuasiveness? Hard to define, but it includes smart argumentation and the effective delivery of that argumentation. I know this is subjective, but I don't know how it's any more fuzzy than whatever standards most flow judges use. If I'm nodding my head a lot while you speak, you're probably doing a good job. Major points for humor.

I won't intentionally doc you speaker points or the win for making racist, sexist, etc. arguments unless the other team gives me a reason to...I think it's pretty weird that this is a norm since it is clearly judge intervention. I will, however, doc speaker points for being rude or demeaning to your opponents in round.

If you speak exclusively in double and triple negatives, I will give you a 30 and personally seek out your other judges for the rest of the tournament and encourage them to give you 30s as well.

My Background

I did parliamentary debate and only parliamentary debate for four years, and I mostly attended lay tournaments. I don't have any experience in policy or pofo, and I did try LD for a while, but I definitely don't think I should be judging those events. If you're in a non parli form of debate, please be patient in explaining the rules to me, and explain arguments more clearly than you normally would because I may be unfamiliar with how those arguments work. I generally like case debates, but I'm not opposed to theory if you have to run it. I don't like kritiks or abusive arguments, but I do like creative arguments that are believable.

I am currently an Economics and Public Affairs major, so I understand quite a bit about how government works, and while I try to be tabula rasa, my knowledge may bias the way I judge debate rounds. Make sure you explain all arguments clearly and correctly. I do fact check, so don't make things up.

Case

Make sure all of your points are very clear. Please organize everything into your uniqueness, links, internal links, impacts, and responses. Do not skip links. I run into a lot of debaters who just kind of assume that their plan solves without explaining or giving evidence as to why. Signpost all parts of your argument too. I should be able to figure out exactly which point you're responding to at all times. Also please terminalize your impacts. Every argument you run must have an implication and significance. If you don't explain the significance of your argument, I will have trouble weighing it in the round.

Do not make up evidence. If there is a contentious piece of evidence in the round, I will fact check it. Completely fabricating numbers or quotes will result in an immediate loss. However, reasonable paraphrasing or truncating is okay. Calculating percentages is okay (if it's done correctly).

As much as possible, refutations should be offensive. Try to do link turns more often than no links. I especially like double binds that are explained clearly. I really like interesting impact turns too, but make sure they're substantiated and don't double turn yourself.

Rebuttals

Please use voter issues in the rebuttal speeches. Do not treat it as another constructive speech and spend all your time responding to arguments unless you're the PMR and you have to. Weigh the arguments against each other, and obviously make sure the argument you're winning is given more weight. Seriously, don't try to win every argument. Find the arguments you're winning and explain why they're more important. I also like rebuttals that explain why your argument short circuits their argument. I look at probability, magnitude, and timeframe. When it comes to impact analysis, I kind of like timeframe arguments and sometimes probability arguments. I don't like magnitude arguments that are incredibly unlikely (like nuclear war), unless they can be well substantiated (like if Ukraine joins NATO). Seriously, don't run nuclear war arguments unless you have a good link scenario. Most of the time nuclear war arguments become nonunique anyways. Both sides claim the other side has nuclear war with little to no evidence, and MAD means that nuclear war probably won't happen. Both brink scenarios typically have equal chance of happening anyways.

Plans and Counterplans

I'm not very picky about plans, but they should definitely be topical. Small affs are fine, and I oftentimes finds them to be clever. Avoid extratopical plans, and make sure your plan solves. See my theory category for more information.

In general I'm fine with all types of CPs, but make sure your CP solves, is competitive, and isn't abusive. In other words, your CP alone must be better than the plan and the CP together. This can usually be done with disads to the plan. Make sure you have disads to the plan, do not simply talk about why the CP is better than the plan because that does not generate offense and does not protect against the perm.

No conditional CPs, but dispositional CPs are ok.

Consult CPs are ok as long as you give a good reason why consulting is important and prove solvency.

I'm fine with PICs, but I'll also listen to theory arguments about it. If you plan to run a PIC, be prepared to have responses to theory.

Agent/50 States CPs are fine too, but make sure you have actual evidence as to why 50 states would solve better than the federal government. If there's no good reason why a particular agent or 50 states is preferred, you'll probably lose on presumption.

Theory

Make sure you have all five parts (interp, violation, standards, voters, underview) for every theory argument. If you're missing any of them, you might as well not run theory. There is a time and place theory arguments. I don't like frivolous theory, and I probably won't buy any theory arguments that seem unnecessary. That being said, I think that theory is necessary if a plan or counterplan is confusing or abusive. If your opponents genuinely misinterpreted the resolution, run theory. Topicality and spec are oftentimes the most useful forms of theory. Oftentimes, the aff plan will be so vague that educational debate is impossible. In this case, the neg can easily win on theory.

