KCKSNCFL Policy
2019 — Overland Park, KS/US
Varsity Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideBarb Anderson is an Assistant Debate and Forensics coach at Blue Valley Northwest High School. Ms. Anderson stresses communication, logic, and credible evidence over speed. Eye contact and persuasion are preferable to resolving issues. Please adapt accordingly.
Top Level- Speed is OK as long as you are clear. I don't wanna hear mush mouth which is what I'm used to hearing. I mightve made this confusing in my last paradigm. As long as you are relatively clear I will judge you based on your merits.
Tying arguments to the current political environment is very interesting to me. The more you show that you know current events, news, and politics, the more I will want to vote for you.
I'm a stock issues judge. Take that however you will.
Be polite to each other
Case-Pointing out logical loopholes to the aff will be very good
DA-Topic and Politics DA's are the best arguments
CP-These are also fine as long as you can explain why your CP is better at doing something good
K-Have never had anyone read one in front of me so don't really know what it is. Probably shouldn't because I'm policy-oriented.
K Aff- Don't know what it is but my son told me to put it on here. he said that "you should just read a plan"
T- Reduce arms to a country and your chillin
I'll send you a SpeechDrop link.
Experience
Rounds judged on this topic: 0
Disregard any topic specific info throughout my paradigm, it refers to a past topic.
Rounds judged on 2020-21 topic: 1
- Washburn Rural
Debated at Lansing High School in KS for 4 years
Debated 1 year at KU
Senior at University of Kansas
Assistant Coach for Lansing High School for ~3 years
General—
I’m a few years removed from debating now, so I'm not as fast at flowing as I used to be. You can read fast on cards, but I’d recommend you go at a moderate pace for tags/cites and theory arguments. Moreover, it would be advisable for you to explain your framing for the round a bit more than you normally would; odds are, you don’t want me trying to unravel the round for you, especially since I’m not particularly familiar with the literature on this topic.
If I feel that a team is intentionally personally attacking the other team (e.g. sexism, racism, repeatedly shouting at the other team, generally making the space feel unwelcome or unsafe for anyone else, etc.), I will drastically dock your speaker points on the first offense. If such behavior continues, I will vote you down. If you choose to continue to the point where the other team is visibly uncomfortable and/or upset, you will lose the round, get 0 speaker points, and I will find your coach. I would hope that no one reading this would act in such a fashion, but I want to be upfront about how seriously I take this issue.
If you’re going too fast or you’re unclear, I’ll say “clear” raise my hand on the zoom call.
Don’t be too rude, I’m not afraid to dock speaker points. I get that sometimes it’s unavoidable.
Generally tech over truth.
Read what you’re good at and explain why you should win. If you do that better than the other team, you’ll win the round.
Specifics—
Case
Extend your entire internal link story, not just your impacts. Explain the specifics of your solvency mechanism -- there are so many different ones on this topic, and I don't want to misinterpret your aff.
DAs
Are pretty dang terrible on this topic. Give me lots of impact calc and turns case. Since most of the DAs on this topic have the same or similar impacts as the aff, explain why I should prefer one internal link chain over the other. I don’t just only want to hear about the impacts in the 2NR - that leads to messy debates that are very difficult to adjudicate.
CPs
Read whatever CPs you want. I don’t care if they are completely cheating, if the aff doesn’t make a theory arg, I’m not gonna intervene. That being said, I have a pretty low threshold to reject the arg on “that CP is cheating”. Especially on this topic, I tend to err against process counter plans.
If you're gonna make a judge kick arg, make it in the block or in CX if the aff asks. Aff teams - ask this in CX of the 1NC.
Ks
You need to prove a link to the aff or their reps/epistemology. Explain what your alt does and give a clear framing as to how I should evaluate the K vs the aff. I'll vote on floating PICs, but make it clear that you're running one. I am most comfortable with neolib/cap, security, and some subset of anti-blackness Ks, but generally assume that you need to explain your warrants more than you normally would.
K Affs
Justify why you don’t have to defend the topic or a plan text. I probably err toward framework. I’m not your ideal judge if you don’t read a plan. I'm a little unsure as to why, perhaps neg teams being poor at framework debates, but I disproportionately vote for affs that don't read a plan. I'm a lot more likely to vote for affs with arguments about exclusion to weigh against framework than things like Baudrillard.
T
I’ll vote on in round and/or potential abuse. I'm pretty persuaded by predictable limits args on this topic since it seems like there are no real limits on the topic. Give TVAs and caselists. Go slower on T - my flowing is a little rusty and the internet will eat some of your words.
Theory
I’m probably not gonna vote on theory unless you're weighing it against T. In that case, explain how your theory args interact with the impacts of T, otherwise I'll end up having to make potentially arbitrary decisions when writing a ballot. I will reject an alt/CP/perm etc. based on theory if you're winning it and evaluate the round as such.
Ask specific questions pre-round or email me at zachatkins21@gmail.com
Disads: Good. Read them.
Topicality: Good. Reasonability is bad.
Counterplans: Competitive counterplans are good.
Kritiks: I don't read a lot of K stuff. Explain what you are trying to say thoroughly. If I don't understand it, I won't vote for it.
Lansing High School '17
University of Kansas '21
Please add me to the Email chain: Patrick.bircher7@gmail.com
TLDR: do what you do best, impact out your arguments
Updates for 2020-21:
The older I get, the more I believe in the "do what you do" mentality of approaching debates. I want to judge a round where you are making the arguments you enjoy, rather than ones you think I will like.
I also think that people do not focus on the meta level of the debate, and instead do not look at how individual arguments affect the debate as a whole. Impact out all your arguments and explain why they matter
Top Level:
Please just make good arguments that you enjoy reading
Tech over Truth, unless the argument is something explicitly offensive
Please be respectful to your opponents
I believe that debate is a game. People play games for different reasons, whether that be to simply have fun, to win, to make change, or whatever it may be, just play your game.
Topicality:
T is often a very strategic argument, but not deployed effectively by both sides.
It is always a voter and never a reverse voter.
I tend to default to competing interpretations, however a strong defense of reasonability can be persuasive
Reasonability is a way to evaluate two different interpretations. It is not whether your aff is close, but whether your interpretation is okay for debate.
I think that most debates revolve around the standards debate, and innovative takes on the classic standards (limits, ground, etc) are greatly appreciated.
Framework/ Topicality vs. Planless Affs:
Arguments centered around research practices or method debates are much more persuasive than generic fairness impacts.
Arguments like Topical Version of the Aff or Switch Side Debate can be used very effectively, however should not be used as offense.
Planless Affirmatives vs. Framework
Use your aff specifically as offense, rather than deploying a more generic "roleplaying bad" argument.
Having your own interpretation of the words in the topic is important. Most neg definitions are pretty self-serving, and having a defense to that can be very helpful, unless your offense is specifically designed to counter that.
Disads:
Impact comparison is extremely valuable, however it should not come at the expense of in depth link and internal link analysis.
Turns case arguments and specific links are greatly appreciated
Counterplans:
Counterplans are one of the most strategic arguments in all of debate.
In depth and nuanced counterplans are extremely persuasive
I will default to sufficiency framing, unless otherwise told so
Affs-don't heg your bets on theory, but rather use your aff as offense against the substance of the CP
Kritiks:
I am not super well-versed in the literature of your criticism, but I am open to most-all positions
Explain how the alt operates in the world of the status quo, and also what happens after I vote negative and endorse the alternative's method.
Clear, consise links to the mechanism of the aff, rather than just the actor go a long way.
Case:
The must underused, but most effective part of any debate.
I found that aff teams have a difficult time answering offense on case.
Use a combination of offense and defense on case in partnership with your off case to effectively win neg debates.
If the 2nr is not T, some part of the speech should involve case.
Theory:
Everything except conditionality is a reason to reject the argument
Condo is probably good, and unless it is extremely well argued or dropped I will probably default neg.
Any questions please feel free to email me.
I am the debate coach at Blue Valley North HS. I was an NDT/CEDA debater at Wichita State University (2012) and a graduate assistant at the University of Kansas. I have taught camp at Michigan or Kansas every year since I graduated. I typically judge 50-80 policy rounds per year, plus some pf/ld/speech.
email: brianbox4 @ gmail dot com - do not stop prep until you hit send on the email.
I really, really enjoy judging good debates. I really, really dislike judging debates that take two hours, lack clash and mostly involve unclearly reading a document into the screen. I care far more about your ability to speak clearly and refute arguments than the type of arguments you read. Good debate good, bad debate bad. I will vote for any argument you win.
Ultimately, the debate is not about me, and I will do my best to evaluate whichever strategy you pursue, but I am very bored by negative strategies that do not demonstrate an undesirable effect of the affirmative. There is a time and a place for most strategies, and I firmly believe there is no one right way to debate, but I wish more of the debates I judged were about core topic arguments and less about non-competitive counterplans (obviously debatable), generic critiques of fiat, poorly supported politics disads, ridiculous impact turns, etc.
I have found that 99% of high school debates are such clear technical victories that my argument specific thoughts aren't terribly relevant. As such, I want to emphasize a few points that are important for debating in front of me.
Points of emphasis - adhere to each of these and your speaker points will be no lower than a 29.
1. Clarity. Many of the debates I judge mumble and slur the text of evidence, and the transitions between arguments are difficult to follow. If I cannot understand you, I will say "clear" once. If I have to say it a second time, I will reduce your speaker points by a full point. If I have to say it a third time, I will stop flowing your speech.
2. Refutation. If you use your flow to identify the argument you are answering, read evidence with purpose and speak clearly while you do it, the floor for your speaker points will be a 29. If you start the timer and read straight down without saying which argument you are answering or how to apply your evidence, the ceiling for your speaker points will be a 27. Scouring the flow to fit the pieces together IS judge intervention.
3. Highlighting. I will completely ignore evidence that is highlighted nonsensically. The threshold is obviously subjective, so if you are of the school of thought that you should intentionally highlight your evidence poorly to force the judge to read the unhighlighted text on their own, I am not a good judge for you.
4. Flowing. If you aren't flowing the debate, I won't flow your speech.
5. Meaning of the plan. If asked to clarify the meaning of the plan in CX, you need to answer. The way you choose to answer is up to you, but If your plan is the resolution + one word, be prepared explain what it does. If you do not, I will A. automatically assume the negative CP competes or DA links (based on the part of the plan in question) and B. The burden for what the negative has to do to win a vagueness procedural or solvency argument becomes exceedingly low.
6. Prompting. Each speaker should give one constructive and one rebuttal. You are permitted to prompt your partner once per speech. Additional interruptions will result in a full speaker point deduction and the arguments being ignored.
7. CX. Each partner must ask questions in one CX and answer questions in one CX. You are permitted to ask or answer one question in a CX to which you are not assigned. Additional instances will result in a full speaker point deduction and the questions/answers being ignored.
Other things to know
Evidence matters a lot. I read lots of evidence and it heavily factors into my decision. Cross-ex is important and the best ones focus on the evidence. Author qualifications, histories, intentions, purpose, funding, etc. matter. The application of meaningful author indicts/epistemic arguments about evidence mean more to me than many judges. I find myself more than willing to ignore poorly supported arguments.
I cannot emphasize enough how important clarity is. I can't believe how often I see judges transcribing the speech document. If you have dramatic tone changes between tag and card, where you can barely be heard when reading the text of evidence, you will get lower points from me. If I can't understand the argument, it doesn't count. There is no difference between being incoherent and clipping. Reading directly into the screen at top speed - no matter how clear you are - is nearly impossible for me to understand.
Go for theory? I will never be the judge who views all sides of any theory debate to be equal, but am far more likely than I once was to vote for an argument about the scope of negative fiat. I am more likely to be convinced by a qualitative interpretation than a quantitative one. Affirmatives should be extending theory arguments that say a type of counterplan or category of fiat is bad more often. Conditionality is good. Judge kick is my default.
The link matters the most.The first thing I look at is the link. When in conflict, it is more important to contest the link than the impact.
CX is huge. This is where you separate debaters who have researched their argument and can intentionally execute a strategy from debaters who have practiced reading unclearly as fast as possible. I don't flow CX, but I am very attentive and you should treat me like a lay judge because these moments will be impactful.
\I am a former 4 year debater from Olathe Northwest.
I'm a policymaker judge, if the affirmative does not successfully defend against the impacts proposed by the negative then I simply cannot vote in favor of the plan. This can be accomplished by attacking the stock issues of the plan, or a good DA and/or CP.
Kritiks are not my favorite arguments by a long shot, but, I do evaluate them in a decision, and overall I default to impacts so I'm not going to get angry if I see one, just don't abuse it, and have it make sense.
I like slow flow rounds, and do not like spreading or speeding. If you go a bit faster than the average debater then I will most likely be able to understand you, but more than that is unnecessary.
How to win as aff with me as your judge: Make sure your advantages link to your solvency, defend Solvency, Inherency, and Topicallity with your life, and answer DAs, CPs, and Ks.
I love to watch clash, don't just ignore your opponent's arguments.
On a personal note, just don't be rude? I want to be able to evaluate a round without bias, but if one team is being unnecessarily aggressive or condescending then I'm going to be biased towards the other team, which is something I don't want to have happen. Also, if you personally insult or are in any way discriminatory against another team then I will feel no remorse in siding against you, this activity should be kept cordial and should be open to everyone, not just people you decide should be allowed to compete.
Generally i'm Tabula Rasa, but will default to a policymaker who values stocks if I'm not told how I should evaluate the round.
Paradigm Last Updated – Summer 2023
Coach @ Shawnee Mission South and the University of Kansas.
Put me on the email chain :) azjabutler@gmail.com
TLDR:
Judge instruction, above all else, is super important for me – I think this looks differently depending on your style of debate. Generally, I think clear instruction in the rebuttals about where you want me to focus my attention and how you want me to filter offense is a must. For policy teams I think this is more about link and impact framing, and for more critical teams I think this is about considering the judge’s relationships to your theory/performance and being specific about their role in the debate.
For every "flow-check" question, or CX question that starts with a variation of "did you read..." I will doc you .5 speaker points. FLOW DAMNIT.
General:
I am flexible and can judge just about anything. I debated more critically, but read what you're most comfortable with. I will approach every judging opportunity with an open mind and provide feedback that makes sense to you given your strategy.
I care about evidence quality to the extent that I believe in ethically cut evidence, but I think evidence can come in many forms. I won’t read evidence after a debate unless there is an egregious discrepancy over it, or I've been instructed to do so. I think debaters should be able to explain their evidence well enough that I shouldn’t have to read it, so if I'm reading evidence then you haven't done your job to know the literature and will probably receive more judge intervention from me. That being said, I understand that in policy debate reading evidence has become a large part of judging etc, because I'm not ever cutting politics updates be CLEAR and EXPLICIT about why I am reading ev/ what I should be looking for.
Please know I am more than comfortable“clearing” you. Disclosure is good and should be reciprocated. Clipping/cutting cards out of context is academic malpractice and will result in an automatic loss.
___________________________________________________________________
Truth over Tech -OR- Tech over Truth
For the most part, I am tech over truth, but if both teams are ahead on technical portions of the debate, I will probably use truth to break the tie.
Framework
I think debates about debate are valuable and provide a space for confrontation over a number of debate's disparities/conflicts. A strong defense of your model and a set of specific net-benefits is important. Sure, debate is a game, education is almost always a tiebreaker. Fairness is a fake impact -- go for it I guess but I find it rare nowadays that people actually go for it. I think impact-turning framework is always a viable option. I think both sides should also clearly understand their relationship to the ballot and what the debate is supposed to resolve. At the end of the debate, I should be able to explain the model I voted for and why I thought it was better for debate. Any self-deemed prior questions should be framed as such. All of that is to say there is nothing you can do in this debate that I haven't probably seen so do whatever you think will win you the debate.
Performance + K Affirmatives
Judge instruction and strong articulation of your relationship to the ballot is necessary. At the end of the debate, I shouldn't be left feeling that the performative aspects of the strategy were useless/disjointed from debate and your chosen literature base.
Kritiks
I filter a lot of what I have read through my own experience both in and out of academia. I think it’s important for debaters to also consider their identity/experience in the context of your/their argument. I would avoid relying too much on jargon because I think it’s important to make the conversations that Kritiks provide accessible. I have read/researched enough to say I can evaluate just about anything, but don't use that as an excuse to be vague or assume that I'll do the work for you. At the end of the debate, there should be a clear link to the AFF, and an explanation of how your alternative solves the links -- too many people try to kick the alt and I don't get it. Links to the AFF’s performance, subject formation, and scholarship are fair game. I don’t want to say I am 100% opposed to judging kicking alts for people, but I won’t be happy about it and doubt that it will work out for you. If you wanna kick it, then just do it yourself... but again I don't get it.
Any other questions, just ask -- at this point people should know what to expect from me and feel comfortable reaching out.
Goodluck and have fun!
Associate Director of Debate @ Greenhill
Still helping KU in my free time
Please add me to the email chain: a.rae.chase@gmail.com
I love debate and I will do my absolute best to make a decision that makes sense and give a helpful RFD.
Topicality
Competing interpretations are easier to evaluate than reasonability. You need to explain to me how we determine what is reasonable if you are going for reasonability.
Having said that if your intep is so obscure that there isn't a logical CI to it, perhaps it is not a good interpretation.
T debates this year (water topic) have gotten too impact heavy for their own good. I've judged a number of rounds with long overviews about how hard it is to be negative that never get to explaining what affirmatives would be topical under their interp or why the aff interp links to a limits DA and that's hard for me because I think much more about the latter when I think about topicality.
T-USFG/FW
Affirmatives should be about the topic. I will be fairly sympathetic to topicality arguments if I do not know what the aff means re: the topic after the 1AC.
I think teams are meming a bit on both sides of this debate. Phrases like "third and fourth level testing" and "rev v rev debates are better" are kind of meaningless absent robust explanation. Fairness is an impact that I will vote on. Like any other impact, it needs to be explained and compared to the other team's impact. I have also voted on arguments about ethics, education, and pedagogy. I will try my best to decide who wins an impact and which impact matters more based on the debate that happens.
I do not think the neg has to win a TVA to win topicality; it can be helpful if it happens to make a lot of sense but a forced TVA is generally a waste of time.
If the aff is going for an impact turn about debate, it would be helpful to have a CI that solves that impact.
DA’s
I would love to see you go for a disad and case in the 2NR. I do not find it persuasive when an affirmative team's only answer to a DA is impact framing. Impact framing can be important but it is one of a number of arguments that should be made.
I am aware the DA's aren't all great lately. I don't think that's a reason to give up on them. It just means you need a CP or really good case arguments.
K's
I really enjoy an old-fashioned k vs the aff debate. I think there are lots of interesting nuances available for the neg and the aff in this type of debate. Here are some specific thoughts that might be helpful when constructing your strategy:
1. Links of omission are not links. Links of “commission” will take a lot of explaining.
2. Debating the case matters unless there is a compelling framework argument for why I should not evaluate the case.
3. If you are reading a critique that pulls from a variety of literature bases, make sure I understand how they all tie to together. I am persuaded by aff arguments about how it's very difficult to answer the foundation of multiple bodies of critical literature because they often have different ontological, epistemological, psychoanalytic, etc assumptions. Also, how does one alt solve all of that??
