Johns Creek High School ‘18

Emory University ‘22 (nursing, no debate in college lol)

Other stuff: lab leader (MS, HS novice), occasional BF tab (2014-2016), Senior Instructor of Summer Programs AUDL. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at sophia.ahn2@emory.edu

Add me to the email chain: sophiaahnemail@gmail.com. Format the subject like this: Round Number: Aff Team Code vs. Neg Team Code. Ask me any questions you have before the round starts.

TL;DR

- If you’re not a nice person, then the rest of my paradigm does not matter. You can still win, but I’ll tank your speaks.

- I don’t have strong preferences. I enjoy judging a diversity of arguments and that’s the beauty of policy debate.

- My topic knowledge is minimal. Acronyms need explanations to hold weight. Judge adaptation is real. I can’t vote on something that I don’t understand.

- Don't pack up early (especially 1A/1N)—keep learning! Flow for rebuttal re-dos, to improve shorthand, find out why you lost/won, etc.

- Debate was historically a formal intercollegiate activity, so it should be treated with that same respect. Dress to impress. Your physical presentation has a minimum.

Speaks/Sportsmanship: Clarity is king. Clipping gives you a 0 and a loss. Read my facial expressions.

Ev: Unless you frame it as a strong voting issue, the date and credentials are not of high importance to me. Focus on the warrants, and I’ll focus on how well you explain them—that’s the educational value of debate. The team that does the better debating will win my ballot.

Case: Read an aff you’re passionate about. Impact calc is important. Empirics are helpful. Turns are fun. Dedev? Absolutely. Racism good? Absolutely not. I’m sure you can draw this line for yourself.

Cross-X: Be nice and speak for yourself. Tag teaming hurts the educational value of debate—practice for future rounds, job interviews, etc.

Framework/Theory: I'm a tabula rasa judge unless told to vote with another paradigm (util, hypo-testing, stock issues, etc.). My role as the judge is one of least intervention.

T: Yes. Running T against a prima facie aff is interesting and difficult, but voteable.

CP: Yes. Explicitly tell me the net benefit.

DA: Absolutely. Cut your own. Read your own.

Ptx DA: Ugh. Just grant uniqueness, so we can focus on the link.

K: Sure. Define the fancy terms. Focus on framework. Explain the alt. If you kick the alt and make it a linear DA, don’t double turn yourself, or you might as well forfeit.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of critical arguments. I'm definitely a more traditional debater than progressive one, which is a result of how I was coached.

Most importantly, run what you enjoy and are best at. Don't change anything just for me. Good luck! :)

Paradigm.

Bill Batterman
Associate Director of Debate — Woodward Academy (2010-present)
Director of Debate — Marquette University High School (2006-2010)
Assistant Debate Coach — Marquette, Appleton East, Nicolet, etc. (2000-2006)
Last Updated 9/17/2021

Twitter version: Debate like an adult. Show me the evidence. Attend to the details. Don't dodge; clash. Great research and informed comparisons win debates.

My promise: I will pay close attention to every debate, carefully and completely scrutinize every argument, and provide honest feedback so that students are continuously challenged to improve as debaters.

Perspective: During the 2010s (my second full decade of judging/coaching debate), I coached and/or judged at 189 tournaments and taught slightly more than 16 months of summer debate institutes. I don't judge as many rounds as I used to — I took an extended sabbatical from judging during the 2020-2021 season — but I still enjoy it and I am looking forward to judging debates again. I am also still coaching as actively as ever. I know a lot about the water resources protection topic.

Pre-round: Please add billbatterman@gmail.com to the email chain. Respect your opponents by sending the same documents to the email chain that you use to deliver your speeches. If you create separate versions of your speech documents (typically by deleting headings and analytical arguments) before sharing them, I will assume that you do not respect your opponents. I like debaters that respect their opponents. I will have my camera on when judging; if it is off, confirm that I'm ready before beginning your speech.

1. I care most about clarity, clash, and argument comparison.

I will be more impressed by students that demonstrate topic knowledge, line-by-line organization skills (supported by careful flowing), and intelligent cross-examinations than by those that rely on superfast speaking, obfuscation, jargon, backfile recycling, and/or tricks. I've been doing this for 20 years, and I'm still not bored by strong fundamental skills and execution of basic, core-of-the-topic arguments.

To impress me, invite clash and show off what you have learned this season. I will want to vote for the team that (a) is more prepared and more knowledgeable about the assigned topic and that (b) better invites clash and provides their opponents with a productive opportunity for an in-depth debate.

Aff cases that lack solvency advocates and claim multiple contrived advantages do not invite a productive debate. Neither do whipsaw/scattershot 1NCs chock-full of incomplete, contradictory, and contrived off-case positions. Debates are best when the aff reads a plan with a high-quality solvency advocate and one or two well-supported advantages and the neg responds with a limited number of complete, consistent, and well-supported positions (including, usually, thorough case answers).

I would unapologetically prefer not to judge debates between students that do not want to invite a productive, clash-heavy debate.

2. I'm a critic of argument, not a blank slate.

My most important "judge preference" is that I value debating: "a direct and sustained confrontation of rival positions through the dialectic of assertion, critique, response and counter-critique" (Gutting 2013). I make decisions based on "the essential quality of debate: upon the strength of arguments" (Balthrop 1989).

Philosophically, I value "debate as argument-judgment" more than "debate as information production" (Cram 2012). That means that I want to hear debates between students that are invested in debating scholarly arguments based on rigorous preparation, expert evidence, deep content knowledge, and strategic thinking. While I will do my best to maintain fidelity to the debate that has taken place when forming my decision, I am more comfortable than most judges with evaluating and scrutinizing students' arguments. I care much more about evidence and argument quality and am far less tolerant of trickery and obfuscation than the median judge. This has two primary implications for students seeking to adapt to my judging:

a. What a card "says" is not as important as what a card proves. When deciding debates, I spend more time on questions like "what argument does this expert make and is the argument right?" than on questions like "what words has this debate team highlighted in this card and have these words been dropped by the other team?." As a critic of argument, I place "greater emphasis upon evaluating quality of argument" and assume "an active role in the debate process on the basis of [my] expertise, or knowledge of practices and standards within the community." Because I emphasize "the giving of reasons as the essential quality of argument, evidence which provides those reasons in support of claims will inevitably receive greater credibility than a number of pieces of evidence, each presenting only the conclusion of someone's reasoning process. It is, in crudest terms, a preference for quality of evidence over quantity" (Balthrop 1989).

b. The burden of proof precedes the burden of rejoinder. As presented, the risk of many advantages and disadvantages is zero because of missing internal links or a lack of grounding for important claims. "I know this argument doesn't make sense, but they dropped it!" will not convince me; reasons will.

When I disagree with other judges about the outcome of a debate, my most common criticism of their decision is that it gives too much credit to bad arguments or arguments that don't make sense. Their most common criticism of my decision is that it is "too interventionist" and that while they agree with my assessment of the arguments/evidence, they think that something else that happened in the debate (often a "technical concession") should be more determinative. I respect many judges that disagree with me in these situations; I'm glad there are both "tech-leaning" and "truth-leaning" judges in our activity. In the vast majority of debates, we come to the same conclusion. But at the margins, this is the major point of disagreement between us — it's much more important than any particular argument or theory preference.

