Hey there! I’ve done PF at Oak Ridge for three years, And qualified for TFA state and NCFL in the event.
I switched to congress near the end of my third year and qualified for UIL state twice and NSDA Nats in that event.

Debate aside- I’ve qualified for TFA state in Oratory twice, once for NCFL, and have qualified for TFA State in FX.

In PF:

I’ll vote based off of the most convincing framing that is provided in the round. If you want your framework to win, you need to be sure you're giving me a numerical measurement for how you best solve under that framework. (How do I judge the framework, kind of like a Value/Criterion, but in PF)

If there is none provided, I’ll vote based off of impact calculus or, worst case scenario, offense-defense weighing.
I’m a flow judge- but as long as you give me a roadmap and follow it, I’ll know how to follow your speech.

On speed- I dont like spreading, but reading at a quicker pace than usual is fine- ONLY for evidence. PLEASE slow down on tags and analytics! If I can’t understand you, I’ll probably just say clear. (I would usually just put my pen down but, Zoom university 2020).

As for speaks- speak nicely, take turns asking questions, don’t go beast mode, and you’ll basically be guaranteed good speaks.

As for questioning- if it wasn’t said in a speech, it never happened. While I do pay attention to questioning, I won’t flow anything unless you reiterate it in an actual speech. If you don’t, then I simply do not see it T-T. With that said, questioning is only binding if you actually bring it up in a speech, so be cautious!

If someone turns your argument, you do not get to drop that argument in hopes of dropping the turn, the turn was made, you have to account for that impact now.

Finally, make sure to frontline in second rebuttal, and new offense is not allowed in the second summary. In FF, PLEASE give me voters, and actually weigh.

In LD: I'm least proficient in LD, with that said, I like super traditional framework debate and REALLY dislike speed in LD. If you have to ask if you're speaking too quickly for me in LD, you probably are! I really like to digest moral issues, and love to see actual philosophical debate. If one person is progressive and the other is traditional, I will almost always vote for the traditional debater.

Since I'm not an expert in LD, as long as you're not a jerk, you get great speaks!

I really want to see y’all have fun, but most importantly I want the debate to be a civil, safe place to argue, so:

Bigotry of ANY kind is not tolerated in ANY capacity: it will result in a loss.

Parent judge, from Seven Lakes High School

I have judged local tournaments across the Houston area.

My son did PF, and I have a surface level awareness of the event. Please speak with clarity and indicate where you are in your speech. I am truth over tech, i will not immediately buy arguments with inflated or have improbable impacts. I would like your arguments to intuitively make sense, or small probable impacts over big improbable ones.

Speech:

Effectively use your voice to convey meaning and make your performance believable. Use appropriate emotion for your tone.

I participated in LD and CX back in the 1980's. I know some things have changed, but I will follow an argument all through the debate to see if it ends up being dropped by the opponents. I expect debater's to weigh each argument.

Explain how your arguments are pro or con to the resolution. I have been told I am a technical judge. I evaluate how the argument is presented and will count it in my decision even if I personnally disagree with the resolution. I know that the teams need to be able argue both sides of an issue and the resolution's truth is not what I'm evaluating. I'm watching to see who argued the resolution better.

Identify the arguments you are responding to. Make sure it is clear. example: The Negative Team's argument about having a less informed electorate is incorrect. My argument addressed this with the need for voters to learn about the issues.

Depending on the resolution, I may weight one side a little more than the other depending on how hard it is to make good arguments, but recognizing the truth of the resolution is not the reason for weigting it. Clever arguments and good cross examinations are important. An effective argument in Cross can win the debate.

If the Pro (Aff) vs Con (Neg) is decided by coin toss and the toss winner chooses Con and the Aff chooses to start second then I don't want any spreading from the Affirmative and only a little from the Negative. It is hard enough thinking backwards on the logic. If Aff goes first then a little spreading is OK from both teams. If the toss winner decides to be Affrimative, and Neg goes second I'm happy. If neg chooses to go first I will be harder on the neg. as I will be allowing the aff full rebuttal weight in the final round where Neg can no longer respond.

I'm finding 4-6 main arguments per debate about right. 3-5 for Affirmative and 2-4 for Negative. If Affirmative has a lot of Arguments the Negative team will have a job responding to all of them and may only have a couple of their own. This is not an expectation or requirement, just an observation I have made while judging.

I have been pleased to see teams being very polite in how the time for each speaker is managed. This has not been an issue.