4. Aff v. K: I have noticed affirmative teams saying "it's bad to die twice" on k's and I have no idea what that means. Aff framework arguments tend to be a statement that is said in the 2AC and repeated in the 1AR and 2AR - if you want fw to influence how I vote, you need to do more than this. Explain how it implicates how I assess the link and/or alternative solvency.
5. When ontology is relevant - I feel like these debates have devolved into lists of things (both sides do this) and that's tough because what if the things on the list don't resonate?
CP's
Generic counterplans are necessary and good. I think specific counterplans are even better. Counterplans that read evidence from the 1AC or an aff author - excellent! I don't have patience for overly convoluted counterplans supported by barely highlighted ev.
I do not subscribe to (often camp-driven) groupthink about which cp's "definitely solve" which aff's. I strongly disagree with this approach to debate and will think through the arguments on both sides of the debate because that is what debate is about.
Solvency deficits are a thing and will be accounted for and weighed along with the risk of a DA, the size of the DA impact, the size of the solvency deficit, and other relevant factors. If you are fiating through solvency deficits you should come prepared with a theoretical justification for that.
Other notes!
Some people think it is auto-true that politics disads and certain cp's are terrible for debate. I don't agree with that. I think there are benefits/drawbacks to most arguments. This matters for framework debates. A plan-less aff saying "their model results in politics DA's which is obviously the worst" will not persuade absent a warrant for that claim.
Love a good case debate. It's super under-utilized. I think it's really impressive when a 2N knows more about the aff evidence than the aff does.
Please don't be nasty to each other; don't be surprised if I interrupt you if you are.
I don't flow the 1AC and 1NC because I am reading your evidence. I have to do this because if I don't I won't get to read the evidence before decision time in a close debate.
If the debate is happening later than 9PM you might consider slowing down and avoiding especially complicated arguments.
If you make a frivolous or convoluted ethics challenge in a debate that I judge I will ask you to move on and be annoyed for the rest of the round. Legitimate ethics challenges exist and should/will be taken seriously but ethics challenges are not something we should play fast and loose with.
For debating online:
-If you think clarity could even possibly be an issue, slow down a ton. More than ever clarity and quality are more important than quantity.
-If my camera is off, I am not there, I am not flowing your speech, I probably can't even hear you. If you give the 1AR and I'm not there, there is not a whole lot I can do for you.
email chain -- ramyachilappa19@gmail.com
I debated at Blue Valley North for four years, and am currently a sophomore at Dartmouth College.
Here are a few predispositions I have about debate –
1). Affirmatives should be topical – I generally believe that means they defend the implementation of hypothetical government action in the instance of the resolution. If this is not your vision of what it means to be topical, you must provide a counter interpretation of the topic with offensive justifications for why it should be preferred.
2). Arguments need to have warrants. I am hesitant to say tech over truth is absolutely true, even if applicable most of the time, because if you cannot explain why a dropped argument is true then there is no reason for me to believe it is.
3). Evidence is important – quality shapes the truth of your arguments, and quality is determined by author qualifications, the source, bias, date, etc., as much as it is by the content. A few good cards will always be infinitely more valuable than a ton of terrible ones.
4). Reading straight into your computer for 5-8 minutes at a time is not debating – you should be flowing, responding to the other teams arguments, doing evidence and argument comparison, and not just repeating the same thing 50 times as fast as possible (which almost always makes you impossible to understand).
A few things you should know –
-I’m not going to be the greatest at following you if you go top speed without stopping, especially on analytics and in the rebuttals – I need time to flow and process arguments.
-I am tired of terrible two card arguments in the 1NC that don’t say anything but then blow up into real arguments in the block. I obviously can’t force you not to do this, but keep in mind that I will be significantly more sympathetic to new affirmative answers if the 1NC was a piece of trash that the 2AC (rightfully) dismissed.
-Judge kick is a logical extension of conditionality – there’s no reason I wouldn’t default to it unless explicitly told otherwise.
Please be kind – debate is an educational activity that is infinitely more valuable if we are all engaged and having fun.
He/Him/His
Paradigm: Tabula Rasa, default to offense/defense
Email: nateisdabomb@gmail.com
I would like to be on the email chain
Last substantive edit on my paradigm would be like late 2018.
Experience: I debated for Neenah High School for four years and UMKC for three years. For a year I served as assistant coach at Lee A Tolbert Community Academy. I also did forensics, kudos to you if you can make a group discussion reference. I've judged a lot of middle school rounds, a good number of high school, and the occasional college tournament (including the NDT). Just about all of my competitive and judging experience is in policy / CX debate.
I will flow whatever I hear in a speech, I have no objections to spreading. That being said, if I cannot hear you, I cannot flow you. Slow down on tags/authors or key points if you want to ensure I get them.
I want to hear good substantive clash in a round - that can occur with any argument type. Analysis wins rounds. Make comparative claims.
To me, there are two clear cut strategies to win a round - go further in depth or have a wider breadth. Either of these are fine for me. To win a depth round you need to do lots of analysis. To win a breadth round you need to capitalize on your opponents concessions. Either way you should be explaining why you winning a certain argument is important to the round.
Flows interact more than most teams acknowledge. Cross applying an argument your opponent made on one flow to another is a very viable strategy.
I have no objections to any argument type, whether it be K's, performance, T, theory, etc. That being said, I'm not super familiar with a lot of wild K literature; explain your thesis and you should be fine. I generally find myself leaning towards and inclined to vote for well explained kritiks over policy teams.
Theory should have an interpretation, standards, and voters just like topicality. I enjoy a good topicality or theory debate and I think that these arguments are underutilized in debate today. However, the ways teams are deploying topicality have drifted from the time/space I debated, I find it increasingly difficult to evaluate a round decided on topicality - make it easier for me. Tell a story, don't make me piece together the abuse claim.
Tech > Truth. But truth still has a lot of value, particularly on theory flows.
I aim to be as neutral as I can be going into a round. I think judge intervention is one of the worst things a debater can experience. This informs my philosophy towards me calling for cards at the end of a round. I will not call for cards unless there is a clear disagreement over the substance/text of a piece of evidence. I highly value good evidence, but if your evidence is better it should be articulated in round. I will not do work for you after the round. On the subject of evidence quality, I will give you significantly more weight on a claim/argument if you extend the warrants in a card rather than just saying extending the author or even the tag.
In some rounds judge intervention is inevitable depending on how the debaters performed. Eliminate the risk of judge intervention by doing my work for me. Tell me exactly why I should vote for you and why that's preferable to voting for the other team. Comparative analysis and warrant explanation does wonders here.
I'm serious when I say I'm a tabs judge. If you win that I should evaluate a round a certain way I will do so.
That being said, there are a few rules of debate that I would be very uncomfortable writing off. These include: uninterrupted speech, speech times, and speech order (I don't really care so much as to who on a team is speaking, especially if the identity of the speaker is relevant to the argument). From my perspective right now, these 'rules' are inviolable and necessary for a debate round to even occur, but if you argue against these rules I will evaluate it, I'll just need some real persuasion.
Pizza is my favorite food.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have at any time! Good luck and have fun!
Danniel Christensen
dannielchristensen1@gmail.com
Currently an assistant coach @ Lansing High School
1.5 years College Debate @ K-State
4 years HS debate @ Shawnee Mission West
Policy Debate:
Tech over truth
I have no knowledge of the current topic
Tl;dr: I will evaluate everything in the round. At the end of the day, this is a debate, so do what you are good at and have fun.
Affs: Anything. I read planless affirmatives all the time, but at the same time, I also read topical affirmatives.
Impact turns: They are fun.
Topicality: I vote on T. Even if it doesn't make sense. I do not like RVI's, but I will vote on them if they are conceded.
Disadvantages: Impact framing is important. Give me some way to weigh the impact of the DA in relation to the aff.
Counterplans: Default condo, CP's are great, cheating CP's aren't cheating until it has been proven that they are cheating. I will vote on theory but make sure you slow down on your theory shells so that I can catch all of your arguments. Debaters have a fun habit of just spreading everything, and that can make it difficult to catch blippy arguments that are often embedded in theory arguments.
Kritiks: FW is a way to win my ballot. Explain the alt in a way that resolves a link (usually isn't an instantaneous action). You don't have to go for the alt, just make sure you explain how the link/impact alone should win the debate. The role of the Ballot is a great way to explain how I evaluate the round. I know most K lit, but buzzwords don't explain anything to me.
I flow every speech straight down, so the presence of an overview is meaningless to me.
Notes for LD:
I have done both the classic value-criterion style and the new policy style. Either is fine with me. Just make sure it all flows and give me a lens to evaluate the round. Why am I voting for you (offense)? Why am I not voting for the other debater (defense)?
To win an LD debate you can employ any of these strategies:
1. My value is better than yours
2. My criterion can lead to your value, but your criterion cannot obtain my value
3. your criterion cannot solve your value, but mine can solve my value
4. Offense/Defense (policy style that has grown in LD)
Speaks:
30: Fantastic -- one of the best rounds I've seen
29: Some things to work on -- but overall you did pretty good (above average)
27-28: This is average -- some mistakes, but you recovered
26: You executed something wrong
My email is carolynsearscook@gmail.com carolyncook@smsd.org and I think it would be awesome for you all to start the email chain before I get to the debate so that we don't have to waste time doing it once I arrive:)
I debated in high school in Kansas from 1999-2003 (SME). I coached high school debate throughout college but did not debate in college. I was the director of debate at Lansing High School where I coached and taught from 2009-2018. This (23-24) is my 6th year directing and teaching speech & debate at Shawnee Mission South.
I dislike when debaters are mean. This activity is awesome--I believe that it pushes us and makes us better thinkers and people--and debaters cheapen that opportunity when we choose not to respect one another. Please just be kind humans.
I learned to debate and evaluate debates as a policy maker but also find that I much prefer seeing you do what you do best in rounds. That being said, you know your lit and arguments better than I do (at least you should). So:
- If you don't think the aff should get to weigh their 1AC against the criticism, you have to tell me why--same if you think that we should abandon the topic as the aff.
- If you want me to evaluate an argument and your 'warrant' is described as a specific term: that one word is not a warrant. . . you should include a description of WHY your claim is true/accurate/means you win. Debates that are heavily reliant on jargon that I am unfamiliar with will result in me being confused.
- If you do little work on literature (especially lit I am not familiar with), please don't then expect me to do a bunch of work for you in the decision.
You should clearly articulate the arguments you want to forward in the debate--I value persuasion as an important part of this activity.
Please be organized--doing so allows me to focus on the quality of argumentation in the round. Debates are so much more fun to watch when you have a strategic approach that you execute with care. Talk about your evidence. Warranted and strategic analysis that demonstrates your understanding of your own arguments, and their interactions with your opponent's, make debates better.
I default competing interpretations on Topicality and think T debates should include case lists and topical version of the aff. I think that weighing impacts is important. I also just enjoy good case debate. I tend to find consult and and condition CPs to be cheating...but you still have to answer them. You should always answer conditionality.
I really prefer that you are as explicit about HOW you would like for me to evaluate the debate and WHY this approach is best.
Please speak clearly... if you are incomprehensible my flow will not be great and the quality of my evaluation of the round will likely decrease.
hey yall
blm she/her
i coach debate at sms, i'm three years out tho as in i did not debate in college (i mostly coach forensics) went to jdi twice, competed on the state and regional level. junior at ku studying strategic communications, english with a minor in peace and conflict studies. work in politics on congressional and state senatorial campaigns- i consider myself versed on the topic/res.
im tired and have no shame left, don't make me correct your prejudice on the ballot.
but anyways,
speed: im cool fast or slow, did both in high school, respect both kinds of debate. imma say this though, i don't actively think about or practice debate anymore so overestimate me at your own risk. no ones gonna be offended if you slow it down a bit.
conditionality is good
t: typically i defer competing interps. i don't think that critical affs need to have tangible solvency advocates to be considered important and educational debates. but i am also sympathetic to framework debates and edu args as well
disads: they are great, i like case specific link evidence.
k: i feel comfortable evaluating the k, i have voted for alt and no alt critical positions but have also voted against them. i think reps are important and i don't think criticisms are material that should be used only for the purpose of offense. they are important for thought disruption, but idonlike when people pretend that they care about "real world impacts" and lie.
cp: you take youre own risk with this, i honestly never went for counter plans in high school and i understand them at a very remedial level. that being said i am always going to try my best to evaluate the debate to the best of my abilities.
i like critical affs and the res, either way
i have voted on presumption before and would prolly do it again
he/him delphdebate@gmail.com
year 10 of debate
coach at wake
former LRCH and Kansas Debater
TLDR:
When it comes to evaluating debates, two things are the most important for me:
1. Clear judge instructions in the rebuttals of how I should filter offense and arguments made in the round. Impact and Link framing are a must. if I can't explain the argument myself, I probably can't vote on it.
2. Impact comparison and clear reason why I should prioritize impacts in the round between the neg and aff. Each argument should have a claim - warrant - impact for me to evaluate it as such.
Use these to filter the rest of my paradigm and general in round perception.
General
I consider myself to be pretty flexible when it comes to arguments that teams want to read. I debated more critically but you should read whatever arguments that you are comfortable with. Any racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc will be met with speaker points that reflect, so don't be an assho|e.
Most of my debate experience was in critical debates on both the aff and neg (I was a 1A/2N), but I’m not unfamiliar with the technical aspects of policy debates.
I’m probably not the best for Topicality debates in general when it comes to plan-based policy debates and less likely to vote on Framework vs plan-less affs if going for impacts such as fairness/competitive equity or predictability. I generally lean more into truth over tech in most debates, but tech is important for impact comparison.
for college: still formulating how I understand and evaluate as a judge, so making sure I clearly understand what I should evaluate without intervention from me comes down to how you go for your arguments. The less judge intervention I feel like I have to do, the happier we are all in the post-round RFD.
——————————————————————————————
Truth over tech/Tech over truth? - Depends, i view myself evaluating truth before tech concessions but that isn’t always the case. I think technical concession are important for evaluating impact debates, so utilize both these to your advantage.
Framework on the Neg? - I’ll evaluate any negative arguments about the meta of debate. If you win your model of debate is good and the aff in question doesn’t access it then generally I’m pretty neutral on Framework arguments. Same for K’s with framing questions, the way you want me to evaluate a prior question should be framed as such.
10 off? I’d prefer if you didn’t, gish galloping is a fascist tactic.
Theory arguments? I believe theory arguments are heavily underutilized in high school debates. I evaluate conditionality and presumption debates as much as I evaluate K vs Framework. I have a certain threshold for certain arguments that I will vote on in theory debates, I think condo is a definite aff/neg ballot if it gets dropped in the neg block or rebuttals. I tend to vote neg on presumption, in those debates I think a lot of the perm debate and solvency portions of both sides are important to those rounds. CP contextual theory, perm text theory, textual severance, etc im all game for theory. i think theory debates get underutilized a lot
K affirmatives
I read them, I think that you should read whatever you read on the aff. I will vote for them, but I at least think they should be in the direction of the topic and a reason why the topical version doesn't solve.
Performance
If performance is your thing - go ahead go for it.
FW on the neg
I will vote on a neg FW but I think that there are certain arguments that I'm gonna have a harder time pulling the trigger on, i.e. fairness. I don't think fairness is something I would absolutely vote on but of course that all depends on the round. I also think the neg should be doing a lot of work why the state/usfg is worth it, why the aff isnt good for a model of debate, or why the judge should care. Generic args on framework aren't gonna cut it for me tbh, i need a concise way of why i should view the debate through the neg and why the aff doesnt solve etc etc.
K’s
Pretty versed in most of the lit but you shouldn't use a lot of buzzwords in front of me. I think you should say why the aff is uniquely bad and how the alternative can resolve its impacts and the squo. Why perms don't solve, links are disads, etc etc. I find alternative debates to be the most shallow, I think even if you are winning reason the links are disads you still need a reason the alt isn't the squo. Role of the ballot arguments are self-serving but it makes is a lot easier to evaluate them when they are dropped or not contested by the aff. Aff teams: FW on Ks is underutilized, I think you should make arguments about why you should get to weigh your impacts vs the K.
Any other questions just ask before the round, "If you can't dazzle me with excellence, baffle me with bullshit."
AFFILIATIONS:
Coach at Kansas City Piper (Kansas)
Let me start this by saying that I kind of hate paradigms. I actively try not to have one. That said, certain preferences are inevitable despite my best efforts, so here we go...
I'm a coach. This is an educational activity above everything else. That's important to me. I will naturally vote for the team that does the work in the round. In the end, my entire philosophy revolves around your work. Pick a position and advocate for it with whatever skills you have. It's not my job to tell you what those skills are or should be.
I'll vote truth over tech every time. Your execution of technicalities won't make up for fallacious argumentation. I really crave clash in a round where we really examine what is at the core of our understanding. That said, I do love pretty tech. Feel free to be clever, but be aware that clever is not the same thing as cute.
I prefer communication over speed. At least go slower on your tags and analysis. On this vein, you are responsible for the words that come out of your mouth. Speech is always an act of advocacy.
I wish I could tell you preferences about CPs, Ks, and what the debate space means, but the truth of it is that I will vote how you tell me to. Provide me a meaningful framework (and you know... tell me why it's meaningful) and actual clash, and I'll follow along.
email chain: ethan.eitutis@gmail.com
>>If you're not flowing, I'm not flowing.<<
I debated for 4 years for Cindy Burgett at Washburn Rural High School where I graduated in 2017. I coached for Annie Goodson at Blue Valley West for 4 years. I went to KU, studied Political Science, and graduated in 2022.
I will not do any work for you.
You can read fast but don't go 100%. I need to be able to understand your tags and analytical arguments, especially during online debates. I'd much rather you make 3 good, thought out, real arguments than 6 garbage ones. Getting through your T shell in 2.8 seconds is cool I guess but I won't be able to flow it.
If you're not flowing, I'm not flowing.
Extending claims without warrants is not making an argument.
I am familiar with Cap, Security, Abolition, and some SetCol. I'll gladly listen to whatever K you read, but for ones outside of those 4 I will probably just need some explanation.
Stop reading 8 minutes of bad arguments in the 1nc hoping that the 2ac will undercover one and you'll win that way. That's bad for debate and horrible to listen to. I wish aff teams would make args about this in the debate. If your arg is that pqd stops nuisance lawsuits about naval sonar, and naval sonar kills horseshoe crabs which are key to the survival of the human race, perhaps you should lose. Stop it
((I'm not saying affs should make speed bad or condo args, I'm saying affs should make args that pqd -> sonar -> horseshoe crabs -> human extinction is bad for debate))
If you're not flowing, I'm not flowing.
Darren Elliott "Chief" --Director of Debate and Forensics Kansas City KS Community College
delliott@kckcc.edu
Probably the least interventionist judge you will encounter. Will listen to and fairly consider any argument presented. (Avoid obvious racist and sexist arguments and ad Homs). For an argument to be a round winner you need to win the impact the argument has in relation to the impacts your opponent might be winning and how all of those affect/are afffected by the ballot or decision (think framework for the debate). No predispositions against any strategy be it a Disad/CP/Case or K or T/Framework on the Neg or a straight up policy or K Aff. Win what it is you do and win why that matters. I actually appreciate a good Disad/CP/Case Offense debate as much as anything (even though the arguments a number of recent KCKCC debaters might lead one to think otherwise). The beauty of debate is its innovation.