3. I am most persuaded by arguments about the assigned topic.

One of the primary reasons I continue to love coaching debate is that "being a coach is to be enrolled in a continuing graduate course in public policy" (Fleissner 1995). Learning about a new topic area each year enriches my life in profound ways. After 20 years in "The Academy of Debate" (Fleissner 1995), I have developed a deep and enduring belief in the importance of public policy. It matters. This has two practical implications for how I tend to judge debates:

a. Kritiks that demonstrate concern for good policymaking can be very persuasive, but kritiks that ignore the topic or disavow policy analysis entirely will be tough to win. My self-perception is that I am much more receptive to well-developed kritiks than many "policy" judges, but I am as unpersuaded (if not more so) by kritiks that rely on tricks, obfuscation, and conditionality as I am by those styles of policy arguments.

b. I almost always find kritiks of topicality unpersuasive. An unlimited topic would not facilitate the in-depth clash over core-of-the-topic arguments that I most value about debate. The combination of "topical version of the aff" and "argue this kritik on the neg" is difficult to defeat when coupled with a fairness or topic education impact. Topical kritik affirmatives are much more likely to persuade me than kritiks of topicality.

Works Cited
Balthrop 1989 = V. William Balthrop, "The Debate Judge as 'Critic of Argument'," Advanced Debate: Readings in Theory Practice & Teaching (Third Edition).
Cram 2012 = http://cedadebate.org/CAD/index.php/CAD/article/view/295/259
Gutting 2013 = http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/a-great-debate/
Fleissner 1995 = https://the3nr.com/2010/05/20/chain-reaction-the-1995-barkley-forum-coaches-luncheon-keynote-speech/

Grady High School 2016 - 4 years Policy

I've been out of the debate scene for the past 2ish years so haven't kept up to date about the 'K affs vs. framework' debate. I've read K affs and gone for framework so I'm open to either side as long as positions are clearly argued.

CP's - Great. Generic Consult/Process counterplans are an uphill battle though.

DA's/Case - Always a solid option. If you can prove there's no risk of the aff, then I'm willing to vote on presumption.

Kritiks - I'm pretty comfortable with kritik literature so feel free to read whatever.

Topicality - Always a voting issue & I'll evaluate it before I look at theory.

Theory - Should always be contextualized with examples of in-round abuse.

Procedural Stuff

Call me Blake or BD instead of Judge, I don't like feeling old

Email chain: blako925@gmail.com

Please also add: jchsdebatedocs@gmail.com

Add both emails, title the chain Tournament Rd # Your Team vs. Other Team ex) Harvard Round 4 Johns Creek XY vs. Northview AM.

1AC should be sent at round start or if I'm late (sorry in advance), as soon as I walk in the room

If you go to the bathroom or fill your waterbottle before your own speech, I'll dock 1 speaker point

Stealing prep = heavily docked speaks. If you want to engage your partner in small talk, just speak normally so everyone knows you're not stealing prep, don't whisper. Eyes should not be wandering on your laptop and hands should not be typing/writing. You can be on your phone.

Clipping is auto-loss and I assign lowest possible speaks. Ethics violation claims = round stoppage, I will decide round on the spot using provided evidence of said violation

Topic Knowledge

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE.

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I debated in high school, didn’t debate in college, have never worked at any camp. I currently work an office job. Any and all acronyms should be explained to me. Specific solvency mechanisms should be explained to me. Tricky process CPs should be explained to me. Many K jargon words that I have heard such as ressentiment, fugitivity, or subjectivity should be explained to me.

Spreading

I WRITE SLOW AND MY HAND CRAMPS EASILY. PLEASE SLOW DOWN DURING REBUTTALS

My ears have become un-attuned to debate spreading. Please go 50% speed at the start of your speech before ramping up. I don’t care how fast or unclear you are on the body of cards b/c it is my belief that you will extend that body text in an intelligent manner later on. However, if you spread tags as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If you read analytics as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If I do not flow an argument, you’re not going to win on it. If you are in novice this probably doesn't apply to you.

While judges must do their best to flow debates and adjudicate in an objective matter that rewards the better debater, there is a certain level of debater responsibility to spread at a reasonable speed and clear manner. Judge adaptation is an inevitable skill debaters must learn.

In front of me, adaption should be spreading speed. If you are saying words faster than how fast I can move my pen, I will say SLOW DOWN. If you do not comply, it is your prerogative, and you can roll the dice on whether or not I will write your argument down. I get that your current speed may be OK with NDT finalists or coaches with 20+ years of experience, but I am not those people. Adapt or lose.

No Plan Text & Framework

I am OK with any affirmative whether it be policy, critical, or performance. The problem is that the 2AC often has huge case overviews that are sped through that do not explain to me very well what the aff harms are and how the advocacy statement (or whatever mechanism) solves them. Furthermore, here are some facts about my experience in framework:

• I was the 1N in high school, so I never had to take framework other than reading the 1NC shell since my partner took in the 2NC and 2NR.
• I can count the number of times I debated plan-less affs on one hand.
• As of me updating this paradigm on 01/28/2023 I have judged roughly 15 framework rounds (maybe less).

All the above make framework functionally a coin toss for either side. My understanding of framework is predicated off of what standards you access and if the terminal impacts to those standards prove if your model of debate is better for the world. If you win impact turns against the neg FW interpretation, then you don't need a C/I, but you have to win that the debate is about potential ballot solvency or some other evaluation method. If the neg wins that the round is about proving a better model of debate, then an inherent lack of a C/I means I vote for the better interp no matter how terrible it is. The comparison in my mind is that a teacher asked to choose the better essay submitted by two students must choose Student A if Student B doesn't turn in anything no matter how terrible or offensive Student A's essay is.

Tech vs. Truth

I used to like arguments such as “F & G in federal government aren't capitalized T” or “Period at the end of the plan text or the sentence keeps going T” b/c I felt like these arguments were objectively true. As I continue to judge I think I have moved into a state where I will allow pretty much any argument no matter how much “truth” there is backing it especially since some truth arguments such as the aforementioned ones are pretty troll themselves. There is still my job to provide a safe space for the activity which means I am obligated to vote down morally offensive arguments such as racism good or sexism good. However, I am now more inclined to vote on things like “Warming isn’t real” or “The Earth is flat” with enough warrants. After all, who am I to say that status quo warming isn’t just attributable to heating and cooling cycles of the Earth, and that all satellite imagery of the Earth is faked and that strong gravitational pulls cause us to be redirected back onto flat Earth when we attempt to circle the “globe”. If these arguments are so terrible and untrue, then it really shouldn’t take much effort to disprove them.

Reading Evidence

I err on the side of intervening as little as possible, so I don’t read usually read evidence. Don't ask me for a doc or send me anything afterwards. The only time I ever look at ev is if I am prompted to do so during speech time.

This will reward teams that do the better technical debating on dropped/poorly answered scenarios even if they are substantiated by terrible evidence. So if you read a poorly written federalism DA that has no real uniqueness or even specific link to the aff, but is dropped and extended competently, yes, I will vote for without even glancing at your ev.

That being said, this will also reward teams that realize your ADV/DA/Whatever ev is terrible and point it out. If your T interp is from No Quals Alex, blog writer for ChristianMingle.com, and the other team points it out, you're probably not winning the bigger internal link to legal precision.

