I debated for four years in high school.

I'm pretty much tabula rasa but there are a few trends/arguments I'm not particularly fond of.

I don't know much about this topic and I haven't judged that many debates on it. Please explain acronyms or anything idiosyncratic to this topic.

If you have any specific questions on anything, please send me an email: camdenclark2012 [at] gmail During tournaments I'll try to keep checking this to respond and am more than happy to answer.

More expanded:

Topicality/Framework

TL;DR: Default aff on T, Framework is fine to run in front of me.

I tend to default to aff on topicality claims on reasonability. I don't like time-suck topicality arguments. That being said, on this topic, I have heard some very interesting T arguments that seemed valid. Use your discretion.

I really like hearing framework on K [affs], I think it's a very interesting debate. I'm tabula rasa on framework--I have no preference for either the offense or defense (I say this because I hear a lot of judges don't like hearing framework; you're fine to run it in front of me.

Kritiks

TL;DR: EXPLAIN YOUR LITERATURE, HAVE A COHERENT LINK STORY

I enjoy kritiks, feel free to run them in front of me. Like all other arguments, it will be very apparent if you don't know what you are talking about. If your K has somewhat obscure literature, please do a good explanation of what the literature says and how it relates to the debate or I will have a tough time evaluating the arguments.

Same goes with K/identity affs. You should have a good reason to not run a plan text and explain that well.

One other thing: if you have a long overview tell me in the roadmap so I can flow it on a different piece of paper.

Politics/DAs

TL;DR: I don't like these one-off answers to politics/DAs

Fiat solves the link is not a compelling answer to politics unless explained very well.

Intrinsicness arguments are compelling if explained but 2 seconds in the 2AC will not get my vote. This is especially true if the 1AR stands up and says "THEY DROPPED THE INTRINSICNESS ARGUMENT, WE WIN. MOVING ON..."

Counterplans

TL;DR I will have a hard time being convinced that condo is always bad, consult/process counterplans are probably abusive.

Running one conditional CP and one conditional K is probably not abusive and you'll have an uphill battle convincing me otherwise. If there are a significant number of conditional arguments I could be convinced that is abusive.

Consult and obscure process counterplans are probably abusive. You better have really convincing arguments otherwise on this issue if you want to run these types of arguments. Perm do the counterplan is rarely severance on these types of arguments--you'll have to explain this well.

Other in-round stuff

Don't lie, it's obvious.

I don't take prep for flashing nor do I care about tag-team in CX.

I don't care how you dress.

Don't be a jerk. You are all really smart students and you should act professional!

Thanks and good luck!

jdawson4646@gmail.com

I mainly debated policy for four years in highschool. I also did PF at a few tournaments. I went to GDI twice and went to state 3 times.

I am mostly a policy judge but have judged plenty of LD and PF over the years as well.

LD & PF:

Speed is always fine. Make sure that you are respectful to eachother. I have no specific argument preferences. Impact calc is always important. Tell me why your impact matters more/outweighs. Make sure that you cover both your opponents and your own case. Please make sure that if you are making good arguments that you extend them in your following speeches so I can vote on them.

Policy:

Stock issues are voters, T is especially a voter. I thoroughly enjoy K and T debates, and theory is fun.

If there is a theoretical violation, my threshold for voting on it will probably be pretty low. During theory debates, for the love of God, don't spread through every standard in 4 seconds.

I dislike almost all colonialization debates and colonization K's...

Don't run a counter plan unless you can do it right.

Make sure that you are extending arguments and cards.

When in doubt, do impact calc/outweigh work. It's always nice when I have an easy and clear way to vote.

A drop is a concession

I do not flow new arguments in rebuttals (very rare exceptions)

I allow tag team cross ex and flashing doesn't count as prep. I am a flow judge, so responding to arguments and offense is very important

I will listen to anything you want to try and sell me on. The weirder you go, the stronger your link chains need to be. Tell me exactly where to flow things when we get into the weeds so that I can find them when you want me to. Don't run a ton of stuff you plan to kick later, it just wastes everyone's time. I would rather listen to the things you actually find relevant to your case. I will listen to T arguments, but there need to be super clear criteria for why the team does not meet your T definitions. Impacts, impacts, impacts! I need to know why the things you say are going to happen matter. Re specifics on speeches: Give your own. I won 't flow anything that is verbally given by your partner or anything the non-speaking partner says to the judge. There is a reason speeches are split, and they should stay that way. I'm fine with speed, but if you are really unclear, I probably won't tell you, I will just not get everything you want me to get. Only spread if you are able to do so with clarity. AMA else in round.