I appreciate in-depth arguments and hard work and reward that with speaker points. A debate that begins in the first couple of speeches at a depth that most debates aspire to be by the last two speeches is a work of art and shows dedication and foresight that should be rewarded. Cross-X as well, in this regard, that shows as good or better of an understanding of your opponents arguments as they do will also be rewarded. Cross-X is a lost art.
Most of all--Have Fun and Good Luck!!
Scott Elliott, Ph.D. J.D.
Asst Director of Forensics, KCKCC
Years Judging: 35+
Judging Philosophy:
What you need to know 10 minutes before your round starts:
I believe the affirmative should affirm the resolution chosen by the organization. I have been persuaded to vote otherwise. But, it is tough.
That argument you always wanted to run, but were afraid to run it….this may be your day to throw the Hail Mary. I prefer impact turns and arguments that most judges dislike.
Affirmatives still have to win basic stock issues. I prefer counterplans and disads. But I also believe that the affirmative has a burden to defend the ontological, epistemological, pedagogical and ethical assumptions of the affirmative arguments they have chosen.
I have probably written, cut cards for and against, and coached teams about, the “cutting edge” argument you are thinking of running. I have also voted for it and against it depending upon how that argument is deployed in the round.
I am not intimidated nor persuaded by team reputation, verbal abuse, physical assaults or threats. If you won, I am willing to take the heat and I do not care about the community’s reaction. I have friends outside the debate community and I have my dogs. I don’t need to be your buddy and I certainly do not care about my social standing within this so-called “community.”
Memorable examples of ways teams have unexpectedly picked up my ballot:
1) Voted for Baylor one time because Emory misspelled their plan text;
2) Voted for Emporia once because their plan wiped-out the universe, destroying all life (you had to be there);
3) Voted numerous times on anthro kritiks, De-Dev, Cap K's, anarchy, malthus, space, aliens A-Life, etc.;
4) voted for a counter-performance because it made me feel more emotional than the 1AC narrative;
5) voted for porn good turns;
6) voted for genocide reduces overpopulation turns;
7) did not vote, but the team won, because they took my ballot filled it out, gave themselves the win and double 30's;
8) voted once on a triple turn--link turned, impact turned, and turned back the impact turn (had to be there);
9) voted on inherency;
10) voted on foul language in a round--both ways--foul language bad and "yeah, we said F***, but that's good" turns;
11) voted for veganism K while eating a cheeseburger.
One last point: All of you need to flow the round. The speech document they flash over to you is not the debater's actual speech. Look. Listen. You may be surprised what the other team is actually saying.
Coach @ Asian Debate League
Debated 4 years at Kapaun** Mount Carmel in Wichita, Kansas, 2017
Debated 4 years NDT/CEDA/D3 at University of Kansas, 2021
Email chain: gaboesquivel@gmail.com
I treat judging debate with the same love and care that I treat my job. I love what we do.
My biases:
I lean aff for condo. Some might say too much. I might expect a lot from you if you do go for it.
I didn't go for K's much but I really like debating them vs my policy aff. More than policy v policy debates. Links are the most important thing for me. Impacts are a close second. I value consistency between the scale of the links and impacts i.e. in round impacts should have in round links.
I strongly bias toward "The K gets links and impacts vs the aff's fiated impacts" unless someone delivers a very persuasive speech. I can be persuaded that making a personal ethical choice is more important than preventing a nuclear war.
I lean toward affs with plans. Fairness concerns me less than usual nowadays. I like research/clash impacts.
I will read evidence and vote for evidence in debates where things are not settled by the debater's words. This happens frequently in T debates and impact turn debates.
Status quo is always an option=judge kick
How I judge:
I work hard to listen and read your evidence. I am honest about what I don't understand. I am patient with novices.
Be clear or go slower (7 or 8/10) for online debate otherwise I'll miss the nuance in your arguments. I clear twice before I stop flowing.
I flow and use everything I hear in my decision, and overemphasize what is said in the rebuttals. I'll reference the 1AR speech to protect the 2NR on a 2AR that "sounds new" and I'll reference the block on a 2NR that claims the 1AR dropped something. I'll reference a 2AC on a 1AR that claims the block dropped something, etc.
For a dropped argument to be a true argument it must have been a complete claim and warrant from the beginning. I am not a fan of being "sneaky" or "tricky". Unless you are going for condo ;)
I am persuaded by ethos and pathos more than logos. I find myself wanting to vote for a debater who tries to connect with me more than a debater who reads a wall of blocks even if they are technically behind. When both teams are great speakers I rely more on tech and evidence.
I try to craft my decision based on language used by the debaters. I reference evidence when I cannot resolve an argument by flow alone. PhD's, peer reviewed journals, and adequate highlighting will help you here. If I can't resolve it that way I'll look for potential cross applications or CX arguments and might end up doing work for you. If I do work for one team I will try to do the same amount for the other team. It might get messy if its close, that's what the panel is for, but please challenge my decision if you strongly disagree and I'll tell you where my biases kicked in.
**Pronounced (Kay-pen)
Put me on email chain: Jamison12182000@gmail.com
Experience: I debated for 4 years at Piper HS. I have a state title and l've debated at NCFL.
Voting: I vote mainly on the substance of the arguments and lesser so on speaking ability. I'll vote on any argument that is made unless properly refuted. If you tell me why I should vote on something, I will. Even if its unrealistic, thats not my determination to make, its the other teams job to point that out. Impact calc is a must.
Preferences: If there is unnecessary toxicity in the round, it will hurt your standings with me. Dont be mean, or belittle your opponents, make sure the integrity of debate as an intellectual sport is not compromised in the round.
Speed:I can handle any speed, but PLEASE make sure that your speed is able to be met by everyone in the round. This keeps it fair for those of all abilities.
Feel free to ask me before the round if you have any specific questions. Thanks for reading!
Debated 3 years at Lansing High School (12-16: Latin America, Oceans, Surveillance)
Debater at the University of Kansas (16-18: Climate Policy, Health Care)
1) I HAVE NOT DEBATED IN TWO YEARS. I LAST JUDGED AT KS STATE DEBATE 2019. I can still flow and understand how arguments function, but I know none of this lit base, so you're gonna need to explain stuff for me.
2) Rudeness is unnecessary, and if it is excessive I will drop speaker points.
Disads: I vote offense/defense so disads are very persuasive in front of me. Impact calc debates are key to frame the debate and my ballot. If you're just going for a disad, you need to do substantial work on case as well.
Impact Turns: I like them and think they're strategic if you need to make up some time or make some strategic choices. New impact mods in the 2ac or block are always justifiable to impact turn. Please don't make me judge wipeout or spark, it will make me sad and will likely affect your speaks.
CPs: I think CPs are strategic and am comfortable evaluating them. Have to be functionally and textually competitive (I obviously won't vote on it if it's not brought up). I am certainly willing to vote on perms/theory on consult, conditions, international fiat etc. Need to explain how the mechanism solves the aff explicitly. Have to have a solvency advocate. I will not judge kick the counterplan unless told to do so, and even then I can be persuaded to keep it if the aff has a robust reason as to why judge kick is bad.
Theory: I think everything but condo is a reason to reject the argument, and you will have to do a lot of work to make me think otherwise. I am more likely to vote on more specific theory than generics (i.e. pics without a solvency advocate bad rather than just pics bad).
T: I default competing interpretations. I find limits and potential abuse most persuasive. In policy debates, you should be spending more time at the interp level to distinguish your version of debate from the aff. T is always a priori.
Framework: I am very persuaded by framework. I generally find it to be true that switch-side solves. TVA is a good way to mitigate aff offense. I most often went for limits/fairness or portable skills impacts, although topic education impacts are also good. This being said, I am willing to vote against framework, but my ideological bias will make it tough for the aff to win without substantial offense.
Ks: I am comfortable with more policy oriented Ks (went for exceptionalism and neolib sometimes in hs). I will vote on tricks if they are impacted out in the 2nr. I am very willing to reject links of omission. When aff, testing the alt at every level and framework are very important. I think the neg must sufficiently explain why the alt overcomes the links or solves the aff. I believe aff team gets to weigh the aff, but this argument must be made.
K Affs: I prefer plan texts, but it at least needs to have an advocacy statement. I'm probably not the person you want to pref if you read these. I am very persuaded by framework. The aff needs to at least be topically directional.
Make sure you're extending warrants. I'm not going to make arguments for you, but I will certainly evaluate evidence/warrants that have been read. New in the 2ar will not be evaluated. I default policy maker, so impact calc is very important. Tech over truth most of the time.
Debated through high school and for one year at the University of Kansas.
I would say that I'm a hybrid stock issues/policy maker but with a strong policy-maker lean. However, I'm also there to arbitrate your arguments, so if you want me to apply another paradigm, as long as you can cogently argue it and convince me why I should change, I'm flexible and willing to change for the round.
I will accept the K, provided you capably understand it and can demonstrate that understanding to me and translate your understanding to a compelling rationale for voting for it. I tend to flow Kritikal arguments similarly to disads. Seriously. Spoon feed me the K and I will happily vote on it, but you should assume my understanding is, um, "not advanced." Here is where I blatantly steal a line from the paradigm of Jeff Plinsky: My policy maker lens is difficult for me to put down here, so you had better be able to tell me how your advocacy can actually solve something. In a K v K debate, this still applies - you need to prove you actually solve something.
I will accept generic disads, but try to have them link. Specific disads are always better and with what seems like functionally all affs available via wiki, there's no reason not to do the research to find a specific link. In evaluating disads, my natural inclination (which you can overcome) is to prefer realistic impacts even if they are small, to enormous but highly attenuated impacts such as multiple extinction events/cannibalism/nuke wars/etc. I don't like to count who has the highest number of nuclear exchanges at the end of the round, but if I have to, I will.
I am a dinosaur and, as such, value topicality. I will almost certainly not make topicality a "reverse voter" and give the aff a win if the only thing they've accomplished is to beat neg's T arguments. However, I will vote neg on T only, assuming neg wins it. In line with my feelings on T, before you run a PIC, ask if the aff is topical. Please note: I am not telling negative teams that I want them to run topicality. That is your decision. I am just telling you that I will vote on it if you win it.
Speed is fine and I can usually follow and flow very fast debaters. If I am holding a pen, even if I'm not writing at any given moment, I am following you. If I have put down my pen, it means you've lost me and should probably back up or make some other effort to get me back. I greatly prefer closed cross; my view is that you should be able to spend three minutes defending the speech you just delivered. While speed is fine, in my position as a dinosaur, I still value rhetoric and persuasion. If you're a compelling speaker, let that shine. Group the other side's arguments and go slower and compel me to vote for you.
Again indulging my prerogative: I not only accept, I encourage new in the two. It's called a "constructive" speech for a reason. Go ahead and construct. Similarly, I will accept add-on advantages from the aff and internally inconsistent arguments from the neg as long as they have kicked out of whatever makes them inconsistent and still allows the affirmative a chance to respond by the end of the round. Do not abuse this. If I think that you're purposely spreading them with inconsistent arguments just to force them into a time suck and not running the argument in good faith, I will not be happy about it and you will bear the consequences of my unhappiness. For example: I once watched a team run the thinnest of topicality shells in the 1NC. They basically did little more than say "topicality" and read one definition and that was it. No voters, no standards, no warrants. That forced the aff to answer in the 2AC and left the neg in a position to have forced the timesuck or blow up topicality in the 2NC. That, to me, was faithless argumentation by the neg. Don't do that.
As befitting a Gen X'er, I value courtesy and think you can absolutely hammer someone and not be a d**k about it. Play nice. Being a jerk probably won't earn you the loss, but I will punish you on speaks if your conduct warrants it. This is intended to be a very strong warning against racism, ableism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia. Engaging in those things will get you an L even if you might have otherwise won the round. My politics lean left, but I consciously try to monitor and check my biases. If your best argument is something that I would not support in real life, you can run it and know that I will make every effort to fairly consider the argument, the way you argue it and its merits in the debate.
On vagueness and topicality: I have noticed a trend where the aff's plan text is essentially the text of the resolution but with a specific "whatever" (country, program, etc.,) stated within the "plan." This is not a plan. It is vague and if the aff is not willing to specify what they are or are not doing/curtailing/removing/adding/replacing, then I will absolutely be open to the argument that they are unfairly claiming and denying territory necessary to allow a fair debate. I won't vote on this if no one brings it up, but I think it's fair to expect an affirmative case to actually specify what it will do. Edited to add: I REALLY MEAN THIS ONE. I find it very frustrating when an aff not only doesn't say in the 1AC what it is exactly that they're doing, but then refuse to answer (or not know the answer) when asked about it on cross. Affs should not do this and negs should beat the snot out of any aff that tries this.
Thoughts on the email chain: I do not want to be on it. This is still a verbal activity. If you say something clearly and intelligibly enough for me to hear it, I will hear it and flow it. From time to time I might ask you (during prep, for example) to give me your tag or the name of the person cited. But if you say something so unintelligible that I can't understand it, I won't credit you for having said it and the fact that it might be on the email chain isn't going to change my mind. I might ask you to show me a card or cards at the end of the round so that I can make sure it says what I think it says or what you say it says. But I don't like the notion of crediting a verbal statement because I read it in an email.
Bottom line: I'm the arbiter of your arguments. While the above is a statement of my preferences, I'm more than happy to judge a debate outside those boundaries and you should feel free to argue your best stuff if I'm your only judge. If you find me on your panel, you should consider going for the other judges as I consider myself to be highly adaptable and can judge a round geared for lay judges and I can also judge one geared to impress college judges.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of watching and judging your debate.
Put me on the e-mail chain - aegoodson@bluevalleyk12.org and annie.goodson@gmail.com
**I'll be honest, I'm writing my dissertation right now and have done less reading on this debate topic than any other year I've been coaching. Assume I'm unfamiliar with the specific literature you are reading.
Top Level:
I'm the head coach at Blue Valley West. I tend to value tech over truth in most instances, but I 100% believe it's your job to extend and explain warrants of args, and tell me what to do with those args within the context of the debate round. I expect plans to advocate for some sort of action, even if they don't present a formal policy action. I won't evaluate anything that happens outside of the debate round. This is an awesome activity that makes us better thinkers and people, and when we get caught up in the competition of it all and start being hateful to each other during the round (which I've 100% been guilty of myself) it bums me out and makes me not want to vote for you. Be mindful of who you are and how you affect the debate space for others--racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. will result in you losing the round and I won't feel bad about it.
Delivery:
Clarity is extremely important to me. Pause for a minute and read that last sentence again. Speed is only impressive if you are clear, and being incomprehensible is the same as clipping in my book. I'm generally fine with [clear] speed but need you to slow down on authors/tags. You need to speak slower in front of me than you do in front of a college kid. Slow down a few clicks in rebuttals, and slow down on analytics. The more technical your argument, the slower I need you to go. I won't evaluate anything that's not on the flow. Please signpost clearly and extend warrants, not just authors/dates. Good rebuttals need to explain to me how to fill out the ballot. I'm looking for strong overviews and arguments that tell a meaningful story. We often forget that debate, regardless of how fast we are speaking, is still a performative activity at its core. You need to tell a story in a compelling way--don't let speed get in the way of that. Going 9 off in the 1NC is almost always a bad call. I'd rather you just make a few good arguments then try to out-spread the other team with a lot of meh arguments. I think going a million-off in the 1NC is a bad trend in this activity and is often a bad-faith effort to not engage in a more substantive debate.
T:
I default to competing-interps-good, but I've voted on reasonability in the past. Give me a case list and topical versions of the aff. If I'm being honest I definitely prefer DA/CP or K debates to T debates, but do what you enjoy the most and I will take it seriously and evaluate it to the best of my ability.
Performance-based:
These are weird for me because I don't have as nuanced an understanding of these as some other judges in our community, but also I vote for them a lot? I'm not the best judge on these args because they're not my expertise--help me by explaining what your performance does, why it should happen in a debate round, and why it can't happen elsewhere, or is less effective/safe elsewhere. I have the most fun when I'm watching kids do what they do best in debates, so do you. Know that if the other team can give me examples of how you can access your performance/topic *just as meaningfully* through topical action within the round, I find that pretty compelling.
CPs:
These need to be specific and include solvency advocates, and they need to be competitive. I'll defer to just not evaluating a CP if I feel like it's not appropriately competitive with the aff plan, unless the aff completely drops it. I think delay and consult CPs are cheating generally, but the aff still needs to answer them.
K:
Assume I'm unfamiliar with the specific texts you're reading. You'll likely need to spend some more time explaining it to me than you would have to in front of another judge. One thing I like about this activity is that it gives kids a platform to discuss identity, and the K serves an important function there. Non-identity based theoretical arguments are typically harder for me to follow. K affs need to be prepared to articulate why the aff cannot/should not be topical--again, TVAs are really persuasive for me.
DAs:
Love these, even the generic ones. DAs need to tell a story--don't give me a weak link chain and make sure you're telling a cohesive story with the argument. I'll buy whatever impacts you want to throw out there.
Framework:
Make sure you're explaining specifically what the framework does to the debate round. If I vote on your framework, what does that gain us? What does your framework do for the debaters? What does it make you better at/understand more? Compare yours to your opponents' and explain why you win.
General Cranky Stuff:
1. A ton of you aren't flowing, or you're just flowing off the speech doc, which makes me really irritated and guts half the education of this activity. You should be listening. Your cross-x questions shouldn't be "Did you read XYZ?" It's equally frustrating when kids stand up to give a speech and just start mindlessly reading from blocks. Debate is more than just taking turns reading. I want to hear analysis and critical thinking throughout the round, and I want you to explain to me what you're reading (overviews, plz). I'll follow along in speech docs, and I'll read stuff again when you tell me take a closer look at it, but I'm not a computer with the magic debate algorithm--you need to explain to me what you're reading and tell me why it matters.
2. 1NCs, just label your off-case args in the doc. It wastes time and causes confusion down the line when you don't.
3. The point of speed is to get in more args/analysis in the time allotted. If you're stammering a ton and having to constantly re-start your sentences, then trying to go fast gains you nothing.....just......slow down.
4. You HAVE to slow down during rebuttals for me--other judges can follow analytics read at blistering speed. I am not one of those judges.
5. In my old age I have become extremely cranky about disclosure. Unless you're breaking new, you should disclose the aff and past 2NRs before the round.
**Clipping is cheating and if I catch you it's an auto-loss
**Trigger warnings are good and should happen whenever needed BEFORE the round starts. Don't run "death good" in front of me.
I use this scale for speaks:http://www.policydebate.net/points-scale.html
Anything else, just ask!
Experience:
Former Policy Debater, Shawnee Mission East
Former University of Kansas Mock Trial Competitor
Former Policy and Mock Trial Coach, Shawnee Mission East
Former Policy and Mock Trial Coach, Blue Valley Northwest
Former Policy, LD, PF and Mock Trial Coach, Olathe North
Former Policy, LD, and PF Coach, Louisburg
Current Policy, LD, and PF Coach, Piper
POLICY
Style Preferences:
I have no speed preferences, debate to the style you are best at. I have heard only a few people too fast for me to understand, but if you choose to spread and you are unclear I will stop flowing.
A few tips to prevent this from happening:
Slowing down on tags, dates, authors, important lines in evidence and important analysis. Higher speed is more appropriate for cards and less so for analysis and theory. If you speed through your 8 one-line points on condo I probably won't get them all (this also happens a lot on perm theory). If it's super important it's worth slowing down. It is you and your partner's responsibility to make sure I am following what's happening. If you're stumbling, slow down and then speed back up when you're back on track instead of trying to push through, which just makes everything messy.