I am a very traditional judge with many years of coaching experience. I am not a fan of speed, and I prefer traditional arguments. That is my preference; it does not mean that I won't listen to the arguments made and weigh the evidence.

I am a policy maker and want to follow the argumentation and see the flow of the debate clearly. I can't outweigh one side over another if I don't know why I should because the argument itself was either made too quickly to catch or does not have a clear link. What I do want to hear is the Plan and any counter-plans the Neg offers; I need to see how and why the policy works/outweighs, etc.

I do not want to be included on an email chain, but for the sake of time, you may go ahead and do so. The email address is bonnie.bonnette@fortbendisd.com. First of all, I think that makes tournaments run very long; second, I want to SEE the flow of the debate. If I don't hear you say it and don't flow it, it doesn't count. However, just because I don't want that doesn't mean I will refuse the evidence. I will accept the email and read the shared evidence. No flash drives, however, please.

I rarely vote on Topicality arguments, and I don't like the Neg strategy of throwing out half a dozen arguments to see which one or two will actually "stick". I would rather hear a full development of two or three off-case arguments that clearly apply to the topic and to the Affirmative case. Kritiks are okay as long as they are not "off the wall" arguments. I said that I rarely vote on Topicality, but I have done so in the past.

i have been judging CX for over twenty years. Please don't treat me like I am stupid, but also don't assume I can (or will) judge like the college kids do.

I've been judging various forms of speech and debate events on local, state and national levels since 2013. Head coach of St. John's School since 2020.

I have no event specific expectations on what should happen, I prefer everything to be spelled out in round. I do not like intervening.

Speaker points are a tie-breaker, so I am a bit more conservative with them, but that doesn't mean I'll tank your points unless you're unclear, have frequent speech errors, go over time, or if you're rude. Expect an average 27.5-29.5 range in PF/LD/CX and a range of 68-72 in Worlds and a 3-5 range in Congress. Perfect speaks reserved for those who truly exemplify great public speaking skills. Rudeness can also be a cause for a team losing.

Don't assume I know anything, explain as if you were talking to someone non-specialized in whatever subject matter you're speaking on.

Ask before round any further questions you might have.

-----

For WSD

I will be following the conventions and norms that asks us to:

• think about these things on a more holistic approach;
• nuance our argumentation and engage on the comparative;
• think that the principle level argumentation is key and that the practical should make sense in approaching the principle;
• not engage on tricky arguments or cherry picked examples;
• debate the heart of the motion and not conditionally proposing or opposing (that we are debating the full resolution);
• reward those that lean into their arguments and side;
• preference thinking about the motions on a global scale when applicable.

I am a parent lay judge. Analytical and thoroughly explained responses are preferred, but if you have evidence make sure to tie it back to your response. Speak at a normal pace, with minimal fluency breaks. Make sure to keep your own time, and be respectful during cross. My RFD will be based on the arguments I understand the most.

Ariana (Ari) Chalajour – she/her/hers

Texas A&M ’21

SMU Dedman School of Law ’24

General Info

• Non-interventionist – please write the ballot for me. Please weigh/tell me why your arguments should win. I will not weigh for you.

• Do not be homophobic, racist, sexist, etc. I will not vote on a demoralizing argument.

• Most importantly, have fun!

Evidence and Prep Time

• Please keep track of your own time.

• I have no problems with flex prep!

• I will not look at your evidence after the round unless you call for the evidence yourself and ask me to call for it in your speech. (e.g., Judge, please call for XYZ ’23 because …)

• Your evidence should be organized. If it takes more than 3 minutes to pull up a few cards, I will start docking speaker points.

• If your opponent does not have the card you asked for, then you need to address that in your speech. I will not keep up with whether your opponent provided what you asked for – it is your job as a strategic debater to address these faults.

• Extend your evidence by author last name and year.

Rebuttal; Summary; Final Focus

• Second speaking team needs to respond to offense from first speaking rebuttal. It needs to be at least turns. You do not have to respond to all of the first rebuttal – be strategic with what you choose to respond to.

• If the second speaking rebuttal answers all of the first speaking rebuttal, first summary should extend defense. If second speaking rebuttal answers only offense, then the first summary does not need to extend defense.

• Please do not card dump without any weighing. I love strategic debaters (e.g., kick the case and go straight for turns.)

• The FF and summary should be consistent. If it’s not in the summary, it’s not in the FF.

• Collapse – do not give a second rebuttal.

• Please specifically tell me where you will be starting during your speech (e.g., straight down, C2, or a specific card).