If you're confused on what's "unnecessary." Think of it this way: if you're running theory because you want a cheap argument to beat your opponent, it's probably unnecessary. If you're running theory because your opponents genuinely did something that shouldn't be allowed, run theory. When in doubt, run theory. The worst that could happen is that you waste your time. I generally don't buy RVIs.

Also, I'm a huge fan of we meet responses to interps. It's probably the best way to quickly defeat theory.

Kritiks

If you're going to run a K please make sure you explain each part of the K clearly. I know a bit about Nietzsche, Sartre, Daoism, and Baudrillard, but that's about it. Everything else you'll have to explain to me clearly.

Misc:

Tabula rasa and tech over truth for the most part. Basically, if you drop arguments (even if they are factually wrong), I have to give that argument to your opponent. This has happened before. You can avoid this by not dropping arguments and making sure you do line by lines if you're the LOC or MG.

Hot take: I don't really care about shadow extensions, but I'm willing to listen to a point of order if the PMR does a shadow extension. For the LOR I feel like the PMR's ability to use golden turns voids the abuse of a shadow extension.

I am fine with whatever speed you want to go at, but do not try to speak so quickly that your opponents or I can't understand you. Make sure you are speaking clearly. I will say clear if you're not being clear enough. I'm fine with tag teaming, but I'll only flow what the speaker says.

I award speaker points based on how well you speak and present, not on the quality of your arguments. That being said, I will nuke speaks for a variety of reasons including but not limited to racism, sexism, and making up evidence. I think you can speak quickly and still be a good speaker.

I prefer cameras to be on while you speak so that I can more accurately judge speaker points. I do judge based on hand motions, eye contact, movement, and stuff like that. If you are able to, please turn on your camera and present your arguments to the best of your ability.

Presumption flows neg unless there is a counterplan in which case it flows aff. Please do not make me vote on presumption. You can do this by making sure your arguments are offensive and not defensive. That means if you're neg talk about why the aff is harmful and if you're aff talk about why doing nothing is harmful and how you solve for those harms. You can also avoid making me vote on presumption by weighing arguments in the rebuttal speech. Seriously, if you weigh an argument you're winning and your opponent doesn't weigh, you'll win.

There are a number of debates I've won from creatively redefining or reinterpreting the resolution. I honestly think this is necessary sometimes if the resolution is seriously skewed against you. I really like these debates, but please make sure your definition or interpretation of the resolution is valid and substantiated before using it. Just remember for any resolution, there exists some creative a path to victory. Do not give up during prep time.

Run what u want. Speed ok. weigh.

bkgrd: former Campolindo debater, won the toc in 2018

I’ve judged/coached most formats at this point, but my personal experience is some hs parli and then BP for Berkeley.

Debate is a game, so I’ll vote on anything. While I competed in less technical events in college, I enjoy complex rounds if they're interesting so please do try new things.

Speed's okay but slow down for tags and expect me to miss some nuance if it's very fast. If your opponents ask you to slow down, I expect you to give them the opportunity to engage.

Otherwise, run what you want! I'm very far removed from current trends in debate, but I love strong + analytical warrants, good linking, and fun strategic decisions. I tend to find super stock DAs and Ks or a heavy reliance on evidence quite boring.

TL,DR:

I value good arguments, persuasive speaking, and good clash. Don't exclude your opponents and don't run ridiculous arguments that harm the educational nature of debate.

Background

I debated for Berkeley High from 2015-2018, taught at SNFI twice, and coached for Berkeley High school.

Case

* I will default to net benefits

* Organization is key: tagline your arguments, signpost, and construct voting issues carefully

* Weigh your own arguments and explain why they matter

Theory

* Don't run unnecessary/frivolous theory, especially (!!) if it is intended to exclude your opponents

* Please demonstrate proven abuse (or have a very strong potential abuse argument) if you do run theory

Kritiks

* I am not a huge fan of Kritiks, so the bar is going to be pretty high to get a ballot from me on one

* If you decide to run a K in front of me, your opponents should also be down for a K debate and you should explain very clearly what the actual impacts are

Speaker Points

* I give speaker points based on clarity, strength of arguments, and persuasiveness (being funny/creative will boost your speaks)

* If anyone in the room (reasonably) needs to tell you to be clear or to slow down multiple times, your speaker points will suffer