Case

I love case debate. Negatives who actually read all of the aff evidence in order to create a heavy case press with rehighlightings, indicts, CX applications, and well backed UQ/Link/Impact frontlines are always refreshing watch. Do this well in front of me and you will for sure be rewarded.

By the 2AR I should know what exactly the plan does and how it can solve the advantages. This obviously doesn't have to be a major component of the 1AR given time constraint, but I think there should at least some explanation in the 2AR. If I don't have at least some idea of what the plan text does and what it does to access the 1AC impacts, then I honestly have no problem voting on presumption that doing nothing is better than doing the aff.

Disads

Similar to above, I think that DA's have to be fully explained with uniqueness, link, and impact. Absent any of these things I will often have serious doubts regarding the cohesive stance that the DA is taking.

Topicality

Don't make debate meta-arguments like "Peninsula XY read this at Glenbrooks so obviously its core of the topic" or "every camp put out this aff so it's predictable". These types of arguments mean nothing to me since I don't know any teams, any camp activities, any tournaments, any coaches, performance of teams at X tournament, etc.

One small annoyance I have at teams that debate in front of me is that they don't debate T like a DA. You need to win what standards you access, how they link into your terminal impacts like education or fairness, and why your chosen impact outweighs the opposing teams.

Counterplan

I have no inherent bias against any counterplan. If a CP has a mechanism that is potentially abusive (international fiat, 50 state fiat, PICs bad) then I just see this as offense for the aff, not an inherent reason why the team or CP should immediately be voted down.

I heavily detest this new meta of "perm shotgunning" at the top of each CP in the 2AC. It is basically unflowable. See "Spreading" above. Do this and I will unironically give you a 28 maximum. Spread the perms between cards or other longer analytical arguments. That or actually include substance behind the perm such as an explanation of the function of the permutation, how it dodges the net benefit, if it has any additional NB, etc.

I think 2NR explanation of what exactly the CP does is important. A good 2N will explain why their CP accesses the internal links or solvency mechanisms of the 1AC, or if you don't, why the CP is able to access the advantages better than the original 1AC methods. Absent that I am highly skeptical of broad "CP solves 100% of case" claims and the aff should punish with specific solvency deficits.

A problem I have been seeing is that affirmatives will read solvency deficits against CP's but not impacting the solvency deficits vs. the net benefit. If the CP doesn't solve ADV 1 then you need to win that ADV 1 outweighs the net benefit.

Judge kick is not my default mindset, neg has say I have to judge kick and also justify why this is OK.

Kritiks

I don't know any K literature other than maybe some security or capitalism stuff. I feel a lot of K overviews include fancy schmancy words that mean nothing to me. If you're gonna go for a K with some nuance, then you're going to need to spend the effort explaining it to me like I am 10 years old.

Theory

If the neg reads more than 1 CP + 1 K you should consider pulling the trigger on conditionality.

I default to competing interpretations unless otherwise told.

Define dispositionality for me if this is going to be part of the interp.

Extra Points

To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.

I debated for four years at Northview High School (09'-13') and very occasionally debated for the Barkley Forum at Emory University (13'-17'). [akash.doshi21@gmail.com]

I've randomly inserted a couple quotes from some debaters who have impacted how I view the activity.

on evidence / debating

tech over truth. Good evidence is good. But good debating is always better. What does this mean? Having a better/more qualified/more recent piece of evidence won't do you much if you can't coherently explain and impact the argument itself as well as how it affects the debate. If you really think your piece of evidence is better and/or that the difference in evidence quality should matter in how I resolve the argument, then tell me.

"I really don't care what arguments you read. Debate is cool because it's an intellectual marketplace in which a debater's persuasion, not my ideology, determines what sinks or swims." - Alex Miles

I'm policy-oriented in terms of how I used to debate and my fundamental evaluation of different arguments but I can be persuaded to vote for **almost** anything.

Debate is always about communication. Be clear. Sacrificing clarity for a bit more speed won't do you much good in front of me. I also feel like speed at some point trades off with persuasiveness which is something I value not just in terms of speaker points, but also in terms of evaluating arguments. That being said, you can go extremely fast idc I'm just saying understand when to use inflection or slowing down to break down an intricate argument, etc.

I think zero risk of an argument is possible but my threshold is relatively high.

Judges try to remain as impartial and unbiased as possible but the nature of communication is that we will be persuaded by arguments that make intuitive sense. Does this mean you can't run confusing/nuanced arguments? No. Does it mean there's a higher threshold to actually explain what your nebulous process CP does and why it solves better? Yes.

Recognizing that an argument was dropped is not sufficient. Explain the argument, it's warrants, and how the concession of the argument affects the debate.

"I wish the debate norm was less focused on whether every impact escalated to maximum magnitude. Most of them probably don't. Things can be bad without being an extinction event.I am definitely guilty of being a debater." - Daniel Taylor

I am definitely guilty of being a debater who often used existential / try-or-die framing but I whole heartedly agree with the above. Intuitive arguments that can dismantle improbable extinction scenarios while articulating why something can be very bad without needing to eviscerate every human on the planet is very persuasive to me.

On framework

There are valuable things to learn from just about any topic you could think of. But I believe the resolution is the only non-arbitrary starting point from which both fair and meaningful discussion can occur. goes w/o saying that the affirmative probably needs a plan

On theory and topicality

One conditional advocacy is probably okay, more justifies the question. Most theory arguments I don't lean one way or another and in most cases its not a reason to reject the team. That being said you should not be afraid to go for theory, but recognize that these debates are often incoherent exchanges of short, jargon-filled arguments so unless you're ready to unpack or show some level of analysis earlier in the debate the threshold is high.

I think severance or intrinsic perms being justified by multiple conditional advocacies or PIC/process cp's bad is a persuasive arg if done correctly.

I default to competing interpretations. I think reasonability is arbitrary. but I just feel like the aff should be able to prove the type of debate and topic they justify via their plan is better than a world of debate without it.

I think topicality is inherently about presenting your vision of what the topic should look like under your interpretation and why it is better

the argument that the affirmative does not meet their own c/i should probably be made more by negative teams extending topicality into the block (if it makes sense)

On the criticism

I think winning the link level is particularly important in K debates. Case must be part of the discussion i.e. the criticism must be both relevant and relative to the affirmative. In order to win the criticism in front of me you must be impacting it as it relates to case and thus you should be "winning case" in some sense. I'm always going to vote for the devil I know over the one I don't i.e. explaining what the alternative does and why that's a better approach then the affirmative is also important. that being said most aff teams should capitalize on this or make arguments that combat these mistakes by negative teams more.

I believe affirmative arguments against the criticism that are rooted in some form of "the K is a non-unique disad" aren't particularly persuasive but the negative should be able to contextualize / differentiate between residual link instances in the status quo vs the plan and whether the alternative does / need / should resolve both or just the latter.

misc.

I've judged a decent amount of debates on this topic, however I am probably not as familiar with the topic as y'all are. So buzzwords and concepts that are commonly tossed around in rounds will probably need to be contextualized a bit better at first. Fine to use afterward.

blatant performative contradictions like reading realism against a criticism when your aff is not realist erk me but aren't nearly leveraged enough by either side anymore.

I believe 'uniqueness controls direction of the link' can be a particularly persuasive framing mechanism if done correctly.

