LD Paradigm

The No, No's

I am open to any argument that does not enter ethical repugnancy- ae Kill the Poor, Hitler was right, Racism doesn't exist.

Pronouns will be respected, blantant intolerance will unilaterally lose you the ballot. Someone's gender indentity is not up for debate period.

Do not authenticity test, the debate round is not a place to question someone's sexual, or racial identity.

If you lie about a piece of evidence, with malicous intent, YOu will get 0 speaks, and if egregious you will lose the round, and I could possibly talk to tab about disqualification.

Please do,

Test the boundaries. I am open to any argumentation, and implore debaters to not only challenge their own ideas, but the norms of debate, in its ideology and practice.

Include trigger warnings on anything talking about, or detailing sexual assault, or any other form of interpersonal violence.

Ask me to read a piece of evidence, if it comes into contention about its content.

Feel free to ask questions during my RFD, though remember you will not change the outcome of the debate.

Specific Debate Philosophy

I will vote on Counter plans (as long as they are mutually exclusive with the AFF), Kritiks, Performance affs/negs, and god forbid, even well debated and FULLY IMPACTED, RVI's. 

Value Debate-

I find that value debate often defaults to the generality that good things are good, so I don't often find much offense to vote Aff or Neg. But I could possibly if there is significant clash.

Criterion Debate- I am bit of a romantic when it comes to old school criterions, such as Locke Social Contract, or other distinct philosophies such as Taoism. I believe these forms of broad philosophical frameworks make LD unique, and offer interesting clash and education. I think with these forms of framework allow one to win the debate, with just the criterion debate, if you win that your framework is mutually exclusive with that of your opponents framework, and that your opponents case, or points clashes with that philosophical framework or starting point. And this applies to all forms of offensive framework, and I will follow that winning framework in how I evaluate impacts and there in, so if you win the framework that protecting rights comes before anything else, I will, in the realm of decency, follow you in that, and weigh points in the debate accordingly. I find this philosophy not necessarily inline with the current tropes and trends, as it seems, the trend is to have criterions that are a more strict measurement of contention success, such as "maximizing welfare", or "decreasing income inequality". I often find it hard to get distinct offense, because, hardly ever, is any opponent's framework strictly antithetical to these ideas. But don't you worry, you do you boo, I will go with whatever you want to do, and you can win with any criterion, just debate it well.

Contention- I Love Evidence, I Love Speed, I Flow. But mostly, I Love debaters doing what they are comfortable with, and debating arguments that they care about. I will judge any style. I am not opposed to reading evidence, and will do so if the legitimacy or the interpretation of evidence comes into question.

Cross Ex

1) Is binding

2) Direct and malicious lie=0 speaks, and maybe losing the round.

3) You don't always have to disagree with your opponents.

4) I don't flow cross ex, but I will hold you to your answers.

5) I put a lot of weight in cross ex when it comes to speaker points, and I just want to say that each debater should be respectful, but that doesn't mean be a pushover, just be willing to let the other talk, and if your opponent starts rambling, you can say thank you and move on, but let them attempt to answer.

6) The "yes or no" trick is kind of silly, most questions cant be answered strictly with a yes or no.

Final thoughts,

I think debate is a unique and wonderful opportunity for diversity in ideas, and beliefs. It represents a wonderful part of my life, and hope competitors use it to grow.

No intense spreading please for myself Donna Chisum. I am a fairly New Judge. I struggle keeping up with spreading. I prefer not to judge CX.

I am a former high school competitor with ten years experience coaching LD, PF, and extemp. I don't like speed. Debate is a communication activity, and if normal people cannot comprehend you, you are not actually communicating.

In general, I am reluctant to offer paradigms because the argumentation of each individual debater is much more important to me than any pre-set notion of what should happen in a round. As a classic LD debater, I tend to weigh value and criteria fairly heavily in the round -- but if you win the framework but debate everything else horribly, I will still vote against you. Ultimately, I will vote based on your voting issues. Convince me that the issues you've won are the most important in the round, and that's what I'll write on my RFD -- whether that's evidence, framework, or contention-level arguments.

You should know that I have zero background in policy debate and zero patience for people trying to transform LD into a one-person version of CX. I do not admire debaters who attempt to win by putting so many blippy arguments on the flow that your opponent cannot possibly answer them all. In general, please treat your opponent with courtesy and respect, or don't expect to get speaker points.

Experience-

I have done all debate events, but I have substantially more experience with LD (both traditional and progressive). Four time state qualifier and two time national qualifier, once in Extemp and once in Worlds. While competing in Worlds, my team placed sixth and I placed fourth speaker.

Worlds-

I will judge the round how it should be judged according to Worlds norms and standards. Don’t try to be too limiting with framing, definitions or models. I will not evaluate the round using any other influences (LD, CX, PF). Ideal speed would be about conversational, and spreading will result in a a reduction of speaker points, speaking quickly to cover everything may not. I love POIs when done tastefully. Don’t stand up constantly with the sole purpose of distracting your opponent, but everybody needs to be asking them (not just the same team members). I also think that using POIs as more than just questions is a phenomenal strategy (20% of your overall rank).

LD-

Framework-

I prefer to have a framework to weigh the round with. Some sort of weighing mechanism makes the round more clear. I tend to evaluate different impacts though that weighing mechanism presented and won.

Arguments-

I need warrants and impacts. I will vote on most anything not obviously offensive (racism, sexism, homophobia ect.). While I have some familiarity with K's, it is not anything close to being extensive. If you decide to run one, you will probably have to give me more analysis and slow down more for claims and warrants (adding me to an email chain or flashing it won't hurt). I also require clash.