Open CX, flashing, off-time roadmaps (this is much prefered for me to flow) are all fine if both teams are ok with it.
There is a line you can cross of disrespect. What you say and how you say it matters. Although I do not consider this a voting issue unless the other teams argues that it should be, it's harder for me to vote for you if I think you're a jerk. Wit is great, rudeness is not.
Argumentation Preferences for Policy:
I'm fine with any and all forms of argumentation. Just justify why I should vote on it. Be the better debaters in the round and you will win. I vote on what I hear in the round and what is persuasive. Substance is much more important than style.
I generally default policy maker and will need offense to vote, however, if you argue framework and win it I am happy to change the roll of the ballot. Please do not leave it up to me what impacts are most important, if you don't weigh the round for me it is at your own peril.
K debate is fine, but do not assume I have read the philosopher/theorist you are using in depth. It's your responsibility to explain the theory to me. I am much more persuaded by alts that solve the K or have real world impacts.
CP debate is fine, topical CPs are a very very hard sell for me, but if the other team doesn't tell me it's abusive and should be rejected or does not effectively answer Topical CPs good theory I will still vote for it. Generally advocating for the CP is severance and abusive (although I'm open to being persuaded otherwise), but again I need to hear the argument and be told it's a voting issue to vote on it.
I generally view T as an abuse check. If there's no in-round abuse I will rarely vote on it, however if it's answered poorly I'll vote on the better augmentation. Again if you argue that I should change my evaluation to competing interp, etc. and win that argument I will vote accordingly.
Realistic impacts are more effective. I don't mind long chain link stories to get there as long as they are well explained.
New in the 2 is only abusive if teams are spreading
I've tried to cover everything here, but if there is something else you would like to know or need clarification please ask before the round.
LD
Please don't lose focus of the round being about a position on a moral issue. While policy and realistic results of a moral position are important for showing the impact of the value, this is not a policy round. Please choose a value and criterion that you can explain and that work well with your contentions.
The line by line argumentation is important, but don't get so caught up in it that you lose sight of your overriding position. One dropped point won't lose you the round if you access the value the best.
I don't need you to win the value to win the round, but you do need to access the winning value best to win the round.
Please please please engage with the other team's arguments. Don't just say it didn't make sense or didn't apply or that your previous card answers it. Explain why what they say is incorrect. Substance is much more important than style.
PF
You need to have a warrant that supports your claims effectively. Pretty talking will not be enough to win my ballot. The team that best utilizes empirical examples, logic, and (most effectively) evidence to support their claims is typically the winner. At the same time, reading a bunch of cards and providing no analysis will also not serve you well. I'm not a huge fan of emotional personal examples, because they cannot be verified they feel manipulative so I would avoid them.
In my experience sometimes PF rounds get a little snarky. There is a line, and like I said above your demeanor is not a determining factor unless the other team argues that it should be and justifies why you should lose the round over it. But because I am a person, it's hard for me to vote for you if you're a jerk. Wit is appreciated, rudeness is not.
Background: 2 years of debate at Shawnee Mission West High + 1 summer of debate camp at JDI. Judge since ~2016; mostly novice with some DCI.
General overview: Most of my experience is with policy debate and this is what I feel most comfortable judging; however, it is not my place to tell you NOT to run a specific argument. I want you to tell me how I should be voting, but if you do not, I will default policymaker and weigh impacts. I'll also vote on stock issues. Be very careful with speed and clarity because I'm not going to flow off the speech doc or shout "clear" because it's not my job to make arguments for you or tell you how to speak. SLOW DOWN for tags, T, and theory. Please DO NOT assume I've researched the topic or know what any of the jargon means. I have no qualms voting you down solely for disrespectful conduct.
Aff: should defend a topical plan text or advocacy statement. Slow down a bit when reading said plan text. 2AC overviews are great.
Disads: yes please. How does it turn the case? How does it outweigh? I think politics disads are fair ground so I'd rather not hear "fiat solves the link" or "logical policymaker could do both," etc.
Counterplans: are important for neg ground. I see no issue with a few conditional advocacies but I will not kick conflicting advocacies for you in the 2NR. Should probably have a net benefit. I honestly do not have very established opinions on competition, "abusive" CPs, really technical theory, etc. so any argument here is fair game and I could probably be convinced to vote either way on any given argument.
T/Theory: Please. Slow. Down. I promise you, I am more impressed by debaters who know when NOT to speed than those who speed through debates in which I need to write down almost every other word that is said. As I said earlier, conditionality is fine (although I'll certainly listen to a condo bad debate), but it's on you to kick your own arguments so your 2NR makes sense.
Kritiks: Do not assume I've read your literature. Cap/neolib and Heidegger were the most common when I was in debate and these are the ones with which I am most familiar. I'm willing to listen to anything if you're willing to explain it. Please thoroughly explain your alt as I think these debates usually fall through either when the alt is unclear or alt solvency is lacking.
If you have any questions, please ask!
Shawnee Mission East ‘17
University of Kansas ‘21
Assistant coach at Shawnee Mission East
Please put me on the email chain: carolynhassettdebate@gmail.com
***Updated***
I graduated from KU this past May after debating for the team all four years of college. Previous to that I debated for Shawnee Mission East and have been coaching there for the past 5 years now. Although I am still coaching, I am way less active in debate than ever before. I am a real adult now with a big girl job and responsibilities. That being said I am still down to listen to whatever you want to say and am more than capable of keeping up with the debate, but acronyms and assertions will take more time to click in my head since I have barely done any judging on this topic. Below are some of my thoughts over the years, honestly take them or leave them. If you win the debate you win the debate, I don't care what args get you to that point. All the top level stuff is definitely still 100% applicable though.
Top Level
I am very expressive and you will know what I am thinking. Use that to your advantage
I appreciate jokes and confidence, but don’t cross the line
Disclosure is good
Tech over truth (a dropped argument is a true one as long as it contains a claim and a warrant)
I will not vote on anything that happened outside the round
Clipping or cheating of any kind will result in an immediate loss and 0 speaks
Please respect your partner. It is my biggest pet peeve to see one member belittle the other and act superior. You are only as good as your partner, and please act that way.
** Do whatever you want, my thoughts do not determine how you should debate
Aff’s
I was a 2A for a long time and because of that, I really appreciate well thought out aff’s with a strong internal link chain. If your evidence is bad/ internal links are weak how are you expecting to defend the aff? That being said I have stayed strictly policy and have rarely strayed from big stick impacts. I am open to listening to anything as long as you can defend and explain the aff. I think case debate is very important, too many teams don’t use the offense they have built to their advantage. Spend time extending your impacts and making cross comparisons to other arguments. I also really appreciate new and tricky policy affs that are unexpected.
T vs traditional aff’s
I am a big fan of T debates and feel that they can be particularly compelling and interesting. I default to competing interpretations, but can be persuaded by reasonability if done well. Spend time on impact comparison and explaining the violation, I am most persuaded by limits and precision impacts. T is never a reverse voting issue!
Framework
I've never read a planless aff and generally always go for framework or a CP. That being said I do find framework compelling and tend to lean heavily negative. Don’t think my predispositions mean you can get away with a shoddy job on framework and expect to win the round. I am most persuaded by clash based impacts and will award negatives who are able to explain their argument, 2N's that can give the speech primarily off the flow will be rewarded. I also appreciate different approaches to dealing with planless affs. Reading DA's and CP's against K aff's is cool and fun, you should do it. That being said, it is very easy for me to vote aff if you win your impact turn outweighs their impact or an interp that solves a lot of their offense.
Theory
With the exception of condo, I think all other theory based arguments are a reason to reject the argument not the team. I will not vote on cheap shot theory arguments. 2 condo is good, 3+ I can be persuaded, but need a warranted and contextualized explanation of your interp and why it should not be allowed in debate.
DAs
Probably my favorite argument in debate. I think a 2nr that is a DA + good case debate is very compelling. I prefer specific links, but there are some instances when generics work too. You need updated evidence!! I will award teams who have obviously spent time cutting new and good evidence. Please make turns case arguments, this is vital in a DA debate. And yeah i like the politics DA.
CP
I also love a good counterplan debate. I think specific counterplans cut from the other teams evidence is especially compelling and I will award you for that. I am neg leaning on a lot of counterplan theory questions, but i can be sympathetic. Really big plank CP's are also fun, adding planks that predicts what offense the 2a will go for is strategic.
Kritiks
The aff should get to weight the implementation of the aff against the K or the squo. I personally do not go for K's extremely often but when I do they tend to be literature based on neolib, security, and other topic generic K's. While I am not super into high theory lit, I have debated lots of these K's and you should not change your strategy because of me. If your thing is high theory K's, just do a little more contextualization and explanation and you'll be fine!
Neg: Please do not hesitate to go for the K with me in the back of the room, but I want a clear explanation of the alt and the link. I think that specific links are particularly important and need to be utilized. Links of omission are not links.
Aff: please impact turn the K if applicable
Please feel free to email me with any questions
*2023 update
LD
I’ve only ever judged a handful of LD rounds, if you debate in a policy-ish style my previous paradigm below is mostly still relevant. Not familiar with most LD specific theory but am mostly fine with speed, enjoy watching a well executed strategy in general
8 years of policy experience - SF Washington (SD), UMKC, career 2n
he/him
Short version: I believe my paradigm should never make you shy or discourage you from reading any argument - debate is what debaters make it, and should not be subject to whoever got assigned to evaluate the round. Tell me topical counterplans are cheating, go for the fiat double bind, go for a-spec vs a K aff, just make sure you do it well. I much rather prefer watching 2 teams execute their best arguments rather than arguments I am most familiar with or ideologically agree with.
Not a ton of detailed background knowledge on the topic, clarify acronyms (yes, I know what NATO is)
apparently I primarily judge policy vs k (or k v policy, whatever) rounds
email: mdhauschildt @ gmail
The rest:
**A smart and/or true analytic is always better than a mediocre card. Tagline extensions are useless to me and warrants for cards should come out before the 2N/AR**
Kritiks - I like to hear them executed well - just like any argument, if you cannot do it well I wouldn't recommend reading it. Make your impacts interact with the aff impacts and you will be much happier with my rfd (the inverse is true for affirmatives answering the kritik, impact specificity is still important)
I tend to believe the negative should be able to read a kritik, 2AC framework interpretations that exclude kritiks entirely feel wrong to me, but that does not mean you don't get fiat or the ability to weigh the 1AC impacts.
K v K specifically: in my experience this comes down to impact comparison - even in k v k rounds I am still thinking about a 'framework' I use to evaluate offense ie in-round education, activism training, competing performances etc and I encourage you to forward a reason why I should evaluate it a certain way.
Topicality (and theory) - I like very nuanced and specific Topicality arguments - a unique interpretation with well argued standards is one of my favorite debates. A few caveats - I think that the education of the aff can overcome the importance of being topical (in many instances, that is very true) but I know the inverse can be true. I have yet to hear a good reasonability argument
an aspec theory shell less than like 20 words will reduce your speaks
Framework (against K affs most likely) - most of the analysis above is true for framework as well. Between fairness and education, if both were argued exceptionally, I think education is better. In most debates, I have been more often persuaded by fairness. Please close loose ends so I dont have to. "Clash is the most unique educational aspect of debate" is something I tend to believe is true but what types of clash occur probably matters more. Fairness might be an independent impact, tell me why or why not.
DA - you do you, make sure the story is clear enough and that you leverage your impact and you'll be good. ptx is silly but honestly I'll hack for you if you did it well, I've noticed these debates are mostly spin which covers up for the abhorrent evidence quality
CP - most CP's are theoretically fine on face but I can always be convinced otherwise. Create competition as you may. I read PIC's and UQ CP's quite a bit, I appreciate the creative ones, with or without solvency advocates. I find myself most confused when the neg reads a 5+ plank advantage CP, so be more thorough with solvency explanation if this is your strategy. No real opinion on the validity of CP's without advocates or evidence.
conditionality - again make it what you will but I do have a preference to non contradicting advocacies and discourse. I have a preference for not having 3+ condo in the 1NC but I feel like I don't vote on conditionality easily imo. I'll probably groan if you say more than 6 off but dont take it personally. neg teams should prioritize offense
K affs - Do it well and you'll be in just as fine of a position as you would have otherwise. Keep in mind the pitfalls many kritikal affs fall in - too long overviews and assuming they solve their impact. Not sure how I feel about perms in a method debate, you should tell me how you feel though.
Evidence quality - I think a lot of the evidence read is absolutely terrible, I think power/mis-tagging cards is a form of academic dishonesty. I encourage everyone to take a second and actually read the cards being used in rounds. Good spin to me means explaining the implications of a card but still sticking to the warrants that the card has. I covered this above, but I truly think some teams are better off by just making smart arguments instead of lying about the cards they read - your opinion is also valuable!
misc/speaker point things
I try to make a point of typing out my decisions for novice debates, generally not true for other divisions
I naturally look disgruntled and tired, if it looks like I am disinterested or upset in the round, that is likely just my face.
Dont steal prep
(on the varsity level) clipping cards = auto loss and 0 speaks for the one who clipped.
Willing (often eager) to call for T interps and plan/counterplan texts.
No you cannot link turn a DA in the 2ac then impact turn it in the 1AR unless the impact turn is to a new impact in the block
tend to think CP amendments or text changes should be in the 2NC, but yes the 2NC gets new off case or impact turns - its a constructive
If it matters my most familiar debates are marx v k-affs, security/cap or leftish counterplans/PICs vs policy affs - I was a 2N, read a plan text in 90% of my aff debates, both soft-left (anti-neolib), and big stick, have a soft spot for the 1AR but I really don't give them much leniency
not the judge you want to read nuclear war good impact turns in front of. prolif good, sure. spark/first strike good, it is in your best interest to wait for another round. same most all death/suffering good arguments. I'll evaluate it, but I tend to think intentional genocide is bad
I've judged at least 5 teams first semester say "no link to the k, we have a negative state action" while the aff has a heg advantage, which you gotta admit is pretty funny. probably in the aff's best interest to go for "case outweighs" rather than "our unipolarity advantage proves we reduce the power of the USFG"
low threshold for being called out for reading evidence from white nationalist publications like breitbart or dailywire or national review - I think policy teams should make criticisms of their opponents' ideologically suspect evidence more often, it discredits the argument and you dont need to read evidence to tell me why I shouldn't listen to John Yoo, for example. Most often its a reason to reject the arg, but it could be a reason to reject the team possibly
please be nice to each other, I've found virtual debate increases the possibility of one team being unnecessarily hostile towards the other team.
Also if you aren't having fun then I am probably not having fun, so have fun or else
Please add me to the email chain: JuTheWho@gmail.com
T-USFG
Impact weighing and comparisons are very important to how I decide these debates. If I think that both teams have some point of offense they are both winning, it makes it difficult to decide these debates if there isn’t any discussion of the other teams impact. If you solve their impacts, your impact turns them, or anything else related to that then please point that out. However, less is more when it comes to the number of impacts you are extending throughout the debate. One really well developed impact or impact turn is much better than three or four less well developed ones.
I also think it’s important for affirmative teams to have a clear tie or relationship with the topic. I find it harder to be persuaded to vote for affirmatives that I don’t think have a lot to do with the topic in some way. How you do this is up to you, but just make it clear to me.
In the past, I have voted on various impacts from and on framework. Personally I have been more of a fan of clash impacts than fairness, but I don’t think that should discourage you from going for whatever impact you feel most comfortable with.
Topicality
More explanation needed if you go for reasonability. Most of the debates I have judged where the aff goes for reasonability are very surface level extensions from the one sentence you said in the 2AC.
DA’s
Not much to say here. Read them and go for them when you can/want to. Where I start evaluating the debate for disad vs. case debates is very dependent on the disad and what arguments you are making a bigger deal about. If there is a lot of push back from the aff on the link and this is where you spend most of your time in the 2nr/2ar, I will probably start by evaluating the debate there. If impacts/their comparisons seem to be where a lot of time is spent, then I will start thinking about that first.
K’s
Debating case is very important. Having arguments that you think not only implicate the aff but also help your links are nice. Sometimes I feel like whenever a team goes for case arguments it feels detached from the rest of the debate on the K. IF you can make them connected somehow that would be good.
Have a reason for going for whatever framework arguments you are going for in the last speeches. This goes for the aff and the neg. So many times I have felt like people are just extending framework because their coaches told them to and not because they think there is reason why it is important for how the judge evaluates arguments at the end of the debate.
If you have a bunch of what seems to be conflicting theories in the cards you are going for and extending on the neg, please make it clear why what you are doing is okay. Alternatively, affirmative teams should be pointing out when they think the things the negative has said don’t make much sense.
CP’s
Again, read them and go for them when you can/want to. I don’t think I have very many predispositions about certain counterplans at this point in time. I think this just means that if you think a certain counterplan automatically beats an affirmative, I would prefer it if you showed it in the arguments you are making and the evidence you are reading. A counterplan that seems to be very solvent when explained, but lacking in evidence or that just generally has under highlighted cards will be harder to win in front of me.
A really good solvency deficit that aligns with whatever advantage you are going for in the 2ar is more important to me than you going for a bunch of different arguments that are less well developed.
Yes, email chain: sohailjouyaATgmailDOTcom
PUBLIC FORUM JUDGING PHILOSOPHY IS HERE
Update:
- Probably not the best judge for the "Give us a 30!" approach unless it becomes an argument/point of contestation in the round. Chances are I'll just default to whatever I'd typically give. To me, these kind of things aren't arguments, but judge instructions that are external to making a decision regarding the debate occurring.
BIG PICTURE
- I appreciate adaptation to my preferences but don’t do anything that would make you uncomfortable. Never feel obligated to compete in a manner that inhibits your ability to be effective. My promise to you will be that I will keep an open mind and assess whatever you chose. In short: do you.
- Truth > Tech, but RELAX: All this means is that I recognize that debate is not merely a game, but rather a competition that models the world in which we live. This doesn’t mean I believe judges should intervene on the basis of argumentative preference - what it does mean is that embedded clash band the “nexus question” of the round is of more importance than blippy technical oversights between certain sheets of paper - especially in K v K debates.
Don't fret: a dropped argument is still a concession. I likely have a higher threshold for the development of arguments that are more intrinsically dubious and lack warrants.
- As a former coach of a UDL school where many of my debaters make arguments centred on their identity, diversity is a genuine concern. It may play a factor in how I evaluate a round, particularly in debates regarding what’s “best” for the community/activity.
Do you and I’ll do my best to evaluate it but I’m not a tabula rasa and the dogma of debate has me to believe the following. I have put a lot of time and thought into this while attempting to be parsimonious - if you are serious about winning my ballot a careful read would prove to serve you well:
FORM
- All speech acts are performances, consequently, debaters should defend their performances including the advocacy, evidence, arguments/positions, interpretations, and representations of said speech acts.
- One of the most annoying questions a judged can be asked: “Are you cool with speed?”
In short: yes. But smart and slow always beats fast and dumb.
I have absolutely no preference on rate of delivery, though I will say it might be smart to slow down a bit on really long tags, advocacy texts, your totally sweet theory/double-bind argument or on overviews that have really nuanced descriptions of the round. My belief is that speed is typically good for debate but please remember that spreading’s true measure is contingent on the number of arguments that are required to be answered by the other team not your WPM.
