About Donovan Di Dio:

I debated policy for three years in high school and one year in college. While I finished college, my focus shifted towards judging and coaching high school debate. In 2020, I moved and haven’t been active in the sport since then as I focused on myself as a professional math teacher at a middle school level. I am looking to return to the scene by judging online tournaments and am interested in coaching opportunities.

My paradigm:

Tabula rasa: Debate is a game to be played. One team advocates for a specific change in the status quo and the other seeks to prove the status quo is fine OR a competing alternative is preferable to the resolution. The job of the debaters is to clash by answering, refuting, and evaluating arguments. The job of the judge is to determine who does that better. My reason for the decision will be grounded in what the debaters have told me is important. The more work you do in your closing arguments to tell me where to vote, the more likely I will be to vote for you. In this way, I am a tabs judge.

Style preferences:

Please signpost often. I am rusty with speed and flowing. You should slow down on procedural arguments.

Procedurals:

I love a good technical debate on topicality and theory. These debates can get very sloppy though. If you are confident in your ability to flesh out a well crafted argument proving abuse (or potential abuse), I will vote on it. Typically, these arguments should be run for defensive purposes.

Advocacies:

I prefer counterplans over kritiks. I like talking about the resolution. I will vote on kritiks, but make sure there is a solid link. Lately, I found myself thinking about ableism and capitalism a lot.

Case:

I love a good disadvantage/advantage. I love when teams discuss solvency. This is where a lot of topic specific education occurs. Even if you prefer a kritik or counterplan strategy, you should discuss the affirmative case.

I was a stock issues policy debater and am now a trial attorney. Although I understand theory arguments, I believe that the stock issues should still direct the round. I think that arguments have to be logical in order to be weighed in the round. I have rarely heard a Kritik which I though was worth voting for on this topic. I am Ok with some speed, but communication still matters.

I have done policy debate for 4 years in high school and coached policy debate for the last 5-6 years. I am now an attorney with my own private law practice but still love coming back and helping the community. I am fine with speed just make sure you are clear and I like when teams go *slightly* (doesnt have to be much) slower on the tags so I can make sure I get everything down on the flow.

Argument preference honestly none but I am always a sucker for a good framework debate. I guess in all honesty I tend to lean more policy maker. Not by preference since I am fine with Kritiks but I want to know what my ballot actually does. The role of the ballot should be more than a 10 second blurb.

I am not as well versed in philosophy as I should be. So don't assume I know what the terminology is BUT I am willing to learn.

T is fine but potential abuse is hard for me to vote on. I usually see T as a gateway issue.

Generic Link DA's: Honestly in the 1NC is fine because I know teams have strats and I get that but I really like a good specific link story to come out in the block or be able to explain it to me.

Impacts: Obviously I am all about impact calc at the end for policy debates and roll of the ballot arguments in K debates.

Email Chain: lukegordon57@gmail.com

"Quotes are for... people who can't think of something intelligent to say on their own." ~Bo Burnham

*Hi, Tyler here, two big things that I am tired of in debate are: 1. people thinking that I will flow their speech off of their speech doc 2. Debaters expecting me to understand everything about their arguments. I do not know everything, contrary to popular belief. If you choose not to read my paradigm then you are putting yourself in a position where I probs will vote you down. Read and adapt. Welcome to debate.*

I did policy debate for four years in high school (just because I say that does not mean I am any good. Lots of people say that but it doesn't mean much.). Graduated in 2016. I am here to judge whatever arguments you throw at me (as long as you EXPLAIN them.). I will try my best to flow whatever you say (see speed section). Although it will not effect the round be nice to the other team. *There is a difference between passion and being rude.*

Quick paradigm; TL;DR;

- Run what you want.

- Speed is fine, don't go too fast. Make sure as the aff you are extending your case through. Use your rebuttals to solidify your arguments.

- Please explain why my ballot is key.

- Don't assume I understand your K or K aff, they take explaining.

- I have a very basic understanding of the topic, so I could probably follow along, but explain your case anyways.

I would say here I am a tabs judge but I don't want you to read that an just go off of that because I feel like that 'type' of judge has become meaningless, everyone is a tabs judge. I will try my best to remove my personal views on anything, but (like any other judge) we have thoughts and feelings too. I am not your perfect judge (there isn't one out there I don't think). I will evaluate anything if you can explain it to me.

FAQ

Speed

So speed is fine; make sure to be clear though. Please go slightly slower on tag lines and analytics. If you decide to do an overview (which I pray to the flying spaghetti monster you don't) do not just spread through it. *I want to be able to flow your arguments and if I can't then there is no way I can evaluate them.* I place part of the blame on myself for not being a faster flower but at some point the blame goes from me to the debater. Although speed is a strategy that I understand and used it myself, debate is still a competition of communication. If you are anything like me and have paragraph long tag lines on your K slow the hell down on them. I was a silly debater and thought that everyone could write/type as fast as I could talk.