PF-

A framework is preferred, but not necessary. There needs to be clash and the other team's case must be addressed. My least favorite debates are those that heavily center on only one case because that usually results in a purely defense/offense debate.

Speaking-

I would rank myself as about a 7 as far as speed goes. Answers to questions-

I don't care where you sit

I don't care if you time on your phone

I don't need to see if your laptop/phone is on airplane mode

I don't care if you sit or stand for cross ex

I have been judging regularly for about 15 years; and I am in my seventh year coaching Harding Charter Prep HS in Oklahoma City. I love every single event offered for competition. They are all valid. Memes hating on particular events are lame. Follow @hcpspeechdebate on Instagram and Twitter.

LD/PFD: I prefer quality of information and sources as well as clarity and presence of speakers over speed and quantity of information and sources. The more you can tell me about the qualifications of a source, the better I can weigh them. If you give a simple (Last Name/Year) tag, you can assume I know nothing about the author. I like to see your personality as a debater and jokes/lighthearted moments are welcome as long as they are within the scope of the topic. I dislike plans and policy-style approaches to Lincoln-Douglas debate; if you want to do Policy, there's a debate for that. I believe that the heart of Public Forum debate is that it should assume any judge is a lay judge and is more informal and free of debate jargon. Limit pre-case observations and don't place impossible burdens on your opponent. Be civil and professional during cross-examination or your speaker points are toast. Use cross-examination time to ask questions, not make another speech. Use your speech time and prep time! Your constructive speeches should be as close to memorized as possible. I want to see you speaking/debating, not just reading. Cases on paper vs on a laptop gain an automatic advantage. Have fun!

Big Questions: Please, please, please read the Format Manual. Then read it again. Use the Format Manual as evidence in round if you need to. Please let this thing have a chance to become its own thing before we drown it in the other debate sauces.

Policy: If I am judging round round, I apologize in advance. Something has gone awry at this tournament and I am a kind-hearted person with a semi-functioning brain that has been put in to prevent the round starting hours late. We'll make it through this together. I'm probably not gonna disclose unless tab forces me to.

Congress: Don't read word-for-word pre-written speeches. You should have an outline. Pay attention to the whole of the round, not just sitting there prepping for when you are going to talk. Keep questions concise.

World Schools: Requests for POIs should rise/raise as often as needed but don't be a pest about it. You are at the discretion of the speaker. Avoid debate jargon. Rely on reason and logic. Appeal persuasively. Prop arguments should do their best to prove the resolution beyond a shadow of a doubt. Opposition arguments should be about broad rejection of the resolution, not just finding an outlier to say that one example is representative of all.

Final Thoughts: This activity is for education. Winning and excellence should always be celebrated, but not the only goal. Remember that Words Matter and Words have Power. Respect the purpose of the Pronouns and name pronunciation options in Tabroom. The NSDA has worked hard to be inclusive. Don't abuse that. #NotGarbagePeople

I mostly judge Lincoln Douglas, but I have coached all events offered by the NSDA and the OSSAA. I was the coach at Cascia Hall from 2007-2021 and have worked at the Tulsa Debate League since 2023.

I am more comfortable with a more traditional style of debate, but will make my best effort to judge the round in front of me, even if it isn't stylistically what I am most comfortable with. That being said, no matter what style you prefer, debate is pretty much the same. Tell me how to make an evaluation and then tell me why you win under that evaluation.

If you have more specific questions, I'm happy to answer them before the round begins if all competitors are present.

Hello! My name is Ian Stone, and I did a mix of traditional Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum throughout my 4 years in high school. I am currently a debater on the OU Parli team. I am down for pretty much all types of argumentation. I think Oklahoma LD is often far too restrictive on the types of arguments debaters are supposed to run. Definitely feel free to spread, run a k, run theory, run weird link chains or do whatever you want in front of me. I will attempt to be as tab as possible. I enjoy funky arguments that either make me laugh or learn about something new. I will give you better speaker points if you run something I haven't heard before or if you do something unique and interesting in round. If I can't understand you I will clear you, but I am usually cool with most speed. I am pretty kind when it comes to speaker points most rounds, as long as a debater does not say something racist, homophobic, transphobic, or sexist. If you do, I'll dock your speaks and talk to your coach. Also, just be comfortable in the round. You don't have to ask me to use your phone as a timer or anything like that, just you do you. Also, I think it's dumb/prohibitory to dress up for debate, but that's a different subject. Don't worry if you don't have a tie in front of me or anything like that lol. Also, I definitely do not want to shake your hand after the round. I've touched enough clammy debate hands from my time as a competitor.

As far as traditional LD goes, I think that framework by itself is unimportant. The only time framework matters is if it is coupled with impacts. It is just a weighing mechanism, but people in traditional LD sometimes do not grasp that. It is not a voter in and of itself. Tell me how evaluating the round through your lens (the criterion) affects the big picture of the round. Also, values are usually pretty dumb, I definitely will not vote off of a value. Like, don't even read one in front of me probably? Kind of a waste of time to talk about IMO. Also, I do not want to intervene in the debate, so weighing is pretty critical. If there are any more questions feel free to ask me before the round! I disclose every round so stick around if you want me to tell you how I voted. More people in Oklahoma need to disclose because it makes tournaments way less stressful and better for competitors! Please be nice in round. In high school, I absolutely hated it when people were just obnoxious in round. I still hate it in college. Lets all just hang out, have a good discussion, and have fun. If you're mean to your opponent or talk over them a bunch in CX your speaks will definitely be affected. Also, if you're being mansplain-y or weird I'm going to dock your speaks.

For email chains, questions, or extended criticism: ianestone99@gmail.com