- Pathos: I used to never really think this mattered at all. To a large degree, it still doesn’t considering I’m unabashedly very flowcentric but I tend to give high speaker points to debaters who performatively express mastery knowledge of the subjects discussed, ability to exercise round vision, assertiveness, and that swank.
- Holistic Approaches: the 2AR/2NR should be largely concerned with two things:
1) provide framing of the round so I can make an evaluation of impacts and the like
2) descriptively instruct me on how to make my decision
Overviews have the potential for great explanatory power, use that time and tactic wisely.
While I put form first, I am of the maxim that “form follows function” – I contend that the reverse would merely produce an aesthetic, a poor formula for argument testing in an intellectually rigorous and competitive activity. In summation: you need to make an argument and defend it.
FUNCTION
- The Affirmative ought to be responsive to the topic. This is a pinnacle of my paradigm that is quite broad and includes teams who seek to engage in resistance to the proximate structures that frame the topic. Conversely, this also implicates teams that prioritize social justice - debaters utilizing methodological strategies for best resistance ought to consider their relationship to the topic.
Policy-oriented teams may read that last sentence with glee and K folks may think this is strike-worthy…chill. I do not prescribe to the notion that to be topical is synonymous with being resolutional.
- The Negative’s ground is rooted in the performance of the Affirmative as well as anything based in the resolution. It’s that simple; engage the 1AC if at all possible.
- I view rounds in an offense/defense lens. Many colleagues are contesting the utility of this approach in certain kinds of debate and I’m ruminating about this (see: “Thoughts on Competition”) but I don’t believe this to be a “plan focus” theory and I default to the notion that my decisions require a forced choice between competing performances.
- I will vote on Framework. (*This means different things in different debate formats - I don't mean impact framing or LD-centric "value/value criterion" but rather a "You must read a plan" interpretation that's typically in response to K Affs)That means I will vote for the team running the position based on their interpretation, but it also means I’ll vote on offensive responses to the argument. Vindicating an alternative framework is a necessary skill and one that should be possessed by kritikal teams - justifying your form of knowledge production as beneficial in these settings matter.
Framework appeals effectively consist of a normative claim of how debate ought to function. The interpretation should be prescriptive; if you are not comfortable with what the world of debate would look like if your interpretation were universally applied, then you have a bad interpretation. The impact to your argument ought to be derived from your interpretation (yes, I’ve given RFDs where this needed to be said). Furthermore, a Topical Version of the Affirmative must specifically explain how the impacts of the 1AC can be achieved, it might be in your best interest to provide a text or point to a few cases that achieve that end. This is especially true if you want to go for external impacts that the 1AC can’t access – but all of this is contingent on a cogent explanation as to why order precedes/is the internal link to justice.
- I am pretty comfortable judging Clash of Civilization debates.
- Framework is the job of the debaters. Epistemology first? Ontology? Sure, but why? Where does performance come into play – should I prioritize a performative disad above the “substance” of a position? Over all of the sheets of paper in the round? These are questions debaters must grapple with and preferably the earlier in the round the better.
- "Framework is how we frame our work" >>>>> "FrAmEwOrK mAkEs ThE gAmE wOrK"
-Presumption can be an option. In my estimation, the 2NR may go for Counterplan/Kritik while also giving the judge the option of the status quo. Call it “hypo-testing” or whatever but I believe a rational decision-making paradigm doesn’t doom me to make a single decision between two advocacies, especially when the current status of things is preferable to both (the net-benefit for a CP/linear DA and impact for a K). I don't know if I really “judge kick” for you, instead, the 2NR should explain an “even if” route to victory via presumption to allow the 2AR to respond.
“But what about when presumption flips Affirmative?” This is a claim that I wish would be established prior to the 2NR, but I know that's not gonna happen. I've definitely voted in favour of plenty of 2ARs that haven't said that in the 1AR. The only times I can envision this is when the 2NR is going all-in on a CP.
- Role of the Ballots ought to invariably allow the 1AC/1NC to be contestable and provide substantial ground to each team. Many teams will make their ROBs self-serving at best, or at worse, tautological. That's because there's a large contingency of teams that think the ROB is an advocacy statement. They are not. Even more teams conflate a ROB with a Role of the Judge instruction and I'm just now making my peace with dealing with that reality.
If the ROB fails to equally distribute ground, they are merely impact framing. A good ROB can effectively answer a lot of framework gripes regarding the Affirmative’s pronouncement of an unfalsifiable truth claim.
- Analytics that are logically consistent, well warranted, and answer the heart of any argument are weighed in high-esteem. This is especially true if it’s responsive to any combinations of bad argument/evidence.
- My threshold for theory is not particularly high. It’s what you justify, not necessarily what you do. I typically default to competing interpretations, this can be complicated by a team that is able to articulate what reasonability means in the context of the round, otherwise I feel like it's interventionist of me to decode what “reasonable” represents. The same is true to a lesser extent with the impacts as well. Rattling off “fairness and education” as loaded concepts that I should just know has a low threshold if the other team can explain the significance of a different voter or a standard that controls the internal link into your impact (also, if you do this: prepared to get impact turned).
I think theory should be strategic and I very much enjoy a good theory debate. Copious amounts of topicality and specification arguments are not strategic, it is desperate.
- I like conditionality probably more so than other judges. As a young’n I got away with a lot of, probably, abusive Negative strategies that relied on conditionality to the maximum (think “multiple worlds and presumption in the 2NR”) mostly because many teams were never particularly good at explaining why this was a problem. If you’re able to do so, great – just don’t expect me to do much of that work for you. I don’t find it particularly difficult for a 2AR to make an objection about how that is bad for debate, thus be warned 2NRs - it's a downhill effort for a 2AR.
Furthermore, I tend to believe the 1NC has the right to test the 1AC from multiple positions.
Thus, Framework along with Cap K or some other kritik is not a functional double turn. The 1NC doesn’t need to be ideologically consistent. However, I have been persuaded in several method debates that there is a performative disadvantage that can be levied against speech acts that are incongruent and self-defeating.
- Probability is the most crucial component of impact calculus with disadvantages. Tradeoffs ought to have a high risk of happening and that question often controls the direction of uniqueness while also accessing the severity of the impact (magnitude).
- Counterplan debates can often get tricky, particularly if they’re PICs. Maybe I’m too simplistic here, but I don’t understand why Affirmatives don’t sit on their solvency deficit claims more. Compartmentalizing why portions of the Affirmative are key can win rounds against CPs. I think this is especially true because I view the Counterplan’s ability to solve the Affirmative to be an opportunity cost with its competitiveness. Take advantage of this “double bind.”
- Case arguments are incredibly underutilized and the dirty little secret here is that I kind of like them. I’m not particularly sentimental for the “good ol’ days” where case debate was the only real option for Negatives (mostly because I was never alive in that era), but I have to admit that debates centred on case are kind of cute and make my chest feel all fuzzy with a nostalgia that I never experienced– kind of like when a frat boy wears a "Reagan/Bush '84" shirt...
KRITIKAL DEBATE
I know enough to know that kritiks are not monolithic. I am partial to topic-grounded kritiks and in all reality I find them to be part of a typical decision-making calculus. I tend to be more of a constructivist than a rationalist. Few things frustrate me more than teams who utilise a kritik/answer a kritik in a homogenizing fashion. Not every K requires the ballot as a tool, not every K looks to have an external impact either in the debate community or the world writ larger, not every K criticizes in the same fashion. I suggest teams find out what they are and stick to it, I also think teams should listen and be specifically responsive to the argument they hear rather than rely on a base notion of what the genre of argument implies. The best way to conceptualize these arguments is to think of “kritik” as a verb (to criticize) rather than a noun (a static demonstrative position).
It is no secret that I love many kritiks but deep in every K hack’s heart is a revered space that admires teams that cut through the noise and simply wave a big stick and impact turn things, unabashedly defending conventional thought. If you do this well there’s a good chance you can win my ballot. If pure agonism is not your preferred tactic, that’s fine but make sure your post-modern offense onto kritiks can be easily extrapolated into a 1AR in a fashion that makes sense.
In many ways, I believe there’s more tension between Identity and Post-Modernism teams than there are with either of them and Policy debaters. That being said, I think the Eurotrash K positions ought to proceed with caution against arguments centred on Identity – it may not be smart to contend that they ought to embrace their suffering or claim that they are responsible for a polemical construction of identity that replicates the violence they experience (don’t victim blame).
THOUGHTS ON COMPETITION
There’s a lot of talk about what is or isn’t competition and what competition ought to look like in specific types of debate – thus far I am not of the belief that different methods of debate require a different rubric for evaluation. While much discussion has been given to “Competition by Comparison” I very much subscribe to Competing Methodologies. What I’ve learned in having these conversations is that this convention means different things to different people and can change in different settings in front of different arguments. For me, I try to keep it consistent and compatible with an offense/defense heuristic: competing methodologies require an Affirmative focus where the Negative requires an independent reason to reject the Affirmative. In this sense, competition necessitates a link. This keeps artificial competition at bay via permutations, an affirmative right regardless of the presence of a plan text.
Permutations are merely tests of mutual exclusivity. They do not solve and they are not a shadowy third advocacy for me to evaluate. I naturally will view permutations more as a contestation of linkage – and thus, are terminal defense to a counterplan or kritik -- than a question of combining texts/advocacies into a solvency mechanism. If you characterize these as solvency mechanisms rather than a litmus test of exclusivity, you ought to anticipate offense to the permutation (and even theory objections to the permutation) to be weighed against your “net-benefits”. This is your warning to not be shocked if I'm extrapolating a much different theoretical understanding of a permutation if you go 5/6 minutes for it in the 2AR.
Even in method debates where a permutation contends both methods can work in tandem, there is no solvency – in these instances net-benefits function to shield you from links (the only true “net benefit” is the Affirmative). A possible exception to this scenario is “Perm do the Affirmative” where the 1AC subsumes the 1NC’s alternative; here there may be an offensive link turn to the K resulting in independent reasons to vote for the 1AC.
I did policy debate for 4 years and LD (traditional V/C LD) for 2 years in central Kansas.
Policy Debate
I am not picky on argumentation, just make sure that it is cohesive and makes sense. I will adapt to whatever the participants bring to the debate room.
I tend to weigh stock issues very heavy, so affirmative must not only show that there is a problem now but that there is a legitimate block to the plan in the status quo.
Non-Negotiables
Do not create unsafe spaces in debate. If you have questions or concerns please bring them up when all parties are present before the debate begins.
Speed
Please be clear and signpost. I will let you know if your rate of speaking is too much for me. Slow down for line by line.
Adding me to the email-chain will also solve any continuity issues that may come up in round:
sara-kilpatrick@hotmail.com
Theory
Don't use it as a time suck. If you read it, make it make sense.
Kritiks
I am open minded to any literature but I did lean more towards Fem when I was a debater, so I am not incredibly well versed in other Ks (just make sure it makes sense)
Lincoln-Douglas
I have a preference for traditional value/criterion style of LD and will base my voting on that, but if you show me that the newer policy esk style is better then I am willing to operate under that paradigm.
I am cool with speed, just make sure that I have access to ev or that you at least slow for tags and the V/C level.
I am down with critiquing the resolution or the other teams positions (however I do not think that it should be structured like a K policy flow).
Let me know if y'all have any questions
Update: This is still accurate. I am actively coaching / cutting cards on the HS topic.
Put me on the email chain: david.kingston@gmail.com --- Makes life easier.
Hi, I'm Dave.
I debated 4 years in High School in Albuquerque, NM. I graduated in 1989.
I also debated for 4 years in College at Arizona State and transferred to UMKC. I won CEDA Nationals and graduated in 1994.
After that, I was a grad assistant at the University of North Texas and coached debate for 2 years.
and then got married and took my wife's last name changing mine from Genco to Kingston.
and then was a grad assistant at KU for a couple of years.
and then was the Assistant Director at UMKC until 2000.
From 1994 until 2000 I taught at a bunch of camps.
I've helped out several college teams here and there in the last 5-6 years.
I am currently cutting cards and coaching Blue Valley Northwest on the high school topic.
If you have any questions ask.
TL/DR: I really don't have a preference for what you do in a debate round. I've judged a ton of them over the years. I suggest you do something that you do well.
K: Everyone wants to know if I'm ok with "the K" or "the criticism" or a "performance". Sure. That sounds good to me. I understand those types of arguments. I've become more up to date with some high theory and race/structural Ks. You do you. I don't hold them against you.
CP: You don't have to answer the aff if the Counterplan solves all of the aff and you should point out what disads/turns are net benefits to the counterplans. I do not default to judge kick. I default to you're stuck with what you go for unless you make some argument about it. If you make an argument about the counterplan being condo, then you have to kick it unless you make judge kick args.
DA: They're good. Uniqueness, link or impact defense, and foundational warrant comparison are all good ways to help resolve things. Please don't read generic impact stuff that doesn't take the context of the round into account. It helps my decision and comments if you differentiate your warrants or find ways to compare your link to the turn or vise versa. Do I believe in zero risk? Kinda. Dropped args are probably zero risk. But I default to the arguments made about risk. Generally though, I default to some risk on a contested debate unless the resolution of the arguments is made very clear (Uniqueness goes the wrong direction, dropped args with some analysis, deeper warrants etc.)
T: If you have a good interp you can defend and can do standard debating well, I'm willing to hear the debate.
K Affs: I have been more in touch with this style of debate in recent years. I'm pretty neutral in FW debates. If you're aff vs FW, isolate a couple pieces of offense and you should be all right.
Theory: I don't care about how many or what kind of condo if you can defend it.
Round Comments:
I try to stay neutral in my judging and vote on things said in the round, not things that I make up about things you say. I'll make things up if that's the only way to resolve stuff, but I never feel good about it. Don't make me feel bad, plz.
I don't care how fast you go as long as you don't have mush mouth and I can understand it.
I try not to be a jerk about prep time, please don't be a jerk about it either. That being said, we do have to have a debate and it does have to finish on time, so don't steal prep.
Also, don't clip cards. I read along in the speech doc.
Don't flash docs that contain a ton of cards you're never going to read, and don't mess with the speech docs (remove navigation, purposefully try to avoid sharing, or do other random crap that is borderline cheating). The other team gets to see everything you read, and vice versa.
None of that doesn't mean that you can expect me to ignore arguments that aren't in a speech doc. If it was said, it's an argument. You should FLOW.
I don't like posturing between speeches and during CX in debates. If you have comments to make about the way the other team is debating or the arguments they choose, then you should make them as an argument in a speech.
Speaker Points: I'm trying to achieve more clarity about how I assign speaker points. This should give you a good idea about what I'm thinking when I assign them. This is a bit of an upward departure from points I have given in the past. Basically, I'm looking at points as a consideration of whether or not I think the debating you did was of elim rounds quality or that your performance was worthy of putting you on track to win a speaker award. I have my standards, but my points will probably end up being .2 or so higher than I have given in the past.
Bonus speaker points if you find a way to win that doesn't assume you win all of your arguments.
Have fun and Good Luck!
Former College Debater @ UM-Kansas City
ToC Qualifier, 2nd @ NSDA Nationals, NDT Qualifier
I read and tend to prefer critical arguments, but I am generally tech>truth so will vote for most debate arguments. I think debate is a space for knowledge production, and I tend to reward teams who use the debate space to educate themselves and others on important social issues. That said, if you win that Heg is good I'll vote for you even though Heg is objectively awful. I don't like framework vs K affs, but I'll give it fair and equal treatment when making my rfd because I recognize it's importance to negative strategies. Theory arguments are cool, but if you want me to reject the team and not just the argument you have to spend considerable time in the 1AR and the entirety of the 2AR going for the argument.
I debated in the 1980s. While I maintained the "stock issues" paradigm for a decade or so after that, I have become more progressive. Twenty-four years of coaching have demanded it.
My coaching resume:
4 years KCK-Washington High School (UDL debate)
10 years Shawnee Mission North
12 years Shawnee Mission West
1 semester Palo Alto High School/California circuit
What I do not like:
DISRESPECT OF ANY KIND . . . check your sarcastic tone, your eye rolls, and your bad attitude at the door. Be a good person.
provocative language (especially slurs; I know people use them in real life, but I do not need to hear them in a debate round to be "woke")
super fast spreading (I need slower tags, and I need you to slow down if I clear you)
theory debate
extensive counterplan debates; keep it simple
What I like:
topic-centered debate
real-world application
K debates where things are explained to me in a way to make me feel morally obligated to decide correctly
strong 2NR and 2AR . . .my favorite speeches!
people who are kind but assertive
Catherine Magaña
I appreciate when debaters show that they care and that they want to be debating and put energy into it. I will put as much effort into my decision and comments as you do into debating. Lots of good can come from this activity so I encourage you to be part of that.
Won't vote on events that happened outside of the round. I am not the person to adjudicate those experiences.
If I cannot hear what you are saying I will clear you once and then stop flowing. You may have made an argument but if you're unclear, the chances I write it down are slim. And if you're not flowing, I'm not flowing.
Don't clip and don't steal prep.
Specific evidence comparison is important, so do more than just surface level analysis. Pull lines out of cards, indict them, anything. People get away with reading lots of terrible evidence - don't let them!
As the judge, I will do my best not to intervene but if I have to come to my own conclusion about something that wasn't debated out then I will explain why I did and what could have prevented that.
CP and DA
If you want me to utilize judge kick then please do not wait until the 2NR to say it. I think zero risk can be a thing. Everything else is game.
K
If you're neg - I find myself persuaded most often by K turns case arguments and specific links. Talk about the aff more. I think speech organization is important here and will appreciate signposting instead of just reading down your document.
I vote for planless affs as much as anything else. Affs should probably be related to the topic. Tell me why spending time learning about x is better than learning about y, especially in that round.
T
I enjoy T debates. These debates can be shallow sometimes so I appreciate contextualization of the aff, in-round abuse, and telling me what precedent would be set by x definition. Not voting on plan text in a vacuum.
Other: Reading every word off of your computer is not impressive or innovative. Speaks will reward the use of your flow.
Lansing High School Class of 2017
University of Kansas Class of 2021
email: natmart23@gmail.com
tldr: do what you do best.
**Topicality vs. Plan
Competing interps makes the most sense to me. I have never seen a compelling 2AR on reasonability, but if you've got it be my guest.
Reasonability is a way to determine the sufficiency of the aff’s counter-interp; not whether or not the aff is “reasonably topical”
I’m very persuaded by contextualized interactions between different standards. Without this component it's often difficult to determine when one standard outweighs another.
**T-USFG
I have historically been compelled by the arguments in support of limiting affirmatives to defend topical action. What topical action is is obviously up for debate. I am way less persuaded by criticisms of the topic that are not coupled with an alternative explanation for how this activity functions.
I think that fairness is an impact when warranted. I think that debaters sometimes are lacking in their explanation of why that is the case, however.
In the limited experience that I have had as a judge in these debates, I am always left wishing that the debaters on either side engaged more with the nuances of their opponents' arguments, rather than merely reiterating their own insistently.
**CP
Enjoy them and don't have a ton of novel ideas regarding them. I think that competition and theory are both derived from the mandate of counterplan action (opposed to effect) so tailor your explanation as succinctly around that action as possible. As such, if your counterplan relies on a minute distinction to the plan make sure that your explanation centers around that difference otherwise I become more sympathetic to affirmative competition arguments.