I understand that debate is inherently a competitive activity and things do get heated, but there is a clear distinction between being competitive and being obnoxious/rude.

I don't have a great poker face. If I'm particularly vibing/not vibing with an argument, you'll probably be able to tell. It'll also remind you to look up once in a while.

I love a good impact turn debate (heg good/bad in particular) but people don't really go for it or straight turn disads etc. anymore and it disappoints me. I'm not going to vote on these things just bc you go for it. I'm just saying I miss it.

Death is probably bad.

no need to read this, just food for thought.

Debate is inherently a relative, arbitrary, and qualitative activity. There's no quantifiable way to determine winners, all participants and the judge possess their own implicit and explicit biases that are impossible to flip 'on' or 'off' or separate from our evaluation of ideas and arguments, regardless of how hard we 'try' (I put the word try in quotes because its not something you can try to do, it just exists whether you like it or whether you let yourself believe it or not).

Through this view, consider the following hypothetical situation: a local tournament is short on judges and so a soccer mom with absolutely zero experience in any form of debate or any activity dealing in rhetoric or discourse for that matter has agreed to judge to help alleviate the shortage. She judges a round between a novice team of two freshman who are debating at their second tournament ever and a team that has cleared at the TOC before, made it to the late out rounds of multiple national tournaments, and have attended 'prestigious' debate camps. Both teams debate their hearts out and she votes for the former. Most would just chalk this up to circumstance, or because the judge doesn't understand the technical aspects of the activity. The novice team may have double turned themselves or dropped multiple critical arguments and by every major 'indicator', lost the debate. They could have dropped an entire flow. They could have got up in their final speech, made animal noises for 30 seconds and sat down. In my view, none of that matters. The novice team has won and the other has lost, fair and square.

the judge and your audience exist on a completely independent plane from everything else. in debate and in life. and this is a margin of error that you must willfully accept and embrace in order to truly understand this activity.

I debated for 3 years at Chattahoochee HS and a semester at UGA.

I felt my paradigm needed updating to reflect my changed views, so I've altered this for the Education topic. Just as debaters evolve and change perspectives the more they debate, my views on this activity (which I previously thought were static) have also changed with each tournament I judge.

As always, regardless of preferences, you should read what you want and go for what you're best at. The notes here are just guidelines for maximizing the possibility of earning a win from me.

If you have any pressing questions that I don't address in this paradigm, just ask me or e-mail me at jkhanna3@gmail.com. Please add me to e-mail chains.

I'm a fairly average judge with no significant biases - this doesn't mean I don't have argumentative preferences (I definitely do), just that I don't think I'm ideologically opposed to voting for any argument. I think there's a side to be heard on everything - absolutism in debate shouldn't exist.

Some miscellaneous notes:

-Please stop saying "vote neg/vote aff" in your rebuttals. PLEASE.

-Clash - specifically, evidence and impact comparison - is underutilized and helps reduce risk of judge intervention.

-Make everything clear in the 2NR/2AR - the common culprits are usually DA/Case impacts, Kritik alts, CP solvency, and T interpretations. I find that discussions of these arguments are usually nebulous and force me to insert my own explanations at the end of debates due to lack of explanation.

-Be persuasive! The art of rhetoric relies on it. A persuasive 2NR/2AR indicting silly internal links is so devastating, even if the opposing team may be technically ahead.

-Be respectful. Don't be condescending to your opponents.

-I'm a laid back guy, so humor and jokes are appreciated.

-CLARITY IS SUPER IMPORTANT. My hearing is pretty bad. If I can't hear or understand something important, tough luck. Can't stress this point enough, especially on theory - don't speed through your blocks or you run the risk of me missing important arguments. 

-My background in debate at Chattahoochee and UGA makes me more policy-oriented. I would prefer to see a debate involving CPs and DAs as opposed to critical arguments, but I'm not egregiously biased against them. My favorite K's as a debater were Security, Psycho, Neolib, Heidegger, and Virilio (lol).

-I was a 2N when I was a debater, therefore I protect the 2NR a bit.

-I think there is a possibility of zero risk. The burden is on YOU to prove otherwise.

-I used to think competing interpretations was easier to win in front of me, but now I'm more neutral. Both competing interpretations and reasonability appeal to me equally. Case lists in T debates are super important.

-Huge fan of impact turns...if executed properly. 

-I don't keep track of prep/speech time since I'm lazy...so that onus is on the debaters.

-I'm more aff leaning on conditionality and process CPs, but everything else is neutral. I'm sympathetic to a "reject the arg" framework for most theory issues other than conditionality.

-Counterplans with specific solvency evidence have a much easier time defeating theory, but you don't necessarily NEED specific evidence.

-Favorite 2NR: DA and a thorough dismantling of the case.

-If you go for the K in the 2NR, interact with the aff more, don't rely on generic links. 

-Aff teams - don't be afraid to call out neg bullshit. Your aff is likely a good idea, defend it.

-Non-conventional affs: I don't necessarily think you need a plan; you just need to be congruent with the resolution. Centering year-round debates around one agreed-upon topic and forcing in-depth research on that is, in my opinion, incredibly beneficial; a wholehearted departure from this is a tough sell in front of me. The roleplaying benefits to debate are grossly overstated, though, which is why I personally ascribe to the standard of topic congruence, meaning the biggest impact to T/Framework for me is limits/fairness. Debate is a competitive activity, first and foremost - preserving the competitive equity of the activity that we all love is undeniably important. Discussions of its shortcomings are definitely welcome, but you MUST address questions of equity first.

I have no strong preference for judging policy versus critical debates, but I am a bit more familiar with traditional, policy-based plans. I have no preference for the types of off-case a debater reads. I can understand spreading and will be ok if you do, but I request that you slow down just a bit if you can (because I believe spreading hurts topic comprehensibility), and if you aren't clear in your speech, I'll warn you twice before I stop flowing. So-called "tag team" cross examination isn't something I like, either. You may only jump in to your partner's CX if your partner is visibly struggling to answer a question—stammering, stuttering, etc. Otherwise, it doesn't matter if you could answer better than your partner, it's THEIR speech. And the asking team's partner can't jump in for most reasons.

Most importantly, I hope everyone who I judge has fun with their debate!

Judging background:  I was a GSU debater for roughly 2 years and I've judged several high school tournaments and a couple of college tournaments.   

My Preferences:

I prefer a good time to a bad time, so please don't be jerks to your partners or your opponents (or me).  Clash is important - I'd rather a round that weighs scenarios and impacts any day over a laundry list of your card authors.  (Obviously that's not the same as failing to cite your evidence.  Please don't forget to cite your evidence, just don't think name dropping #Joe Schmoe '14 is going to mean anything to me by the time we get to the 2NR.  It won't.) 

I'm a fan of analyticals, both improvisational and planned.  Try to answer all of the arguments your opponents make in priority order.  I probably won't vote on a dropped link argument if you've already won uniqueness, for example, but if it's a theory argument or an impact argument or even the other team saying I need to vote on X thing you dropped and you legitimately dropped it...I'll probably vote on it.  Because it makes my life easier. 

Don't let the other team make my life easier; that's good advice all around. 