So I'm pretty easy going when it comes to my judging preferences. I would generally call my self a tab judge, but that isnt always possible. Historically I would say I lean towards more critical arguements. I think I just lean towards more high probability lower magnitude impacts, not that I wont vote on high magnitude lower probability impacts just need to do more work on it. I will vote on any form of aff(policy, k, etc) but I will also vote on framework on those affs. I have a semi higher threshold on t but i will still vote on it. If your aff or k has any in depth literature to it, dont assume I know it make sure to take a little bit more time to make sure its understood

I know I dont have a ton to my paradigm but if you have any questions feel free to email me at: tlabriola36@gmail.com

Max McGougan

Saint George's School '17
maxmcgougan@gmail.com

Top level
1. Familiar with policy debate. I am a bit more of a stickler for clarity, but especially online, I understand how it can be difficult. I'll make sure to communicate (likely multiple times) if I need you to slow down.

2. Don't assume my familiarity with the topic, especially earlier in the tournament.

3. Argue what you want. If you are convincing, I'll vote for you. Although I'd like to say I'm "tab", I do have some argumentative preferences. These aren't concrete, but may give you insight into what I prefer.

Arguments

4. I value narrative/coherence of an argument very highly - if you have a relatively small disad but convincingly argue it, 9 times out of 10 I'll prefer it to a shoddily-built affirmative w/nuke war. Don't take this as license to phone-in some risk cards and hope I vote for it. What I mean is that pointing out the "obvious" flaws of some argument is sometimes enough - don't get too tunnel visioned.


6. I need to edit my stance on kritik's to reflect my real preferences. Most kritiks appear to be cheating, make it impossible for the aff to debate, have nebulous links and alts, and rarely answers to permutations that extend beyond links are da's. Answers to framework gesture at "epistemology" and assume those are the magic words to end the debate. I don't enjoy judging these rounds and find that very frequently the neg is using Ks to avoid clash and attribute positions to the aff in bad faith.

Now, if this doesn't apply to you, or you're a great "K debater" in an outround with me as a judge, or even if you have read and understand the aff and think you have a good K, ignore it. I've voted on lots of Ks, and I'm always going to vote on who does the better job debating. I don't have a vendetta against Ks, I just think the way they are typically employed is silly and most of the discussion so surface level that I just tune out.

7. I like topicality. Agnostic on reasonability/CI - my position is probably C/I, with some degree of just erring aff if I think the violation is unsubstantial. I'd prefer you not get tied down in the reasonability/CI debate. In the absence of technical drops, I'll defer to what I just said. Standards work is good and debaters seem to do a lot of that, but try to make it clear early in the speech what you're interp is and how they violate - I don't have a lot of topic experience so slowing down and explaining this is so useful for me.


8. Counterplans should be competitive, and I have incredibly low standards for the aff to beat counterplans that compete off of should or steal the aff. However, I side fairly negative with PIC's, CP's that have solvency advocates that distinguish from aff, and other predictable CP's that steal most of the aff but at least have some theoretical justification for their existence. I enjoy and reward creative, well though out counterplans.
General

Reading long prewritten blocks is very suspicious (especially in K, T, or DA impacts). If you are here, you may as well use your time to debate!


Debate should generally be fun. Be respectful of your opponents, and enjoy the opportunity to debate!

I am a traditional LD judge. A Value and Criterion centered debate is what I’m looking for. Progressive styling will be allowed as long as you verify with your opponent pre-round. The flow matters; explain why your arguements mean more to the round as it’s happening.

Hi, I’m Chris! I debated 4 years of high school in the North Idaho, Spokane area for Coeur d’Alene High School and have been judging since. Below are some of my general preferences followed by argument specifics.

General Stuff: TL;DR

· ABOVE ALL ELSE do what you think is the best strategical option for you to win the round. This has obvious limits, but you should already know that. I would much rather see a debate where everyone is confident and having fun rather than 4 people struggling to fit perfectly to my paradigm.

· Yes, please put me in the email chain if you are using one: chrisward135@live.com

· Please be able to tell the story of whatever it is you are arguing. My job is not to connect the dots for you.

· Ultimately, I will vote on just about anything provided it is properly impacted, has good warrants, etc. I like to think I’m a pretty easy going person so as long as you win the argument, I’ll vote for you. It’s that simple.

· Organization is something extremely important to me. Please make it clear to me which piece of paper your argument is going on or when you are moving on to a different piece of paper. If you don’t, it might get put on the wrong piece of paper which could determine the outcome of the round.

· If you give me a great line-by-line, you have a substantially greater chance of picking up my ballot.

· Tech and truth both matter to me. You should not be sacrificing one for the other.

· Speed is fine, but please please please do not sacrifice quality for speed. This means I want you to slow down on things like tags, overviews, and rebuttals.

· Please be considerate of one another during the round. This saves us from having uncomfortable conversations and from you losing speaker points during the round.