Theory arguments, unless otherwise stated, result in rejecting the argument. The exception to this rule is condo. For me, numerical limits on condo have never made a ton of sense. I think for most teams' impacts the difference between 8 and 2 is sort of miniscule and without a succinct explanation of why your number is a necessary limit, of which I have heard none, I find aff arguments criticizing the arbitrary nature of your ceiling compelling.
Don't love international fiat.
**DA
I’m a fan. I think that I find turns case arguments to be more impactful than a lot of judges. I also find the logical conclusion of a lot of thumpers to be more impactful than a lot of judges.
**K
I enjoy judging good K debates. I do think that in these debates, distinctions between offense and defense matters quite a bit to me. I think that framework is hugely important for both sides in these debates but, similarly to my frustrations in T-USFG debates, too often teams just throw their interp at one another without debating the merits of their opponent's. I think that alt explanation is super important, and have seen a lot of debates where neither side explains the alt at all and I'm not just going to default assume that it solves if I cannot explain the reasons that it does using arguments that you have forwarded.
i'd like to be added to the email chain - nickmassa1999@gmail.com
Currently debating at the University of Kansas, Class of 2021
Previously debated for four years at Shawnee Mission East, Class of 2017
You should be clear---if I can't *reasonably* understand every word, it's clipping. I'll say "clear," but it'll certainly still mess up my flow AND your speaks.
***what happens in the round matters more than anything below***
*****LD TOC 2019*****
Don't be late, speaks will take a .1 hit for every minute past start time (enforcing this for R4 and rest of tournament).
I haven't judged LD before, BUT I'm well versed in policy and my preferences below should be of help. You should limit your use of LD/topic-specific acronyms in front of me. I've heard theory is big in LD--I'm not a huge fan (condo, process/consult CP bad, etc is all fine) -- if that's your thing, you gotta commit to it and be clear on the interp, violation, etc. I'm not the best judge for the K, but if you win it, you'll win it.
I won't vote on an RVI -- spend time answering T/Theory instead -- if it's a bad arg, you don't need much anyway
I have a super high threshold for presumption -- only dropped arguments get to 0% risk
I'm not a fan of cards from other debate people
Disads
Politics isn't perfect, but this is the world we live in now. Theory arguments on the politics da are a waste of time. Spin is important.
The impact overview needs to be at the top of the 2nc/1nr/2nr with impact calc and turns case args.
Dropping a turns case argument mitigates that portion of aff offense.
2NR strategy: If you're going for the squo and a DA, there needs to be more case defense to lower the threshold for how big the DA has to be to outweigh. Inversely, if you're going for a CP and a DA, case defense is less important unless extending it as extra defense against a solvency deficit/aff offense the CP doesn't solve.
Counterplans
Sufficiency framing is important for the neg. The overview should explain what the counterplan does, how it solves the aff, competes, and what the net benefit is.
If you want me to judge kick the counterplan, this needs to be clear in the block and the 2nr. Affs should say judge kick is bad before the 2ar.
I generally think conditionality is good b/c neg flex. I also think the impact distinction between 2/3/4/etc condo is super arbitrary. Theory arguments other than conditionality are reasons to reject the argument, not the team.
Topicality
I don't do topic research and I don't judge a ton of hs debates so you need to explain topic-specific things.
I enjoy watching good topicality debates. I lean towards competing interpretations, unless the aff spends time/is good at developing reasonability. I'm in favor of an interpretation that establishes a predictable limit on the topic, while creating openings for affirmative flexibility. Evidence quality matters.
The 2nc/1nr should include a list of potential affs the aff's c/i justifies and explain why those affs are bad for the topic.
T/FW
If aff: there needs to be a coherent strategy against T-usfg and FW. You need to win debate is key to subject formation and single debate rounds matter. Internal link defense to the neg's impacts is super important and will make winning your offense way easier.
If neg: there's a difference between T and FW. T is way more defensive and has fairness/clash impacts -- I find it more persuasive than FW, which unnecessarily gives the aff a lot of room for impact turns.
Kritiks
Framework is the most important part of *most* K's. If you're not winning FW, you're likely not winning any offense.
Aff: I'm good for fairness/clash and arguments about consequentialism/fiat good OR just going for you outweigh under their interp.
Neg: Unless the alt actually does something material, FW is absolutely necessary if you want to win offense based on reps (otherwise you need offense against implementing the plan). I think the most strategic 2nr's spend around 2 minutes(or more) winning FW and then spend the rest on the link.
*I'll start evaluating the debate on FW - it largely determines everything else. Judge instruction matters most here!
Aff - you should have a coherent strategy. There are generally only two; impact turn OR link defense and a perm (OR a combination of both applied to specific links).
Neg- you should impact out the links AND explain how the alt solves the specific links. If you have an alt that does something material, awesome. Also, you should not read arguments that contradict the K (on a FW level) b/c you'll almost certainly lose b/c you link to your own FW
If it's a floating PIK you should make that explicitly clear in the block.
Ryan McFarland
Debated at KCKCC and Wichita State
Two years of coaching at Wichita State, 3 years at Hutchinson High School in Kansas, two years at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, now at Blue Valley Southwest.
email chain: remcfarland043@gmail.com, bvswdebatedocs@gmail.com
Stop reading; debate. Reading blocks is not debating. You will not get higher than a 28.3 from me if you cant look away from your computer and make an argument.
I've seen deeper debates in slow rounds than I've seen in "fast" rounds the last couple years. "Deep" does not mean quantity of arguments, but quality and explanation of arguments.
Talk about the affirmative. I've judged so many debates the last couple years where the affirmative is not considered after the 1AC. Impact defense doesn’t count. I don't remember the last time my decision included anything about impact defense that wasn't dropped.
I am not a fan of process counterplans. I’m not auto-vote against them, but I think they’ve produced a lazy style of debating. I don’t understand why we keep coming up with more convoluted ways to make non-competitive counterplans competitive instead of just admitting they aren’t competitive and moving on with our lives.
I'm not good for the K. I spent most of my time debating going for these arguments, have coached multiple teams to go for them, so I think I understand them well. I've been trying to decide if it's about the quality of the debating, or just the argument, but I think I just find these arguments less and less persuasive. Maybe its just the links made on this topic, but it's hard for me to believe that giving people money, or a job, doesn't materially make peoples lives better which outweighs whatever the impact to the link you're going for. I don't think I'm an auto-vote aff, but I haven't voted for a K on this topic yet.
If you decide to go for the K, I care about link contextualization much more than most judges. The more you talk about the aff, the better your chances of winning. I dislike the move to never extend an alternative, but I understand the strategic choice to go for framework + link you lose type strategies.
An affirmative winning capitalism, hegemony, revisionism true/good, etc. is a defense of the affirmatives research and negative teams will have a hard time convincing me otherwise.
I think K affirmatives, most times, don't make complete arguments. They often sacrifice solvency for framework preempts. I understand the decision, but I would probably feel better about voting for an affirmative that doesn't defend the topic if it did something.
Zero risk is real. Read things other than impact defense. Cross-ex is important for creating your strategy and should be utilized in speeches. Don’t be scared to go for theory.I will not vote on something that happened outside of a debate, or an argument that requires me to make a judgement about a high school kid's character.
Don't clip. Clarity issues that make it impossible to follow in the doc is considered clipping.
Email: mjmcmahon3739@gmail.com
Assistant coach for Blue Valley North
Debated 4 years at Blue Valley North, currently in 4th year at Kansas
One thing that may be instructive for having me as a judge is my speaker points are equally likely to reflect how much I enjoyed judging a debate as the skill of each debater. Debate is a fun activity. The most fun debates are ones where debaters are engaged, impassioned, and noticeably enjoying what they’re doing. I love seeing debaters smile and give speeches like they have a personal investment in what they’re saying. I know debate is hard and tiring and takes a lot of work and detracts from school. But you’re here for a reason, and if I can infer that reason during the debate, I’ll reward you for it and everyone will have a better time!
Here are some opinions I have about arguments and the state of debate. None of these opinions are fixed obviously, I just think it’s important you all know.
Conditionality is getting a bit out of hand these days… the 1NC with a 20 plank advantage counterplan and uniqueness counterplans atop every DA will frustrate even the most poised 2A. I am probably a better judge for condo bad than others. I think debate might actually be better if the 2AC could punish the NEG for a sloppy 1NC. It’d be interesting to see how dispositionality would actually play out
I don’t think 2NC counterplans out of 2AC straight turns are legitimate if they disagree with a core premise of the 1NC. For example, if the 1NC says “X bill rides the plan, that’s bad”, and the 2AC impact turns the bill, I can be easily persuaded the 2NC doesn’t get to counterplan “pass X bill”, because they already said that bill was bad and the 2AC made a strategic choice to develop offense there instead of elsewhere
Small(er) 1NC’s that disagree with the core premises of the AFF will always be better than giant 1NC’s whose only goal is make the 2A suffer and extend what’s undercovered. I get it, I know why it’s strategic, but well-developed offense intrinsic to the AFF is so much more fun to judge and educational for the debaters. If you have the goods to spend an entire 1NR link turning an advantage, that would be infinitely better than a process counterplan that needs 4 minutes of AT: Perm do the counterplan just to appear competitive
Evidence quality and highlighting matters so much. I cannot stand evidence with highlighting being scattered and not forming coherent sentences. I swear some cards these days don’t make a comprehensible argument, and I will not fill in the holes in your highlighting for you
Probably better for reasonability than most. I find the argument “precise evidence shapes the predictability of a limited topic” persuasive.
K’s can be incredibly potent, and I love them when deployed correctly, but too often I judge debates where the K is just one big solvency push. “Reform bad because it makes the state look good” and “AFF fails because nebulous theory of power true, vote NEG” are too defensive. Get specific, tell me why the AFF is bad, not imperfect
Not good at all for any genre of K that says death is good or we should accept unnecessary suffering
The less jargon you need to explain your K’s theory the better for me personally. I need to understand your argument before I can decide if you won it
Really really love impact turns
I think there are only a handful of debaters and coaches in the country who actually understand counterplan competition. I’m in my 8th year and Bricker is still coddling me through this aspect of debate. It’s very fun and interesting, but confusing, so if you can debate that theory well, I will have the utmost respect for you
Regarding framework, fairness can be an impact. It can also be an internal link to a host of other impacts. I think non-topical AFFs should choose whether they want to impact turn framework or read counterinterps to play some defense. I've found attempting both rarely helps the AFF.
Some of the things I wrote above might lead some to conclude I only ever vote AFF lol (you can tell I’m a 2A), that’s false. You can make the block only an impossibly limiting T arg, psychoanalysis, and con con with an internal net benefit and I’ll vote on any and all of them if you debate them well. The opinions above are only there to say it might not be my favorite debate.
Please include me on the evidence chain at: mcdubs06@gmail.com
My Background and Experience
I debated in high school from 1991-95 at Shawnee Mission East, in one of the states that has a Kansas City. I was a sponsor and assistant coach at East from 1996-2008 and 2019-20. I judged policy at NFL / NDSA Nationals in 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2008; and at NCFL Grand Nationals in 2006, 2011, 2012, and 2013. I judged PFD at NCFL Nationals in 2018. I’ve judged policy debate, LD, PFD, extemp, informative, and original oratory at invitational, state, and national qualifying tournaments for over twenty-five years.
For additional insight on my perspective, I have judged for several years the high school moot court (mock Supreme Court argument) competition held by American University School of Law as part of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. I also judge high school and undergraduate mock trial and undergraduate and law school moot court competitions.
I am an attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; I am literally a policy-maker well versed in navigating the challenges of making policy under frequently conflicting congressional mandates. The first thing you learn in law school is that the answer to every question is "it depends." Justice Breyer recently answered the question "is a hot dog a sandwich?" by responding "sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't."
Policy Debate, Generally
Speed: I am handling speed better now we have evidence chains (in legal oral argument, you always submit written briefs to the judge). That said, the responsibility is on you to ensure you are intelligible, especially when using virtual platforms. I am also of the view that all things being equal, rebuttals should be presented at a slower pace than constructive.
Strategy versus Tactics: “Seven Off-Case” is not a strategy. Negatives would benefit immensely from having a bigger picture strategy that frames the story you want to be telling at the end of the round. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t run multiple alternative arguments – you should, however, be thinking three moves ahead. Also, time-suck arguments have strong tradeoffs. Both teams get equal time allotment so if the opposing team is wasting time on it that means you’ve wasted time you could have used making winning arguments.
Topicality: T is a jurisdictional issue and nothing more. As a lawyer, I believe in precision, but I am also of the view that high school policy debate affirmatives are not capable of being drafted with the precision of congressional legislation (nor should they be). So I’m willing consider reasonable interpretations. I also am willing to entertain arguments that the Aff is effects topical. I don’t get as excited about extra-topicality because Aff can always drop the offending advantage (by analogy to severability provisions in legislation where only offending provisions are thrown out by the courts, not the entire legislation).
Conditional Counterplans: I an attorney, the concept of burden of proof is fundamental. In my view, when the Neg runs a counterplan, it shifts the burden of proof from Aff to Neg. I liken it to an “affirmative defense” in a criminal trial. Neg can argue inconsistent alternatives because it does not have the burden of proof. If I am the defendant, I can argue that you failed to prove I did it, or that maybe Graham and Maddie did it. I cannot argue that I did it in self-defense, but if you don’t believe that, then Graham and Maddie did it.
There is no rational justification for allowing Neg, which starts the round with the benefit of presumption, to “take back” a bad strategic decision to run a counterplan solely because they are losing. If conditionality were sound debate theory, we wouldn’t spend seventy percent of the last two rebuttals arguing about it. If we view conditionality as a “rules” modification to enhance competition, there ought to be a mechanism for settling that before the round. We don’t change the rules of basketball with five minutes left in the game to benefit the team that’s losing.
Critical Argument: I have never voted for a Kritik. Over the years, I have developed a much better understanding of the various philosophies underlying most critical theory. My legal training also allows me to better evaluate and apply your arguments to the Aff case. Someday I will get there on Ks, but for the time being you run them at your own peril.
My biggest hangups: (1) the lack of a meaningful alternative; (2) related, as a policymaker I do not like being in a “why bother” position – if there is a harm that can be solved, why not do something? (3) Many philosophies underlying critical arguments are extremely complex; most high school debaters (and many college judges) don’t understand what they are arguing or hearing, apply extremely broad theories to extremely narrow policy questions; or just flat out misapply the theories to affs; and (4) As a policymaker I am predisposed to utilitarianism and economically rational decision making. The limitation of Kantian ethics is that the moral compass always points true north, but it tells you nothing about all the obstacles and dangers between you and where you’re trying to get. All along the way you have to make decisions that deontology is, in my view, ill-equipped to guide.
“Performance Affs”: I rarely vote for critical affs. I have never voted for a performance aff. My views on performance affs are evolving and transitioning, but I am still working on a coherent paradigm so you assume the risk if you run one. Hang ups include: (1) I don’t like “why bother?” debates; (2) I don’t like to be guilted into voting for one team or the other; and (3) I am not a fan of dismissing the conventions of policy debate as a meaningless academic simulation. The high school moot court competition I judge is tailored to inner city students in the DC area. The problems involve first and fourth amendment issues. Even though the competition is an academic exercise, participating students are better equipped to advocate for themselves, their peers, and their families, and these students are significantly more likely to have encounters with police and other authority figures implicating free speech, illegal detention, and improper searches.
Policy Debate – Kansas Novice and Open
Please be respectful to one another. Also, a “brief off-time roadmap” should take less than ten seconds. Just state the title of the position so we can organize our flows: “T, counterplan, politics da, advantage 2, solvency” Lastly, I am a policymaker. I view the stock issues not so much as a paradigm but as the elements of a prima facie case. If the aff doesn’t solve at all, it’s pretty straightforward. On the other hand, if the affirmative has a propensity to solve, neg needs a disadvantage to outweigh. Lastly, view every round as a free learning opportunity. At work, we joke that we always reserve the right to get smarter.
Public Forum Debate
My only specific observations are that PFD is not intended to be a college style policy round in a faster amount of time. Also, in online debate only one person can talk at a time. It takes a bit of fun out of the Grand Crossfire, but online when multiple people talk over one another no one is intelligible.
Lincoln-Douglas
[To be provided.]
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ: You do you. If you bring me chai I will give block 30’s. If you have questions then ask me.
Theory arguments are boring.
Parker Mitchell
[unaffiliated]
Updated for: DSDS 2 - Feb '24 - Link to old paradigm (it's still true, but it's too much. This is a shorter version, hopefully less ranty. If you have a specific question, it's likely answered in the linked doc.)
Email: park.ben.mitchell@gmail.com
He/They/She are all fine.
General Opinions
I view debate as a strategic game with a wide range of stylistic and tactical variance. I am accepting (and appreciative of) nearly all strategies within that variance. Although I do try to avoid as much ideological bias as possible, this starting point does color how I view a few things:
First, fairness is an impact, but: Economic collapse is also an impact yet I'm willing to vote DDev, the same holds here. I view Ks and K Affs as a legitimate, but contestable, strategy for winning a ballot. In other words, I will vote for K affs and I will vote for framework and my record is fairly even.
Second, outside of egregiously offensive positions such as Racism, Sexism and Homophobia good, I have very few limitations on what I consider "acceptable" argumentation. Reading arguments on the fringes is exciting and interesting to me. However, explicit slurs (exception - when you are the one affected by that slur) and repeated problematic language is unacceptable.
Third, it affects my views on ethos. I assume most debaters don't buy in 100% to the arguments they make. This is not to say that debate "doesn't shape subjectivity," but it is to say that I assume there is some distance between your words and your being. In other words: There is a distant yet extant relationship between ontology and epistemology.
I find I have an above average stylistic bias to teams that embrace this concept. In other words, teams that aggressively posture (unless they are particularly good and precise about it) tend to alienate me and teams that appear somewhat disaffected tend to have my attention. This is not absolute or inevitable. This operates on the ethos and style level and not on the substance/argumentative level.
Fourth, I will attempt to take very precise notes. My handwriting is awful, but I can read it. I will flow on paper. I will flow straight down and I will not use multiple sheets for one argument (I'm talking Ks too, this isn't parli). I will not follow along with the doc. I will say "clear" if you are unclear during evidence, but not during analytics, that's a you problem. Clarity means I can distinguish each word in the text of the evidence. Cards that continue to be unclear after reminders will be struck from my flow. I flow CX on paper but will stop when the timer does. I will not listen during flex prep, I don't care if you take it.
Experience
13 years of experience in debate. I'm currently working in the legal technology world, not teaching or coaching for the moment. I have been volunteering to assist for Wichita East in a very limited capacity this year, while judging for SME on occasion.
Formerly: 6 years assisting at Shawnee Mission East (KS, 2015-2021), 2 years as Director of Debate and Forensics at Wichita East (KS, 2021-2023). 4 years as a debater for Shawnee Mission East (KS, 2010-2015), 5 years for the University of Missouri-Kansas City (MO - NDT/CEDA, 2015-2020). I have worked intermittently with DEBATE-Kansas City (DKC, MO/KS), Asian Debate League (aka. ADL, Chinese Taipei, 2019-2021), Truman (MO, 2021) and Turner (KS, 2019). 2 years leading labs at UMKC-SDI.
Topic Experience (HS)
19 rounds. Did not coach at a camp and I am not actively coaching, so my experience is middling. I think I have decent familiarity with the topic concepts due to personal interest and participation in past topics, but I'm not exactly up to date. I think my knowledge is rather limited on social security affirmatives. I feel that most teams are broadly misinterpreting the topic and that topicality is quite a good option against most affirmatives.