Paperless Debate – I will have a spare flash with me if something wacky happens with yours, no worries.  Hopefully we're all familiar enough with paperless debate by now and it doesn't strain our time, but if you demonstrate new and unusual levels of incompetence sharing evidence, someone's prep will suffer for it.   

DA – Link stories and uniqueness and impact calculus, oh my!  Why should I care about your disad, please do tell.  Aff teams - I find it very impressive and charming when debaters leverage their case against the DA in addition to whatever they've prepped for the DA, and I distribute speaker points accordingly. 

K – Vitamin K all day.  I love the K, I am charitably disposed to the K.  If you do not understand your own K, do not read your K in front of me because I will either be A) disappointed in you and liable to punish your speaker points if not your ballot or B) confused and therefore some combination of bored/annoyed which is very dangerous for your ballot and tragic for your speaker points.  'Understanding' in this context means you're prepared to answer questions about how the K works, why it's better than the plan or the status quo, how your alt solves, etc.  I also enjoy schadenfreude so I'm just as happy to see a K argument clowned out of the debate as I am to see it win the day, especially under the conditions mentioned above.   

CP – Counter plans are cool!  Perms are cool!  I'll vote on technicalities and I'll vote on the substance of the CP - it's up to y'all to decide how that debate boils down.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask them before the round. 

Theory – Theory is great!  To abuse the saying: there are no small arguments, only small debaters.  You'll have to weigh your argument to win it, of course, but I won't discount anything out of hand.  Clarity of speech is great here, because I can't care about the argument I can't comprehend. 

T – See above re: clarity.  I'll pull the trigger on T if you carry it through, and ETA: I default to reasonability here.  Again, feel free to ask me whatever questions you like before the round. 

• Please go slower with me than you normally would
• I vote for anything as long as it's well explained. I am not super familiar with k's and framework, so make sure there's extra and coherent explanations on those.
• Please emphasize any voters or reasons to reject the team.
• Tag teaming is ok as long as you don't overpower the partner who is asking/ answering questions.
• Please be considerate and polite; if you are rude or condescending in crossex or blatantly insult the other team, I will dock your speaks.
• If you are a novice, please try and be quick with flashing/sending files. I don't take prep for either of those unless it's an excessive amount of time.
• If you do start an email chain, my email is lydiamoll625@gmail. Feel free to send me any questions there after the round as well.
• For spreading, I prefer clarity. If you are too fast and/or unclear, I might miss some arguments, and even if you said something crucial, you want to make sure it's on my flow or else I won't vote on it.
• Please be slower with theory arguments!
• Once prep time is over, stop talking to your partner/typing/writing/clicking. I'll warn you the first time, but after that, I will take your prep and probably dock your speaks. 
• Time your own speeches and prep. I will also be timing it in case there's a mishap, but it's best to manage your own time accordingly instead of relying on me to do it for you.
• Signposting is very important! Please do that so I don't get lost in your speech.

Look at Josh Weintraub's Judge Paradigm on Tabroom.

Marist, Atlanta, GA (2015-2019, 2020-Present)
Pace Academy, Atlanta GA (2019-2020)
Stratford Academy, Macon GA (2008-2015)
Michigan State University (2004-2008)

Pronouns- She/Her

Please use email chains. Please add me- abby.schirmer@gmail.com.

Short version- You need to read and defend a plan in front of me. I value clarity (in both a strategic and vocal sense) and strategy. A good strategic aff or neg strat will always win out over something haphazardly put together. Impact your arguments, impact them against your opponents arguments (This is just as true with a critical strategy as it is with a DA, CP, Case Strategy). I like to read evidence during the debate. I usually make decisions pretty quickly. Typically I can see the nexus question of the debate clearly by the 2nr/2ar and when (if) its resolved, its resolved. Don't take it personally.

Long Version:
Case Debate- I like specific case debate. Shows you put in the hard work it takes to research and defeat the aff. I will reward hard work if there is solid Internal link debating. I think case specific disads are also pretty good if well thought out and executed. I like impact turn debates. Cleanly executed ones will usually result in a neg ballot -- messy debates, however, will not.

Disads- Defense and offense should be present, especially in a link turn/impact turn debate. You will only win an impact turn debate if you first have defense against their original disad impacts. I'm willing to vote on defense (at least assign a relatively low probability to a DA in the presence of compelling aff defense). Defense wins championships. Impact calc is important. I think this is a debate that should start early (2ac) and shouldn't end until the debate is over. I don't think the U necessarily controls the direction of the link, but can be persuaded it does if told and explained why that true.

K's- Im better for the K now than i have been in years past. That being said, Im better for security/international relations/neolib based ks than i am for race, gender, psycho, baudrillard etc . I tend to find specific Ks (ie specific to the aff's mechanism/advantages etc) the most appealing. If you're going for a K-- 1) please don't expect me to know weird or specific ultra critical jargon... b/c i probably wont. 2) Cheat- I vote on K tricks all the time (aff don't make me do this). 3) Make the link debate as specific as possible and pull examples straight from the aff's evidence and the debate in general 4) I totally geek out for well explained historical examples that prove your link/impact args. I think getting to weigh the aff is a god given right. Role of the ballot should be a question that gets debated out. What does the ballot mean with in your framework. These debates should NOT be happening in the 2NR/2AR-- they should start as early as possible. I think debates about competing methods are fine. I think floating pics are also fine (unless told otherwise). I think epistemology debates are interesting. K debates need some discussion of an impact-- i do not know what it means to say..."the ZERO POINT OF THE Holocaust." I think having an external impact is also good - turning the case alone, or making their impacts inevitable isn't enough. There also needs to be some articulation of what the alternative does... voting neg doesn't mean that your links go away. I will vote on the perm if its articulated well and if its a reason why plan plus alt would overcome any of the link questions. Link defense needs to accompany these debates.

K affs are fine- you have to have a plan. You should defend that plan. Affs who don't will prob lose to framework. A alot.... and with that we come to:

NonTraditional Teams-
If not defending a plan is your thing, I'm not your judge. I think topical plans are good. I think the aff needs to read a topical plan and defend the action of that topical plan. I don't think using the USFG is an endorsement of its racist, sexist, homophobic or ableist ways. I think affs who debate this way tend to leave zero ground for the negative to engage which defeats the entire point of the activity. I am persuaded by T/Framework in these scenarios. I also think if you've made the good faith effort to engage, then you should be rewarded. These arguments make a little more sense on the negative but I am not compelled by arguments that claim: "you didn't talk about it, so you should lose."

CPs- Defending the SQ is a bold strat. Multiple conditional (or dispo/uncondish) CPs are also fine. Condo is probably good, but i can be persuaded otherwise. Consult away- its arbitrary to hate them in light of the fact that everything else is fine. I lean neg on CP theory. Aff's make sure you perm the CP (and all its planks). Im willing to judge kick the CP for you. If i determine that the CP is not competitive, or that its a worse option - the CP will go away and you'll be left with whatever is left (NBs or Solvency turns etc). This is only true if the AFF says nothing to the contrary. (ie. The aff has to tell me NOT to kick the CP - and win that issue in the debate). I WILL NOT VOTE ON NO NEG FIAT. That argument makes me mad. Of course the neg gets fiat. Don't be absurd.

T- I default to offense/defense type framework, but can be persuaded otherwise. Impact your reasons why I should vote neg. You need to have unique offense on T. K's of T are stupid. I think the aff has to run a topical aff, and K-ing that logic is ridiculous. T isn't racist. RVIs are never ever compelling.... ever.