Arguments

Run whatever you would like. I can understand most arguments. ***Please don't assume I know what you are talking about though, K's and K aff's take explaining. I may have debated for 4 years but that doesn't mean I understand every single one of your DA's or CP's and how it works. Please make sure to explain.*** I like to think that I was a well versed high school debater, but in reality I relied heavily on a single K, so EXPLAIN. I do love a good line-by-line, I think this is a super strong way to prove your arguments. If you fail to explain your aff solvency or your alt solvency, why my ballot is key, then I have a really hard time voting for you. You need to give me a reason to vote for you.

Knowledge on the topic

I have read through a bunch of the Open Ev files so I have a basic understanding of the topic. I have also had some coaching from a few friends. So I should be fine. ***I am sad that I have to say this..... but this topic can be... Xenophobic. You run what you want, and you can say what you want and I will evaluate it. Think about it though, are you willing to forgo your morals just to win a debate? There are plenty of other arguments that you can and should run. Just a thought.***

Philosophy

I am not terribly well versed in a wide variety of philosophy so if you are going to go deep on me please make sure you are explaining so I can understand what you are talking about. I should be able to follow along as it is but make sure you don't lose me. If you lose me, then I also have a hard time voting for you because I have no idea what I am voting for. I am not going to be a judge that just pretends I know what you are talking about. ***I am a college student, working full time and trying (failing) to have a social life outside of all of that. I do not have time to read the latest book on theory. I probably have a low understanding of what you are talking about, so run what you are going to run but explain it to me.***

Performance

I did a variation of performance aff in high school, it was parody. I am cool with performance however if it is violent in any way I will not be tolerated. Like I said before make sure that you explain your arguments, even if they are performance I will need a reason to vote for you.

Case Evaluation

The Affirmative has to prove to me that the world of the Aff is going to be better than the world of the Neg or the status quo. So as the Aff make sure you hold tight onto your case, whatever that may be. If you have to make the choice between abandoning your case to attack the neg or sticking with your case, stick with your case 100% of the time. You can still kick out of advantages strategically, but if you drop everything I have nothing to vote on. Do not abandon your advantages because the neg does not talk about them, extend them through please, because I will not do the work for you.

That all being said - I really do want to be the best judge that I can be, and I try my best to take my time in evaluating your arguments. At the end of the day I do have to vote, if you do not like my decision I have no problem talking it over, but please remember that I am giving up my personal weekends, time and sleep to be here for you. I am trying my hardest and if you think my decision is BS, I will say sorry here, go back to your team and tell them you had a BS judge last round and rant about it for the short amount of time you have between rounds. Debate cannot function without debaters willing to debate and judges willing to judge. If you have any other questions please ask them! I would love to help out in whatever ways I can.

-Tyler Gordon

tyler@debatemail.com

Add me to email chains, please and thank you!

CHANGE LOG (All times are in MST):

12/1/2018 06:48 -

+"I may have debated for 4 years but that doesn't mean I understand every single one of your DA's or CP's and how it works. Please make sure to explain."

+Formatted TLDR

-"P.S. This is my first year doing this but if you want to see a paper copy of my flows then just shoot me an email."

11/28/2018 13:32 -

+"Debate cannot function without debaters willing to debate and judges willing to judge."

Overview: Run what you want. I will vote on something if you tell me why - that being said there are certain arguments, or ways to run arguments that tend to be more persuasive. If you don't give me a Framework to vote on I tend to default to Policymaker. I tend to believe the neg gets at least 1 conditional advocacy. Run what you're good at. 

Aff: In debate I didn't encounter many non-resoutional K aff's. That doesn't mean you shouldn't run them IF you think you can win, go for it. One thing I don't like is a kritical aff that doesn't have any form of even attempted solvency.  Neg try and engage with the aff in someway. 

DA: Run whatever you want. Meh. Impact Calculus. I tend to love a well run Ptix. Ptix is good.

Theory: I like theory, but I don't like it when it's the only thing in the debate. I feel that if you're going to run Framework or some Condo bad on the Aff you should also argue other things. NEG if you don't like their K Aff Answer their K and then Read a FW and T. If you run 5 T's I think its probably a lot more abusive than what they are doing. I'll vote on it if you can impact it out and tell me why it matters. Just because they tried to hold you to a standard doesn't mean I should drop them. BTW I tend to think the Neg gets 1 conditional world. I think forcing dispo/uncondo is illogical. I like logic. You get the Aff and perms, they get the Squo and another condo world.

T: T is T. Although I don't like T substantially but other than that T is good. Aff answering T by saying its on Open Evidence isn't a real answer. I default to competing interps unless you tell me otherwise.

K: This is the section you probably care about. I ran K's. I understand most authors but if you run some obscure K make sure you explain its interactions (I shouldn't need to tell you to do this). Regardless of what you run, tell me what your Alt and the ROTB are. Aff, I like perms. I don't like FW excluding K's from debate. That's illogical (see above).  .

CP: I tend to think most CP's are okay. Please don't tell me to delay the plan... unless you have to. I will lose sleep voting on it. Sleep is good.