· I am more than willing to answer any questions you may have about decorum specific arguments, etc. before the round begins.

Case Debate:

I love case debate, please tell me why the impacts of the aff outweigh whatever the negative team has to say. I think case debate has become something less utilized by teams because the aff can sometimes get too “in the weeds” with the 10 off the 1nc reads to get to their own arguments. But yeah, please tell me how awesome the 1ac you probably spent hours creating is.

Disads:

Love these too. I’m totally fine with disads of every topic (the more specific/contextual to the aff, the better). The politics disad was one of my personal favorites to go for, so I encourage you to go for these arguments. One good piece of evidence will go much further with me than the 1nc reading 6 generic link cards.

Counter Plans:

CP’s are fantastic! I am of the belief that the negative should be able to use CP’s and/or kritiks as methods of testing the aff from multiple angles. Like disads, the more specific/contextual the argument is to the aff, the better. That isn’t meant to say that I’ll object to a well-argued states or courts CP as long as you tell me why the CP is a good test of competiveness to the aff, along with proving why the inevitable perm is not mutually exclusive.

Additionally, I need the aff to do more work than just saying “perm do both” and moving on. Actually answer the argument and explain things to me. I too often just have those three words or whatever the verbiage the perm is on my flow with nothing else so please don’t do this.

Kritiks: What you’re probably here for

If I’m keeping it 100 with you, I was not a big K debater, however I did tend to run them the more I debated. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I DON’T WANT YOU TO RUN THESE IN FRONT OF ME! Many rounds I have judged have had excellent and nuanced K debating so if that’s your jam, then go for it. I consider myself fairly competent in some of the literature out there however, this is not a free pass to use a bunch of big philosophy words in hopes of winning my ballot. Spoiler Alert: this decreases your chances of doing that

Like everyone else, please do not assume I know who your author is or what their philosophy entails, because I’m telling you right now I don’t. I teach high school government and I don't have as much time to up to date on every hip new author out there, so please put in the work if you are going to make the argument.

You will pick up my ballot if you have: specific links to the aff, don’t read a lazy generic alt, extend the impact to the K, and actually explain your argument in a digestible way. You should give me an idea what the world of the K looks like and/or what happens post round if you choose to make that argument.

DO NOT just tell me that your answers to the aff were “in the overview”. This is not an actual argument and I generally do not flow overviews to the same extent I flow other arguments. It is not to your advantage to read an extremely long overview with me in the back of the room. I will become generally more disinterested the longer the overview is so make it quick (1-1.5 min maybe). You’re better off just responding to the other team via a line-by-line anyway. Additionally, single card K’s in the 1nc are not arguments. Do not waste my time with these.

K’s I am competent in: Capitalism, Security, Neoliberalism, Colonialism, Set Col, Fem IR, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, etc.

K’s that will need more explanation: D&G, Batille, Anti-Blackness, Afropessimism, Agamben, etc.

Floating PIK’s are a conflicting area for me. I will tell you after the round that it may not have been the best strategic choice because my aff threshold isn’t all that high for it, but if the aff says nothing then there’s nothing I can do. That being said, this really isn’t that difficult to flesh out so this should not happen too often I hope.

Topicality/Framework:

T debates are fun! My threshold for T however is pretty high so if this is your endgame, I better hear more than a simple extension of voting issues and violations in rebuttals. As a result, I need you to impact T if you’re going for it and you feel the aff are being a bunch of dirty cheaters. I generally default to competing interpretations but have been persuaded otherwise during the round.

Theory:

Theory was another of my favorites to go for in rounds. As many others have likely told you, I prefer that you slow down during theory debates. Your argument becomes 1000% less persuasive when you vomit it out at 300 wpm. My threshold for this is similar to topicality so you will need to do the work and tell me why the ballot matters for your side and/or how this will effect behavior in future rounds. I really need you to sell me this argument if you want me to vote on it.

K Affs/Performance:

I don't have much experience with performance-based arguments however, I will still do my best to evaluate the arguments to the best of my ability. I have had increasing experience with K Affs though (I'm pretty comfortable with these). I don't really have any predispositions to any of these arguments so run them. I enjoy listening and learning.

Couple things to keep in mind with me in the back of the room: I still like hearing some form of advocacy statement in a K Aff even if it means making it up in cx or something. If I don't know what the aff does, I'm not voting for it. You should also slow down when it comes to tag lines. Your paragraph-long tag doesn't mean anything to me if I can't understand what you're saying.

Most importantly, have fun! At the end of the day, we do this because we enjoy it. Even when judging, I learn something new at every tournament I go to, and you should too. That's what debate is all about win or lose. At the end of the day, it is all part of the game we play :]