Theory- I tend to lean neg on theory. Condo- Good. More than two then the aff might have a case to make as to why its bad - i've voted aff on Condo, I've voted neg on condo. Its a debate to be had. Any other theory argument I think is categorically a reason to reject the argument and not the team. I can't figure out a reason why if the aff wins international fiat is bad that means the neg loses - i just think that means the CP goes away.

Remember!!! All of this is just a guide for how you chose your args in round. I will vote on most args if they are argued well and have some sort of an impact. Evidence comparison is also good in my book-- its not done enough and i think its one of the most valuable ways to create an ethos of control with in the debate. Perception is everything, especially if you control the spin of the debate. I will read evidence if i need to-- don't volunteer it and don't give me more than i ask for. I love fun debates, i like people who are nice, i like people who are funny... i will reward you with good points if you are both. Be nice to your partner and your opponents. No need to be a jerk for no reason

8 years of CX experience. Debated for 4 years at Chandler High School and previously coached for them (Chandler CS) and Milton High School (Milton HH & Milton FM). I used to be a 2N but I have experience being a 2A as well. Grilled cheese enthusiast.

Last Updated: Westminster 2017

General Notes

• Anything that's argued and debated well goes
• Don't try to talk faster than you're thinking - clarity is key if you're speaking fast
• Clearly outline why you win the ballot in the 2NR/2AR. Judge intervention isn't fun/cool
• Actual warrant extensions > quick blips
• Tech > Truth
• Comfortable with non-traditional/performance stuff as long as it's within the bounds of sanity (whatever that means)
• Flashing isn't prep; don't steal prep

Speaker Points

These vary from round to round because of subjectivity but I'm relatively lenient compared to most judges. 30.0 is rare (only once).
28.2 - 28.6 = Average
28.7 - 29.1 = Above average/good speaker
29.2 - 29.5 = Good enough for elims
29.6 - 29.9 = Late elims

Rather than taking away points for poor debating, I much more often reward them for nifty tricks/good strategy. That being said:

• Aggressiveness =/= rudeness. Make a point but be respectful in the process. We're all part of the same community.
• I'll pay attention to CX and strategic ones will be awarded.
• Numbering arguments (starting from the 2AC) will be rewarded with an extra 0.2 points. It will help you organize your flows and naturally increase the clarity/organization of your speeches.
• Clash is crucial for high speaks and wins.
• Jokes/humor in speeches are encouraged but please don't spend your entire speech making puns. On that note, jokes about the Seattle Seahawks = +0.1. Also, jokes about Chandler High or Milton High debate squads = +0.2.

Specifics

Case --- I highly value research and think well made case negs are the most damaging. Make sure case arguments are frictional with your off case impacts or CP solvency. No, neg flex, while tolerable, is not the only or best answer to contradictions across flows. Compared to most judges, I am more willing to vote on just case if it's well debated and there's some solid offense.

Counterplans --- I think case-specific PICs are strategic. I'm not a big fan of consult CPs (or anything with an artificial net benefit) or CPs that compete solely on a solvency differential. It's not that they're bad, but really, they're bad. 2NR needs to have good solvency mechanism articulation and comparative analysis between the CP/aff.

Disads --- The more specific, the better. Disads are wonderful if they're specific. I very much enjoy and hope to hear good link articulation in context of the aff. I think disad-specific case arguments are incredibly beneficial at framing and winning a debate. I've warmed up to the politics disad quite a bit recently. I'm somewhat skeptical of the link debate on politics, but that's likely a side effect of not seeing it done well recently. My preference on politics links are also a personal belief that doesn't have a bearing on my decision - if you think you can do a good/winning job with it, roll with it.

Kritiks/Non-Traditional Affs --- Hype. I'm fairly well-versed with critical literature and read a decent amount while I debated. Throughout my career, I leaned left three out of four years reading soft left and hi-theory affs. I think there is a lot of strategic and educational value to reading these arguments and they can have tremendous impact both in debate and in larger communities if executed correctly. I think a bigger and bigger problem with kritiks is that they're being read more often but not explained with the level of detail they ought to be. Many rounds tend to have close to no explanation of what a post-alternative/post-affirmative world looks like or what the alternative/aff actually does, which puts me in a pickle (I like pickles too) in terms of understanding what I am voting for. I frame Ks through the framework debate but the aff should be able to weigh their justifications - I won't kick the alt for you and I really hope there's an explanation of how the alt resolves the impacts to the K. Dropping swanky/famous last names =/= giving an explanation of ideology/methodology. Please don't just read overviews or pre-written arguments for the full speech, be creative and clash in the context of the debate. While my voting record historically leans left, I have a relatively high threshold for solvency explanations and round-specific articulation.

T/FW --- Sure! I'll evaluate it just as fairly as I would any other argument. I think these debates can be very educationally and strategically valuable but have to be executed correctly (which rarely happens). The biggest problem with teams reading T/Framework is that it isn't impacted well in the context of the aff and I end up being confused as to why I should vote for the argument/why one model of debate is better/whether education or fairness comes first/what education matters/what abuse has taken place (e.g. "we lose links to the spending DA" isn't a substantial enough reason to vote neg). Historically, my voting record is not in favor of FW but that doesn't mean you won't pick up my ballot if you read it.

Theory --- It's aight. In addition to utilizing it as a voting issue, I like teams that couple their theory with other arguments to justify/extrapolate key arguments to give them the edge on contested issues. I have a high threshold on using theory as a reason to vote aff/neg; give me a compelling reason (more than just a blip) why I should reject the team. In most cases, it's just a reason to reject an argument or not a team but if you do enough work on it, you most definitely may be able to convince me otherwise. Please please please make sure you give some example of abuse, i.e. specific models of debate/in-round, or have solid proof for your violation and have a logical impact in conjunction with that.


If you can't find the answer to something here, default to Adam Symond's wiki. He was one of the best lab leaders I had and my philosophy aligns with his for the most part.

If you have any questions before/after the round and still don't know the answer, shoot me an email: mnvsevak97@gmail.com.

Updated 1/16/18

Affiliation:

Chattahoochee High School '15

Kennesaw State University '19

Some background:

I debated four years at Chattahoochee. I was a 2N my enitre career so I tend to lean negative on most theory questions and toward the Aff on late breaking debates because of the 1AR.

Debate:

I haven't done any judging on this topic so make sure to be informative, clear and understandable. IF you use jargon I don't know, don't expect me to google it for you. It is really quite simple; if you do the better debating you will win my ballot. I am a very technical debater so dropped arguments unless absurd are almost always treated as the truth. In front of me, try to advocate something if anything. At least make it clear what you believe I am and should vote on. I'm very laid back in round and really anything goes as long as you aren't rude or mean. Most importantly have fun. IF its apparent that you are enjoying yourself throughout the round, it will help your speaks and my willingness to give you my ballot.

PRONOUNS: they/them/theirs

mstekl@stanford.edu -- please put me on the email chain

PhD student @ Stanford, in Modern Thought and Literature

Emory '19 (did not debate; judged on the GA circuit for 4 years)

Bishop Guertin '15 (debated on the national circuit, went to the TOC, etc. etc.)