Topic Experience (College):
Basically 0. I know some NFU stuff from the prez powers topic.
Topic Specific Notes
This is a rant that you should probably take with a grain of salt pre-debate or during prefs, I just think aff strategic choice has suffered this year and can improve.
Outside of K affs, I've been thoroughly unimpressed by most affirmatives on the topic. I think they are largely vulnerable to some easy negative argumentation. I do not think this is because the topic is "biased," but because affirmative teams have been simultaneously uncreative and, when creative, counterproductive. I think the best way of reading a plan aff is by digging in your heels in the topic area and strongly defending redistribution. I think the ways of skirting around to initiate other plan based debates often introduce far more significant strategic issues for the aff than they solve. There seems to be this presumption that winning a dense econ debate is impossible so you have to find a different topic, which to me is both dangerous and lazy. I have actually 0 problem with being lazy, only with the fact that these alternative topics seem to be way worse for the aff than the existing one. See the following paragraph for my earlier rant about this that illustrates one example, however it is not the only example I have seen:
If you read the carbon tax aff - cool, it's not like I'm auto-dropping you but my god, this cannot be the biggest aff on the topic. I'm not sure I've ever seen the biggest aff on the topic stumble into so many (irrelevant and non-topic germane!) weaknesses while revealing so few strengths. Have we all forgotten about basic debate strategy? Trust me, no one is forcing you to read a warming advantage and lose! At some point, this is your own fault. Typically on climate topics judges are prone to give a little leeway to the aff on timeframe just so the topic is debatable - but make no mistake - you will not get that leeway here.
Argument Specific Notes
T - my favorite. Competing interps are best. Precision is less important than debate-ability. "T-USFG" will be flowed as "T-Framework." No "but"s. It's an essential neg strat, but I'm equally willing to evaluate impact turns to framework.
CPs - Condo and "cheating" counterplans are good, unless you win they're bad. Affs should be more offensive on CP theory and focus less on competition minutiae. Don't overthink it.
DAs - low risk of a link = low risk of my ballot. Be careful with these if your case defense/cp isn't great, you can easily be crushed by a good 2AR. I find I have sat or been close to in certain situations where the disad was particularly bad, even if the answers were mostly defense.
Ks - I feel very comfortable in K debates and I think these are where I give the most comments. Recently, I've noticed some K teams shrink away from the strongest version of their argument to hide within the realm of uncertainty. I think this is a mistake. (sidenote - "they answered the wrong argument" is not a "pathologization link", but don't worry, you're probably ahead) (other sidenote - everyone needs a reminder of what "ontology" means)
Etc - My exact speaks thoughts are in the old paradigm, but a sidenote that is relevant for argumentation: my decision is solely based on arguments in the debate (rfd), my speaks arise from the feedback section of my ballot - I will not disclose speaks and I won't give specific speaks based on argument ("don't drop the team, tank my speaks instead" "give us 30s for [insert reason]") I'm much more concerned with your performance in the debate for speaks, argumentation only has a direct impact on my vote and not other parts of my ballot.
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that should be all you need before a debate. there are more things in the doc linked at the top including opinions on speaks, disclosure, ethics as well as appendices for online debates and other events.
NSDA qualifier - Just wanted to clarify for the NSDA qualifier this weekend that this is the first tournament of the season I will be judging. I am good with speed, but I do not recommend you go your fastest. With that being said, make sure you contextualize any kritiks as I have not judged a round on this topic.
emporia high school 2015-2019
ku 23
they/them
yes add me to your email chain: itslenamose@gmail.com
about me
i did policy debate for all four years of high school and a semester of college debate at KU. i ran mostly policy arguments in high school but i spent most of my time running Ks and K affs my last year and a half in debate.
high school experience = two time DCI qualifier, 5A two speak policy debate finalist, and two time NCFL qualifier in LD.
yes spread. yes be clear.
prep doesn't end until the speech doc is sent.
top level
i will listen to most of what you have to say. here's what i think is super important/things people mess up a lot:
1. win your aff -- case is super important and if you win it, then you can win a lot of other stuff on the flow (like case o/w and using the aff as an impact filter)
2. engage with arguments and understand your arguments -- shadow extending cards/making claims with no warrants does not persuade me. clash is good.
3. good cx -- a lot of people don't have goal oriented cross examinations anymore and it's pretty sad. cross ex is a speech. you can get a lot from cx, and when you do you should point those things out in your speeches.
4. impact calc -- do impact calc. often times debaters don't do good enough impact calc and it becomes difficult for me to judge debates. probability, magnitude, and timeframe are important things and you should talk about them. doing impact calc is what will help you write out the ballot for me.
T
i default to competing interps unless convinced otherwise. i will vote on T and i enjoy t debates. limits is probably the only convincing impact to T. obviously warrant out fairness and education claims, but if you don't talk about limits in your 2nr it will be easier for me to vote aff.
theory
theory debates are pretty cool. i'm familiar with condo debates. if you wanna go for it, go for it. please go slow on theory though, spreading at top speed on theory will become frustrating for me.
disads
love a good disad debate ngl. if you can give me a good story and do some good line by line AND win impact calc, then you have a good shot with most DAs. i tend to be a fan of ptx.
K
i like K debates. these are probably some of my favorite debates to judge. as long as you can explain your K and it isn't some death good args then i can evaluate it.
i am most familiar with queer theory, cap, set col, and identity based kritiks
perm debates on the K are fun and good overviews are also fun.
i also like good alts. alts that are specific and well explained will def boost speaks but i can also evaluate a debate where you kick the alt and go for the link.
CP
i like creative CPs and just any CP that tests the aff well. CPs are good and should be competitive. please understand your perms.
Megan Niermann
They/them/their's
Suburban LD in high school (2014 MSHAA state champion)
One year CX at UMKC, one year CX at JCCC (2018 CEDA quarterfinalist but also couldn't break at regionals so evaluate how you will)
Yes, I want to be on the email chain: niermannmegan@gmail.com
All of my policy experience in college has been with the K (ableism, queerness/gender, whiteness, Lacanian psychoanalysis, capitalism) but towards the end of my career I started going for framework a lot more. I'll break things down more below but I can be high on your pref sheet no matter what you read with the exception of teams that need an extremely techy judge with a ton of topic knowledge. I am a better judge for you if you explain things for me in a big picture way using debate language (competitive/not competitive, impact calc, permutation, etc) instead of relying on my ability to flow all of the warrants of your politics DA and to vote on ev quality comparison.
TL;DR: I definitely WILL vote on the CP/DA but I don't often participate in, judge, or coach those debates so I will need to be coddled a little bit.
Specific positions below (but also I'm barely out and reserve the right to change my mind on any and all of these things):
T/FWK: I really enjoy judging, coaching, and participating in these debates. Lately I've judged some rounds without clearly defined voters---that is not a good way to win the debate. I am rarely persuaded by "T/FWK is oppressive" offense unless it's the VAST majority of the 2AC answer strategy, but when I am persuaded it's usually because the neg has decided to go for a fairness impact instead of going for education. If there's not a T version of the aff that probably means it's...just egregiously not T. I do not presume against affs that do not have a tie to the resolution.
Theory: I went for/won on theory args a lot. I will vote on theory args and probably err aff more than a lot of judges do on these questions, especially condo. If I'm your judge and you're neg I would try to avoid perf con.
Disads: As mentioned above, despite being in the activity for nine years, I don't have a great grasp on DAs in terms of reading them OR answering them. DA debates for me will really be decided by whoever is the better technical debater in the round I'm judging because I don't have enough topic knowledge to feel comfortable evaluating the truth level of claims. Please please please don't bet the round on me being able to evaluate the quality of your evidence. I very rarely will call for ev.
CPs: See theory---I am easily persuaded that a lot of CPs (50 states, consult, agent, PICs) are cheat-y. That said, I've read a lot of word PICs and refuse to feel shame. Please go for any/all CP in front of me as long as you are ready to answer these theoretical questions. Because of my inexperience in evaluating DA debates you will have a better time winning a CP 2NR strat if you have a solvency deficit to the aff and/or a net benefit that is independent from a disad you're reading. I will presume that the status quo is always an option for the negative unless the aff makes an argument about it.
Ks: The vast majority of debates that I participate in, judge, and coach are one-off K debates. I'm familiar with most common K literature but have spent most of my time reading/answering identity arguments (disability, queerness, transness, whiteness and/or anti-Blackness). I find myself often persuaded by permuations and no link/link turn articulations. Don't be afraid to go for the K without an alt like a linear DA in front of me! If you're answering the K in front of me I would not heg your bets on alt solvency; I am rarely persuaded that this is important in a world where the negative is winning that your aff is unethical.
By all means, ask me other questions if you have any! I was often described as hostile as a debater but as a coach/judge I think my ultimate role is to be an educator about the skills in the game of debate.
Put me on the email chain please: lexi.ellis227@gmail.com
General Stuff:
-I will not evaluate arguments that are about something that happened outside of the debate round.
-unless otherwise argued, I default to judge kick is okay. If you want to get into specifics like cp planks, then I would prefer you make an argument about why judge kicking one part is okay.
-I believe that affs should be in the direction of the topic
-Impact out theory debates
~More specific arguments~
Kritiks:
-I don't think that a link of omission is a link. My threshold is pretty high for this so if you do so feel compelled to go for this argument, just know you will need to dedicate a lot of time to it.
-I like to see a lot of work done on the alt debate in the block. I need to see clear arguments as to what the world of the alt looks like and why the alt solves better than the aff.
Framework:
-I think fairness is more an internal link than it is an impact. (i.e. fairness is an internal link to topic education, clash, etc)
-In addition to framework there needs to be some sort of argument to indict the aff's methods. In rounds where this doesn't happen by the neg, I find the aff's argument to weigh the impacts more compelling. Read arguments as to why their theory is wrong.
Topicality:
-Limits are universally good.
-You should slow down
-T-USFG is more persuasive to me than a framework arg.
Email chain: lily.coaches.debate@gmail.com
About:
- Currently based in Taiwan and coaching debate for the ADL. That means I am staying up all night when I judge at US tournaments. Please pref accordingly
- Debated in college at the University of Kansas, 2017-2022 (Healthcare, Executive Authority, Space, Alliances, Antitrust). I majored in math and minored in Russian if that matters.
- Debated in high school at Shawnee Mission Northwest, 2013-2017 (Latin America, Oceans, Surveillance, China).
Top:
- If I can tell that you are not even trying to flow (eg you never take out a piece of paper the entire debate, you stand up to give your 2NC with just your laptop and no paper) your speaks are capped at 27.
- Please don't call me "judge." It's tacky. My name is Lily. Note that this does not apply to saying "the role of the judge."
- In the words of Allie Chase, "Cross-x isn't 'closed,' nobody ever 'closed' it... BUT each debater should be a primary participant in 2 cross-xes if your goal is to avoid speaker point penalties."
- I would prefer to not judge death/suffering/extinction good arguments or arguments about something that happened outside the debate.
- I might give you a 30 if I think you're the best debater at the tournament.
- High schoolers are too young to swear in debates.
- Don't just say words for no reason - not in cross-x and certainly not in speeches.
- If you are asking questions like "was x card read?" a timer should be running. Flowing is part of getting good speaker points.
- The word "nuclear" is not pronounced "nuke-yoo-ler." If you say this it makes you sound like George Bush.
- Shady disclosure practices are a scourge on the activity.
Framework:
- I judge a lot of clash debates. I'm more likely to vote aff on impact turns than most policy judges, but I do see a lot of value in the preservation of competition. Procedural fairness can be an impact but it takes a lot of work to explain it as such. Sometimes a clash impact is a cleaner kill.
- TVAs don't have to solve the whole aff. I like TVAs with solvency advocates. I think it's beneficial when the 2NC lays out some examples of neg strategies that could be read against the TVA, and why those strategies produce educational debates.
Topicality vs policy affs:
- Speaker point boost if your 2NC has a grammar argument (conditional on the argument making sense of course).
- If you're aff and going for reasonability, "race to the bottom" < debatability.
- Case lists are good.
- The presence of other negative positions is not defense to a ground argument. The aff being disclosed is not defense to a limits argument. This also goes for T-USFG.
Counterplans
- When people refer to counterplans by saying the letters "CP" out loud it makes me wish I were dead.
- As a human I think counterplans that advocate immediate, indefinite, non-plan action by the USFG are legit, but as a judge I'm chaotic neutral on all theory questions.
- Conditionality: I'll give you a speaker point boost if you can tell me how many 2NRs are possible given the number of counterplan planks in the 1NC.
Disads
- Read them
- Politics DAs are fun. Make arguments about polling methodology.
Ks
- I feel like I have a higher threshold for Ks on the neg than some. I'm not a hack and I will vote for your K if you do the better debating, but I also think arguments that rely on the ballot having some inherent meaning are
cornyunpersuasive. - I dislike lazy link debating immensely, primarily because it makes my life harder. Affs hoping to capitalize on this REALLY ought to include a perm/link defense in the 2AR.
- Explain how the alt solves the links and why the perm doesn't.
- Affs should explain why mooting the 1AC means that the neg's framework is anti-educational. Negs should explain why the links justify mooting the aff.
- Case outweighs 2ARs can be very persuasive. The neg can beat this with discrete impacts to specific links+impact framing+framework.
- Speaker point penalty if the 1AR drops fiat is illusory - at the very least your framework extension needs an education impact.
Lincoln-Douglas:
- If there is no net benefit to a counterplan, presumption flips aff automatically.
- I do not think permutations are cheating.
- An argument is a claim and a warrant. If you say something that does not contain a warrant, I will not necessarily vote on it even if it's dropped. In the interest of preventing judge intervention, please say things that have warrants.
- Most neg theory arguments I've watched would go away instantly if affs said "counter interpretation: we have to be topical."
- RVIs are not persuasive to me. Being topical is never an independent reason to vote affirmative. The fact that a counterplan is conditional is never offense for the negative.
Hey yall!
⭐ I'm a former college policy debater (2 years) & 4 years in High School. Mill Valley HS Ast. Coach for 4 years.
⭐ You can throw anything at me argument-wise. Speed is fine as long as you are still articulate (a big influence in speaker points is clarity).
⭐ speech drop> email chain. email: hprins@usd232.org
⭐ I read evidence throughout the round, so know that I am paying attention to important warrants, and will only vote on something if there is evidence backing it and it's extended properly throughout the debate.
Debated for Shawnee Mission East and the University of Kansas
he/they, or just nico, but please not ‘judge’
Add me to the email chain -
email: nicorhanley@gmail.com
I have a lot more experience debating than I do judging. With that in mind, it might be worthwhile to spend a bit of time in the ‘why we should get this dub’ chapter of your speech. Lots of judge instruction in rebuttals will take you very far in general but especially if i’m your judge. This is at the top of the paradigm because, if I’m being honest, in the past I’ve made some very questionable RFDs due to the team that “probably should have lost” being more persuasive in how they wrote out the ballot for me. This isn’t something I actively try to do. I do always try my best to be fair and make the correct decision, but it’s worth admitting.
Additionally, I’m not very familiar with the current (2021) highschool debate topic.
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Philosophy:
I think debate is ultimately a game where teams are trying to make competitive arguments that win them the ballot. I think kritiks are a strategy within this game, and the debate to be had about whether this strategy is beneficial for the activity is also part of the game. Framework is part of the game. Not reading a plan is part of the game. Arguing that your alternative model of debate is an effective strategy within the traditional model of debate is, again, part of the game.
Outside of debates I have my own opinions on debate as an activity, and how effective or educational various models or methods of debate are. As a judge I am lawful neutral when it comes to these issues. I have read a plantext throughout the entirety of my debate career but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t vote for an affirmative without a plan. Every single team is trying to win every single debate that they have. Even if a team is winning with an argument critiquing the nature of debate as a game, they are ultimately leveraging the irregularity / complexity of their argument to their advantage as a way of participating in the game strategically, and for that, mad respect. If you win the argument that the opposing team choosing to not read a plan / being untopical should result in me filling out the ballot in your favor, I’ll do so. It’s all part of the game, we’re all just trying to win in different ways that reflect our own strategic choices / how we feel comfortable participating in (not throughout) this activity. Some of us just want to see the world burn, and that’s ok
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Kritiks:
I’m completely neutral on any theory-related stuff as a judge. This is true for all theory, not just kritiks.
My background is still in policy debate, so if you do choose to read a k, bear that in mind. Most of my familiarity with kritiks has been from debating against them (with the exception of the occasional Mbembe). That said, I have spent a decent amount of time reading about anti-capitalism/anti-colonial theory, afropessimism, settler colonialism, queer theory, and psychoanalysis (as it applies to the aforementioned literature).
I would rather not judge death ks or kritiks that pertain to the individuals within the debate round or on the team of the school being debated against. If you’re reading a death K, we probably wouldn’t get along very well anyway.
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Policy Arguments:
Big impacts are good impacts. If you say that extinction isn’t as important as the area of quotidian violence that you’ve isolated due to the fact that said extinction impact is improbable relative to the ongoing structural violence described by your impact, it’d be in your favor if you also won that said extinction impact is actually improbable. Saying that the prioritization of extinction impacts overshadows structural violence seems like a pretty broad, totalizing account of impact calculus compared to a warranted, specific extinction impact. That doesn’t mean that probability is an irrelevant variable in impact calculus, however.
Counterplans are fine I guess. I love a good advantage cp. Agent cps are fine unless they’re cheating, but if no one points out that the one you’re reading is cheating or you win that it isn’t cheating you’re in the clear. I will vote for even the most egregiously cheating counterplans (the states cp) if you win the theory debate/if there is no theory debate. I think most counterplans (that people actually choose to read) are probably cheating, though most people would rather bite the bullet and write affirmatives that beat cheating counterplans instead of just saying that the counterplan is cheating. I’m looking at you, states.
Even outside of debate I’m not super opinionated on condo, so i’m especially neutral in-round. Lots of judges are super unwilling to vote aff on this, I think the threshold is pretty 50/50 for me. If the neg undercovers it then it’s their own fault. As long as the aff has sufficiently won their interp is both good for debate and mutually exclusive with the negs actions then the aff wins. I don’t really think it makes sense to treat the phrase “dispo solves their offense” as an instant gamewinner. Especially if your interp is just about being unconditional always or only getting 1 conditional advocacy, putting all your eggs in the dispo basket seems pretty random imo.
Delay CPs/ other troll CPs are pretty silly and I probably wouldn’t be thrilled if I had to vote for one but it isn’t out of the picture. I don’t like to be reminded of the pain that is the abuse of fiat under the guise of creating competition. This sort of applies to PiKs as well, depending on the degree to which they are ~floating~
Disads are so variable that I don’t really feel like I need to write anything specific here. If the cards are good, read them. I like the politics DA, I guess.
Topicality is probably my favorite argument in debate. A good T debate is just a really fun time all around. A case list is always a great way to spice things up. Reasonability can a better argument than how it’s often articulated, but I still think even it’s better iterations aren’t exactly slayer args. For whatever reason some people like to spread their T blocks faster than they do their cards. Not a fan. Slipping random inherency voters in the middle of said T blocks. Also not a fan. If you do this and wonder why I didn’t vote for you after you went for it in the 2nr, kicking the counterplan da that couldve won you the debate, now I get to say it’s because you didn’t read my paradigm ;)
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Misc. stuff:
Not everything that I or any judge tells you is necessarily good advice. No two people think about debate in the same way and that's part of why I love debate. Implications of that: I understand that the strategy that maybe I would have chosen to execute in a debate round isn't the ultimate best or the one that fits the style of debate that you like to practice.
Debate is supposed to be fun. I'll never understand people who go into debates genuinely (or seemingly genuinely) upset at what they're doing. If you have fun, the round is more fun, judging is more fun, etc. Debates that are fun to watch are so much easier to deal out higher speaker points to.
**good arguments change my opinions all the time so if you think you're right about something go for it - I always try to make an effort to check my biases toward particular arguments**
**this does not apply to the death k**
Debate is a competitive space in which we all try to have fun / escape the chaos of reality, so don't bring toxic behavior into it.
If you read stuff that I should be writing down at a speed that you yourself are unable to flow, I’m probably unable to flow it as well. Having more years of experience in the activity doesn’t suddenly make me write at supersonic speeds compared to a normal human debater, unfortunately :c
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Speaks:
I think good research is the most fundamental aspect of debating well. If you are clearly knowledgeable about the stuff in the debate, whether it be your own evidence, the other team’s evidence, the kritik you’re reading, you get the point, i’ll reflect that in your speaks. If you’re rude in cx or your speeches to the other team, your partner, or me, I’ll reflect that in your speaks as well. Interrupting people is rude. Be mindful that debate is a communication activity.
I don’t really care about swearing, just don’t overdo it. If you’re wondering to what extent I mean by “don’t overdo it” don’t do it at all.
Using slurs or saying racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, etc things are not tolerated. 0 speaks and a loss. There are exceptions to this, but again, if you’re wondering what those exceptions are, they probably don’t apply to you.
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Points:
0 - ? - ???
27.5-28.5 - good
28.5-29 - great
29-29.5 - exceptional
I probably wont give above a 29.5, but if I do, well done! This has only happened twice.
I have yet to reward a 30
Don’t clip. Do. Not. Clip. (pls don’t clip i will be a very sad nico) I debated against a team that blatantly clipped multiple cards in their 2nc, had evidence that they had clipped, marked their evidence exactly where they had clipped, made evident in the following cx that they had clipped, went for 6 minutes of “why has this debate not ended already they literally clipped” in the 2ar and subsequently lost the debate because the judge accepted their apology for having clipped. If I judge a debate where there is evidence of clipping, I will not be so gracious. 0 speaks and a loss. :c
About me/ Preference things-
I debated at Lawrence High School for 4 years and debated in college at the University of Kansas. I have been an assistant debate coach for Shawnee Mission South High School for 4 years.
** Please add me to the email chain rose.haylee2000@gmail.com
LD
I evaluate LD traditionally with emphasis on the V and VC level. However, it is important that you are winning some offense both on the V and VC as well as the contention level debate. Winning top level offense on the V and VC and and describing how that effects the contention level debate is the easiest way to win my ballot.
TL:DR
As for how I evaluate debates, I cannot say that I have a bunch of things that I am for or against so I will just go down the list.
Make arguments to the best of your ability but please just be a good human. As far as how many rounds I have judged I did not judge or teach at a camp this summer so I am a little behind.
T- I debated and went for T quite often in debates but I won't vote for it unless its 5 min in the 2NR and you gotta have a case list and reason why your interpretation is good, what does the aff's model of debate mean for the debate community?
Theory- its fine, be persuasive and tell me why the aff/negs justification for reading a particular argument/set of arguments is bad. I can/will vote for abuse on condo or other theory but getting there may be hard, I think condo is good and it needs to be excessive abuse. Continuing on theory, you as the person reading theory need to be able to prove why their interp is bad and why that hurts you in the round, not just the debate community writ large.
DA's- I enjoy them a lot, you will need to explain each individual part of the DA debate and its implications for the argument overall I won't extend cards when you say "extend my link".
CP's- I like Cp's that are competitive. I also am a firm believer that the CP must have a NB that is not we solve better than the aff. Not a huge fan of "cheating" counterplans but you gotta do what you gotta do to win.
K's- I read and went for the cap k, I am not a K hack or know all of the things that you are talking about. I really enjoy k debates but I will need you to explain things to me and why they matter/ what you win because of each individual part of the K debate. I like techy K debates.
READ ME:
I really enjoy this activity but there are some things about it that I am not too fond of,
1. Charging the Mound, it makes me uncomfortable and probably also makes your opponents uncomfortable as well. If you have questions or do not understand my decision please ask or email me but you are not going to convince me I made the wrong decision, and if you do why does that matter my ballot is already submitted. Let's have a productive conversation about debate
2. Personal attacks at your opponent, there is a line between being sassy and making others feel bad about themselves.
3. Sexist, Ablest, Transphobic, Racist (and other isms) language and behaviors, please be good human.
4. Stealing prep, it's just a pet peeve of mine
Feel free to ask me questions about my judging paradigm before the round starts, and email me if you have any remaining questions after the debate is over. I will always be more than happy to help you all get better at this activity!
I debated 4 years in high school from 2011-2015 at Blue Valley Southwest (KS) and 3 years in college from 2015-2018 at the University of Kansas. During college debate I also coached/judged at high school tournaments in the KC area. Currently I am a community coach at Chicago Bulls College Prep.
I read policy arguments, but am not opposed to k debate. Do whatever style you are most comfortable with. If you can convince me of an argument, then I'll vote for it (within reason).
General:
Do whatever you're good at, I don't care.
-Speed: Yes.
-Disclosure: Yes
-Open Cross-X: Yes
Policy Debate:
This is the style I am most familiar with.
-Topicality: I think team's should be topical, but I also believe that it's up to the other team to prove why.
-Counterplans: I enjoy counterplans a lot. Open to hearing theory on 'cheating' CPs, however I think CP theory is usually a reason to reject the arg and not the team.
-Disads: Remember to have impact calculus on both sides. Explain why your disadvantage outweighs the advantages of the 1ac.
K Debate:
I will listen to kritiks on both sides.
Top leveling framing is important (how do I evaluate the debate?).
Affirmative- I am a policy debater so I evaluate the K similar to how I would evaluate any other policy argument. Win your impacts/framing.
Negative- I think that kritik should try to have a specific link to the affirmative and do their best to engage it. Links of omission do not persuade me. Teams should explain how the alt interacts with the impacts of the 1ac otherwise the K just becomes a non-unq da.
Theory:
I'll vote on condo if that's what it comes down to.
For most other theory args, I am more likely to reject the argument instead of the team.
My Dog:
Email: jet.semrick@gmail.com and taipeiamericanpolicy@gmail.com
Coach @ ADL and Taipei American School | Debated @ University of Kansas 2019-2023 and Shawnee Mission East 2015-2019
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Summary:
--My goal is to render a decision without intervention. I will work hard to evaluate and provide helpful feedback for any arguments presented regardless of my opinions. I enjoy judging debates where debaters work hard. Currently, my full time job is to teach and research the high school topic.
--I believe AFFs should be topical and solve a unique problem. The NEG should argue the AFF is undesirable. I am a good judge for any strategy that demonstrates the plan is a bad idea.
--Quality of an argument matters. I am more likely to be persuaded by complete, sound, and logical arguments. However, technical debating can change this predisposition. A dropped claim is irrelevant unless accompanied by a warrant and explanation of how my decision should be impacted.
--Preference for fewer, but more developed positions over many underdeveloped ones. My ideal debate to judge is the topic disadvantage against the largest affirmative on the topic.
--Take the debate seriously. Be reasonable with down time, sending out emails, and please don't send out or ask for a marked doc if it's not needed.
--Ethos, clarity, and strategic decisions will be rewarded with speaker points.
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Policy:
Topicality vs. Plans
Plan text in a vacuum is not a persuasive defense of a non topical AFF.
Topicality debates where I vote NEG are generally not close because of truthful arguments that are difficult to overcome via technical debating. High quality interpretation evidence is important.
Prioritize the internal link over impact explanation. Give examples and context. Ground is the most compelling standard because a 'limits explosion' can be mitigated by the existence of predictable and high quality NEG ground.
Counterplans
Specificity is best. Evidence that compares the CP to the plan is the gold standard. 1AC re-highlightings are persuasive.
Competition debates are boring and I usually vote AFF because the NEG is reading and not debating. I sympathize with the need for process on bad topics, but economic inequality... give me a break.
I will judge kick counterplans unless told otherwise. I think conditionality is bad, but necessary. I am convinced that fiating out of solvency deficits and straight turns in the 2NC is not a good practice. In general, more counterplans equal worse debating and lower speaker points. In truth, I think dispositionality is a better model because it would require more strategic decisions and research on the part of both the AFF and the NEG. However, that does not mean I am more likely to vote AFF in a condo debate. I generally end up voting NEG because conditionality does not make debate impossible and NEG flex is important.
AFF on consult, delay, process, international, word PICs, and fifty state fiat. These are reasons to reject the argument. Debates with a partially intrinsic permutation versus a non-germane process counterplan favor the AFF.
Ideally, the NEG specifies net benefits and establishes competition in the 1NC.
Disadvantages
DA and case 2NRs are the best debates to judge. I enjoy debates about the economy and politics. Mechanically sound DA debating is a lost skill. Turns case is most persuasive when supported by evidence.
The AFF should read offense when answering DAs. If the NEG wins an uncontested link argument, AFF uniqueness arguments are less persuasive because there is always a risk the status quo is stable given the certain instability of the plan. The resolve this problem, disprove the internal link which is typically the weakest part of the DA.
Case
A block and 2NR that prioritizes the case is potent given the AFF trend to be efficient at any cost. Solvency deficits and alt causes are more compelling than impact defense.
If you decide to read a "soft left" AFF make sure the framing page is meaningful. Generic framing arguments are boring and generally still devolve to magnitude x probability. I am more willing than most to vote AFF for a small magnitude high probability advantage vs. a low risk high magnitude DA.
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Critique:
Topicality vs. K AFFs
I want to vote NEG in these debates. I have never been compelled by arguments for why the AFF should not be topical. If the NEG reasonably executes the argument they will receive my ballot.
Fairness is the best impact for T. I am also persuaded by impacts about iteration, research, and clash. Without a predictable AFF constraint, I don't think debate could exist. I think topicality is like a baseball strike zone, its boundaries are not perfectly defined or perfect for either team, but without it the game could not be played in a competitive manner.
In order for the AFF to win, they need to defend a model of debate that provides a valuable role for the NEG, solves AFF offense, and is mutually exclusive with the NEG model. If you are impact turning NEG standards, you must provide a compelling reason why voting for your advocacy resolves your offense.
Critiques vs. Policy AFFs
I will likely weigh the plan. To win, the NEG needs to win link turns case arguments, solvency deficits, or impact turns.
Both teams should have a reason for making a framework argument. The 2NR and 2AR need to give judge instruction for what I should do if you win or lose your framework interpretation. I default to weighing the impacts the plan can solves against the impacts of links that the alternative can resolve. I think the AFF is only responsible for impacts that they make worse.
I think the alternative should materially solve a problem, and am not persuaded by rejection style criticisms. I think linear DAs can be good and can be persuaded by an impact framing argument if you win a non-unique link to the plan.
I am persuaded that the NEG does not get to sever reps if other arguments are explicit contradictions. Examples of this are reading the cap K and growth DA. The AFF should exploit tensions between pages and generate smart DAs to alternatives or link turns.
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Ethics Violations:
I would prefer for debates to be completed and am not interested in judging the moral character of debaters or events that took place outside of the round. I value my role as an educator and will intervene or answer questions mid debate if that leads to an agreeable resolution that allows the debate to continue.
I would prefer to strike evidence rather than end the debate. Questions about qualifications, context, and argument representation should be argued in speeches to undermine the credibility of a position.
If there is a formal ethics challenge by a team, the debate ends. If the challenge is successful, the team who made the challenge wins and receives average speaks. If not, they lose and receive low speaks. I will defer to tab, my experience, and advice of others.
If the issue could have been resolved before the debate and is unintentional, I will likely reject the challenge. If I catch clipping, I will give a warning during the speech under the assumption that debaters are competing in good faith. If there is an egregious pattern or the warning is ignored, I will vote for the other team at the end of the debate.
About Me:
-Hello! Please add rnivium@gmail.com to the email chain.
-Debated at: University of Kansas '18-'22. Arapahoe HS '14-'18.
-Coached for: Asian Debate League '22-'23, Arapahoe HS '22-'23, Lawrence Free State HS '20-'22.
Paradigm:
-I don't think arguments start at 100% weight/risk. I believe it is my responsibility to assess the extent to which your warrant supports your claim.
-I encourage you to have a coherent overall narrative/strategy, to provide argument comparison/interaction, and to emphasize clarity/organization.
-I would definitely prefer to judge the "best possible argument" as opposed to the "most possible arguments."
-I'm apprehensive about "insert this re-highlighting." If you do this, please make the tagline very clear and don't highlight more than the key part. The trend of "insert this section of a card we read earlier for reference; its warrant is applicable here" seems fine.
Updated 1/7/23 for clipping/ethics challenge policy (at bottom)
4 years in Kansas in high school, 4 years at Baylor University, now a grad student and coach at KU and Barstow.
Add me to the email chain please: aewalberg@gmail.com and rockchalkdebate@gmail.com (college only)
Top Level
Do what you do best, I will do my best to be unbiased when evaluating arguments. I tend to take a long time making decisions regardless of the round, so don't read into it.
Judge instruction/telling me how to write my ballot is really important, points will be higher and you'll be more likely to win if you put the pieces together in the 2NR/2AR, are honest about the parts of the debate you're winning and losing, actually make decisions about what to go for, etc.
As I continue to judge, I find myself prioritizing tech over truth more and more, exception being when arguments/debates are violent, unsafe, etc. This means that you might think an argument is totally nonsensical, nonresponsive, etc. and I might agree, but you have to make those arguments in a speech in order for me to consider them when making my decision. If you want me to evaluate the debate through a lens other than tech, you should say that and explain what that means/why that mode of evaluation is better.
I think you should probably have to read re-highlighted ev, not just insert it. Open to persuasion but debates where both teams are inserting re-highlightings without analysis or explanation are negative persuasive to me.
I am generally open to whatever arguments you want to run, the substantive exception is wipeout. More critical arguments about death are fine, but I am not particularly interested in listening to or voting on suffering outweighs any potential for pleasure/we are primed to be afraid afraid of death but should die anyway.
I will read along with you in the doc while you are reading cards but I will not read along with the analytics you send, that's not a substitute for clarity or slowing down to give pen time. I also don't generally re-read a ton of evidence at the end of the debate unless told to, your analysis/explanation in round is much more important to me. If I'm in a position at the end of the debate where I have to put things together myself by sorting through a lot of evidence that received very little explanation, neither of us will probably be particularly happy with the decision.
Pet peeves: talking over each other in CX excessively---I cannot hear or understand anyone when this happens especially online, asking what cards were/weren't read in a speech if it's not prep time or cx, not having the email chain ready or sent when round start time hits, stealing prep (if it's not speech, cx, or prep time you shouldn't be typing/talking), calling me by my first name when we don't know each other. They're small things and old grumpy judge complaints, but they'll give you a sizable speaker point boost.
Online Debate
Slow down, be clearer. Make sure you can hear judges/other people in the round so you don't miss people telling you to pause or repeat an order.
Theory
I will vote on it if you win it, but that probably means you need more than one sentence on it in the 2AC. Slow down on these debates. I lean condo being the only reason to reject the team.
T
Slow down some. Impact it out in the 2NR. Don't forget to explain what winning competing interps or reasonability actually means for you.
DAs and CPs
I don't do a lot of topic research, so it'll be helpful for both of us if you do a little more explanation on topic specific things like link stories/solvency mechanisms/etc.
Good analytics can definitely beat a crappy DA. Winning terminal defense/zero percent risk is possible.
Ks
Explain why winning framework matters for you and how you still win the debate even if you lose framework.
You don't necessarily need a material alt to win if you go for framework.
2ACs should explicitly answer each of the link arguments even if it's just by explaining that it's a link to the status quo, a block that can impact out a dropped link argument well is likely to get my ballot as long as they are somewhat ahead on the framework or impact framing debate.
K Affs
Good. I do think it is possible to vote neg on presumption, so specific analysis about aff solvency or method is important. I find myself voting overwhelmingly aff in debates where the negative concedes the aff in the 2NR, so I strongly recommend extending your best 1 or 2 case arguments regardless of what else you're going for.
Framework
Neg: Best neg args are usually about models but can be persuaded it's about this round. Explain why fairness, clash, etc. is an impact and how your model accesses the aff's impacts. A well-developed TVA is great. These debates are pretty hard to win in front of me if you fully concede case.
Aff: Explain what debate looks like under your counter interp or counter model of debate or explain why you don't need a counter model. I am not a huge fan of the 2AC strategy of saying as many disads to framework as possible without explaining or warranting any of them out, two well-developed disads are more powerful than seven one-line ones.
Debate Ethics
If I cannot follow along in the evidence as you're reading it due to clarity issues or I can see you're skipping words as I'm following along, I will clear you once. If you continue skipping words or clipping and the other team does not call it out, I will let the debate continue and give feedback for educational purposes but will drop the team clipping. If you're clipping and the other team does call it out and issues an ethics challenge or otherwise ends the debate, I will end the debate, drop the team clipping, and give feedback based on the debate thus far.
If there is an ethics challenge issued and the debate is stopped, the team who is correct (about the clipping, miscut evidence, citation problem, etc.) wins the debate. Arguments about evidence ethics can be made absent an ethics challenge and without stopping the debate; for example, when connected to a citational politics argument. However, if one team says to stop the round because something is an ethics challenge, the round will stop and the team who is correct about the issue will win.
Arguments that are racist, transphobic or queerphobic, sexist, or that otherwise make the debate violent or unsafe will result in contacting your adults/coaches and a response proportional to/appropriate given what is said.
Please use jamielwelch95@gmail.com for any email chains.
I have not been involved with debate or argument design for a little over a year. I judge occasionally but that is about it. Please don't assume I know the ins and outs of your arguments. You should take from this that a little more explanation is needed for me.
Soft left affs: If your answer to disads is “but the framing page!” you will get very bad speaks and most likely lose. If you use your framing page and then also make specific arguments against the disad then you are in a better spot. Framing pages encourage lazy debating. Don’t be a lazy debater.
Theory – Conditionality is good. Lean neg on basically all theory.
Ks – I don't care which K you read, it can be whatever you are comfortable with. I don’t think the alt has to solve anything. Winning links to the plan is best but if you win a link to other things the aff has done and it has an impact then I will vote on it.
FW/T – Fairness is an impact. Limits matter. That doesn’t mean because you don’t read a plan I won’t vote for you but rather what it means to be topical is up for debate. Without a solid interp of what “your model of debate” would look like I am less likely to vote on your impact turns. Give judge direction on evaluating your arguments versus things like topical version, switch side, procedural fairness, limits, etc.
Debated at the University of Kansas (3 years) | Assistant at Shawnee Mission South
TL;DR:
I'm fine with speed. K affs are a legitimate strategy, but I do find myself having a bias for framework (i.e. should things break even - which hardly happens - I would probably vote for framework). K's are fine, but links to plan action are preferable (unless your framework convinces me otherwise). I strongly dislike it when you're being a jerk and your speaker points will reflect this if you are being one.