***UPDATE for Berkeley 2020: This will be my first tournament on the topic. Please do not assume any familiarity with the topic or especially with any topic-specific acronyms. You can spread, but clarity is paramount as always — clarity over speed any day, but today more than ever!***

My favorite judges in high school were jon sharp, Calum Matheson, and Jarrod Atchinson.

In general, you should not change what you do because you have me in the back of the room. As a debater, I tended to be pretty flexible, alternating frequently between "critical" and "policy" positions. This is your space to argue, not mine, so I will vote for the arguments on the flow that yield the path of least intervention. Pure objectivity being impossible, I nonetheless do my best to keep my subjective argumentative preferences out of the picture. That said, I'm not quite a blank slate; for instance, I won't be persuaded by racism/sexism/etc. good, or by any unapologetically discriminatory positions or practices.

I’m pretty well versed in K lit – I study theory at a graduate level, so I should have some degree of familiarity with whatever you choose to read. I'm an especially good judge for any brand of poststructuralism, including those concerned with questions of identity. Obviously, this doesn't mean that you can rely on buzzwords to get out of explaining your argument; it does mean, too, that I'll know if you have no idea what you're talking about. You should have at least a working knowledge of the position you are asking me to vote for, which requires you to do at least some cursory background reading and thinking. Then, bring your knowledge of critical theory to bear on the particulars of the aff, balancing overarching framing questions with specific link and impact analysis.

I'm not convinced that the aff must defend governmental action. Which is only to say that I will not enter the room with any dogmatic biases against plan-less affirmatives. That said, I probably enjoy a good framework debate more than most, and find myself voting for framework as often as I vote against it. Still, I don't think it should be your only strategy against all K affs; I will be more persuaded if you at least make an effort to substantively engage the aff. Of course, particularly obscure affs or those lacking a consistent advocacy will tend to be harder to defend against framework than core, topic-specific K affs.

***UPDATE September 2018: As I've judged more debates, I've become increasingly wary of framework as a default negative strategy against K affs. In my experience, framework very often becomes a lazy cop-out, even an excuse to avoid debating the substance of the aff. I can still be convinced that this is not always the case, and I will continue to evaluate framework debates technically, but it is on framework debaters to prove the value of their strategy.***

I think I tend to prioritize evidence quality less than most judges. Not that good cards aren't important – they're the pillars of your argument – but they can't replace good analysis. Depending on your argumentative genre of choice, it may be better to establish your position through evidence-reading or through your own explanation in the constructives; but in most cases, I'd rather you invest more time in nuanced and specific applications of your argument than read another card. In the final rebuttals, you absolutely shouldn't rely on your cards to do the work for you – extensions should be much more substantive than simple author name-drops. If you can't explain your author's argument, as well as its implications for the debate, I won't explain it for you.

Clear! I'll take clarity over speed any day. You should be comprehensible enough that I can understand the text of your cards. I will not call for cards after the debate if I was unable to understand them when you read them; I only read evidence for the sake of refreshing my memory.

Chill out. While antagonism is inevitable in this competitive forum and may even enhance debates in limited doses, I maintain that debaters too often take aggression to unhealthy extremes. Outside of a small number of "critical" strategies that benefit performatively from hostility, there is no reason to deliberately be an asshole to the other team, or – especially – to your partner (!!seriously!! if I can hear you yelling at your partner during prep time, you're doing something wrong). Jokes can also help ease the tension.

Speaks – Points vary by tournament (i.e. I'll give higher points at Samford than at the NDCA). Generally speaking, I'm a bit of a point fairy. Methods for improving your speaks include innovative, specific strategies and clear logical organization. Humor is the icing on the cake.

30 – Among the best speakers I’ve ever heard: you should be top speaker and win the tournament. A+
29.5-29.9 – Outstanding: expect to be one of the top 5 speakers – you should be able to make it to late elims. A
29-29.4 – Very impressive: a noteworthy performance with quite little room for improvement; you deserve to be among the top 20 speakers. A-
28.6-28.9 – High average: you are in or near the top of your division; with any luck – and, more surely, with just a little more practice – you should be able to break. B/B+
28-28.5 – Average: you're doing well, but still need to iron out some remaining issues with your clarity of speech or of argument. B-
27.5-27.9 – Low average: you have potential, but displayed: a) notable problems with both speaking and argument development, or b) more serious problems in one of the two areas. C/C+
27-27.4 – Below average: your performance was passable, but suffered from critical issues of both style and content. C-
26.5-26.9 – Needs improvement: you spoke poorly, made major strategic mistakes, and likely dropped some important arguments. D
26-26.4 – Needs major improvement: you failed to answer a majority of your opponent’s arguments and made some manner of unforgivable mistake. D-
0-25 – You did something offensive. F

Clipping will result in an immediate loss and the lowest speaks allowed by the tournament. I will follow along with the speech doc and record the debate; if I catch you clipping, I will stop the round you even if your opponent doesn’t call you on it.

This is not, in fact, your CX.

*** Update March 2019: YES TKO PLEASE TKO! Far too many debates drag on painfully long after they (should) have technically ended. For this reason, I am following B. Manuel's paradigm and urging you to invoke "total knock-out" mode if the other team makes an utterly irredeemable mistake – e.g., double turn, dropped T or a K, etc. Of course, you must stake the round on this; if you can pull it off (i.e., if you can satisfactorily extend the dropped/devastating argument while covering all your bases, e.g., answering condo if going for a dropped K...), then you will win the round after your speech and receive 30s. If you are unsuccessful, you lose and get a hard cap of 27.5. ***

Head Debate Coach - University of Georgia

jstupek8@gmail.com

Top Level

- Clarity and flowability are the strongest qualities that drive my speaker points. I encourage debaters to adopt speaking practices that enhance their flowability such as: structured line-by-line, slowing down when communicating plan or counterplan texts, emphasizing particularly important lines in the body of evidence, and descriptively labeling off-case positions in the 1NC.

- Arguments do not always need cards to be impactful. I care about logical analytic arguments, particularly those that are set up well in cross-examination.

- Plan and counterplan text vagueness is an under-exploited issue. As such, I'm likely more amenable to specification arguments than your average judge.

- While no judge is a true blank slate, I have and am willing to vote on basically anything.

Disads

- I begin resolving these debates by comparing the relative risk of the internal link chains of the disadvantage and the advantage(s) the 2AR went for. All things being equal, I frequently resolve these debates without turning to questions of impact comparison or impact interaction. The advice I often find myself giving after debates is that second rebuttalists should spend less time on traditional impact calculus or turns case arguments and more time making sure you win your advantage or disadvantage. Of course, all things are not always equal and second rebuttalists should point out when there's a tangible timeframe or magnitude distinction between impacts.

- Brink + link uniqueness is not an adequate substitute for traditional uniqueness and link claims.

- Always been a fan of agenda politics, probably always will be.

- For affirmatives reading framing arguments, your time is almost always better spent making substantive answers to the disadvantage rather than meta arguments about the complex nature of disadvantages.

Counterplans

- Please stop starting your counterplan 2ACs with consecutive permutation arguments delivered at top speed. This is the single most difficult thing to flow properly in my experience. The easiest fix here is to read cards in between each different permutation and slowing down when communicating perm texts.

- I have no inherent aversion to process counterplans. I think that at times these debates can be really interesting, especially when contextualized to the topic.

- I still believe in an abstract academic sense, that the benefits of conditionality outweigh its costs. This issue, however, is so rarely evenly debated that more affirmative teams should consider going for conditionality bad.

- My default view is that counterplan theory arguments that are not conditionality bad are reasons to reject the argument rather than reasons to reject the team. This presumption can be overcome, but the bar is high.

- My default view is that I will judge kick the counterplan and compare the aff vs. the status quo. I can and have been persuaded not to do so when the affirmative team advances that argument.

Topicality vs. Policy Affirmatives

- Including resolutional language in your plan text does not in and of itself persuade me the aff is topical.

- Caselists are incredibly useful for articulating just how under or over limiting a particular interpretation is.

- For affirmative teams, I would rather hear impacts about the benefits of a broader topic for affirmative innovation and flexibility than appeals to education about the affirmative's content. I am unlikely to be persuaded that I should reject a negative topicality interpretation because the affirmative would have a difficult time constructing solvency deficits to a particular counterplan under said interpretation. That argument seems to be a theoretical objection the counterplan rather than a topicality standard.

- Teams articulating a "precision" standard should take care to clearly explain what their threshold for a "precise" interpretation is, why their interpretation meets that threshold, and why the opposing team's interpretation does not.

Kritiks On The Neg

- I care about the alt quite a bit. Teams that have persuaded me to vote for kritiks have often done so on the basis of strong alt debating.

- The way "framework" arguments are currently deployed is somewhat puzzling to me. Most aff/neg framework standards seem to get more at the question of "how much" weight I should give to a particular impact than to whether I should consider a particular impact in the first place. I've never been persuaded that framework means I don't consider the merits of the 1AC. I've equally never been persuaded that framework means the alt has to be policy.

- Kritiks that derive their offense from the affirmative not doing enough or being too incremental are vulnerable to permutations.

- Alt causes are not link arguments. Link arguments are not "disads."

Planless Affirmatives

- I have been persuaded that the aff doesn't have to read a plan or say USFG should, but I have not encountered a situation where I have been persuaded that the aff doesn't have to be topical. Having some sort of counter-interpretation, even if it's just "resolved means to analyze," is important for how I ground and resolve aff arguments about the neg's interpretation. I want to hear in detail about what the affirmative's model of debate might look like. I would rather hear one or two conceptual impact turns to the negative's model, than eight different "DA's" that are difficult to distinguish between.

- For the negative, I would rather hear arguments about the value of procedural fairness than than some of the more "substantive" framework arguments.

- The vocabulary of "internal link" and "impact" is not particularly useful in a debate about theory. Certainly the negative needs to explain why fairness is a valuable concept, but that explanation does not have to involve the same kind of cause and effect logic chain we encounter in advantages or disadvantages. The "just an internal link" pejorative often applies just as well to arguments forwarded by the affirmative. As a whole, these debates would be so much better if no one used the words "impact," "internal link," or "disad."

Speaker Points

- I hesitate to offer some sort of static scale for speaks because I think that speaker points are relative and I am constantly reflecting on whether my speaker point distribution is in line with the rest of the judging community.

- Debaters who debate technically and make good strategic decisions will receive good points.

- Debaters who debate with style (humor, passionate rebuttals, exceptional clarity) will receive good points.

Closing Thoughts

If you've made it this far, I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the work you do as debaters and coaches. I know how hard everyone works to prepare for debates and I strive to provide judging and feedback that lives up to that standard.

"As I look back at the contours of my own life, many things about it I would change if I could. But not this. The long hours, the demanding schedules, all that goes into effective debating and effective coaching, the lost weekends. I would do it all again. I would do it all again not for any particular tournament or trophy, not for the specifics of any topic, not even for the intellectual benefits debate bestows upon its participants, critical thinking and the like. I would do it all again for the chance to work with hard-working, dedicated, and committed students like those assembled in this room." - Scott Deatherage

I am a Senior Highschool debater at Chattahoochee High School and this is my 4th year debating. 

K affs: I believe that aff's should probably have a plan or at least be somewhat relevant to the resolution. My biggest problem with K aff's is how they claim to solves their impacts so if running a K aff, make sure you have a very clear line of reasoning. Not the most knowledgable on high theory so if you are running high theory K affs be sure to explain the thesis of your aff very clearly.

Disads: Fine with disads! I enjoy impact comparison

Counterplans: Also fine with counterplans!

Kritiks: not the best person to read high theory kritiks in front of. I find middle of the road frameworks most persuasive. I will vote on K's but make sure that a link makes sense and is very clearly explained and why the alternative actually solves (and obviously extend your impact as well). I'm fine with generic K's like seceurity, neolib, cap, agamben, pan, etc

Topicality: I like topicality debates. If you are going for topicality debate it like a DA and make sure you have an impact (like education/fairness/etc) and explain why that impact matters, not just your internal links (standards) like limits and ground. If the aff has a pretty decent reason why they meet your interpretation, I will find that very persuasive.

Theory: I'm fine with theory. If you go for theory make sure its something with somewhat credibility (like conditionality, PICs bad, condition CPs bad, etc) instead of something with minimal credibility (Like no neg fiat).

4x debater @Georgia, 2x NDT Attendee

Please send your hate mail to --> jhweintraub@gmail.com

I was a 2a for my entire 8 yr debate career, so i'm also willing to do the work to protect the aff from what I see as abusive strategies.

I think I get a reputation for being a hack judge because I end up resolving debates by doing work for either team to try and untangle messy parts at the end, usually by reading a lot of evidence. My biggest issue is in these complex and messy debates when neither side is really making an attempt to clarify the story of what's going on and just speed through the line by line, so the debate ends and I have to make arbitrary decisions on evidence and internal link chains because neither side has told me what the ballot ought to be for. If you can do that I'm significantly more likely to vote for a scenario that is illucidated well and untangled for me.

Ex: Willing to vote on theory against arbitrary and contrived CPs that don't have a solvency advocate or try to skirt clash on the core issue. Willing to vote for the Aff on framework against the K because even though fiat isn't real the game of debate itself is useful.

I like good mechanism debates. Process CP's not my favorite cup of tea but if you've got a CP that you think does actually solve better than the aff i'd be pretty interested in hearing it.

Framework makes the game work and fairness is an impact. If the game isn't fair and both sides don't stand an equal chance of winning what's even the point of playing. At that point we're basically playing blackjack but one side gets to be the house and the other the player, and Idk about you, but I don't wanna play that game.

Coaching is not my full time job so I'm not as tuned in to everything going on on this topic as I would like to be, which means that if you wanna go for T It might be useful to do a little extra work to explain why the aff is far outside the bounds of what we know the topic is. That being said though, i'm definitely willing to pull the trigger on it if I think the aff is overly contrived in an attempt to skirt the core neg ground.

The aff almost always gets to weigh its implementation against the K. The neg gets to link representations but you also need to justify why that matters against the aff or some tangible impact of that.

My background and day job is in cybersecurity (blockchain and encryption engineering) so if you're gonna read arguments about technology i'm gonna expect you to have at least some understanding of how tech works and will almost certainly not be persuaded by tech > truth. Most cyber arguments are stupid and completely miss the nuance of the tools. If you want more explanation i am happy to explain why.

For Novice Only: To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.