• I prefer line by line in both FF and summary (big picture is fine if you think it’s strategic).

Weighing

• Analysis and weighing are incredibly important to me. Please do not complain about the decision if you didn’t weigh or try to write the ballot for me.

Speed and Overviews

• A fast pace is fine, but please do not spread. If you decide to debate on the faster side, please slow down on tags.

• If you are debating against a team that is obviously a novice and spread, you will not be happy with your speaks.

• I love overviews!

• I am open to “role of the ballot” arguments.

• CX is not binding.

• You can be a little sassy, but please don’t be rude.

Speaker Points

• Everyone starts out at a 30 and it goes down from there.

• Speaks are based on strategy, clarity, passion and intonation.

Theory, Counterplans, K literature:

• Theory: Theory is very interesting, but don't run it if legitimate abuse does not exist. If you run theory against a team that is obviously a novice, you will not be happy with your speaks.

• I am not a fan of disclosure theory.

• CPs: I haven't seen them run properly in PF.

• K: I enjoy K literature, but I am not super familiar with it. I will not flow anything I do not understand; feel free to run it but make sure you explain everything clearly.

I am relatively new to judging.

PF: Please read slower than you would for a normal judge and prioritize weighing. I encourage you to drop arguments going into summary if you have one that is better than another. If you spread, I will give up trying to hear you. Running theory is ill-advised. I'm a parent judge.

Speech: I am a parent judge, so of course I am not going to be in the loop on all the technical aspects of your event. If you are the first speaker (or any speaker) in the room, you should probably tell me how timing will work as I do not know how you want it.

he/they

please include me on any email chains: trq.ebdavidson@gmail.com

Graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas and currently enrolled at Texas Tech University Master's program

Competed in and judged most debate events including LD and Policy but I have the most experience in Congress and Public Forum

Speed is not a problem for me however make sure you are still speaking clearly. I will not flow anything that is not verbally understood

All arguments must have a foundation of a claim, warrant, and impact otherwise you are free to structure your argument in anyway you feel is most appropriate

Debate is supposed to be fun and informative so everyone should aim to have a great time and be respectful. Morally/ethically inappropriate arguments will earn you the lowest speaker points possible.

For virtual tournaments please mute yourself when it is not your turn to speak

Tabula rasa within the limits established here. Speed as fine as long as (1) your volume is loud enough for me to hear you and (2) know that I usually give high speaks but will deduct points if you're talking into your laptop. No tricks.

Clash is good. I like creativity and will reward that in the round. A creative case is better than one I'm going to hear every round. Open to theory but I hate tricks.

I like an efficient round - please have speech doc sharing etc completed before the round begins. I will deduct speaker points if you delay the debate over a speech doc is not ready before the round.

I am a lay judge and will not listen to spreading in debate events.

During IEs such as Prose/Poetry drama and entertainment is important. Speak with personality and gusto. Make me believe in what you are saying.

In extemp be clear and show me that you understand the topic

For OO teach me something new or show me a new side of something familiar.

For all events be respectful to your competitors and have fun!

Preferred pronouns are he/him

Email address: dustinharris1357@gmail.com

I am Lay judge. Please do not speak fast and explain things well to me. I am also fairly educated on domestic and foreign affairs, but I will most likely vote off the argument that is contextualized and brought up the most.

I am a parent judge with limited previous judging experience.

My preferred rate of delivery is a 2-3 out of 5. If you are unclear, I will not flow your arguments even if they are true. This helps me understand your arguments and better allow me to evaluate the round.

Substance debate and contention level debate under the resolution is most important. Framework is important as well, but you should make the best argument as I will vote for the most persuasive speaker.

It is very important to have strong evidence to back up your claims. If you make assertions without good authors/sources/credentials to support your position, that is not a strong case.

It is recommended that you include voting issues at the end of the round that crystallize your position and your speech so that I, as the judge, know what to vote on and who to vote for.

I have no debate experience, so please speak slowly and enunciate well.

I prefer Speechdrop, but if you insist on using an email chain, add me: fedupblackgurl@gmail.com

4/12/2022 addition: The strangest thing happened to me last weekend. I have been judging since I graduated from Lamar HS in 2006. I use similar language on my ballots in every round, and a problem has never been brought to my attention. However, two coaches at an NSDA recently complained about the language used on my ballots. I am including that language here:

Comments for *the debater*

"Do you have a strategy for reading the AC? Because you sent me 35 pages and only got through like 24. Is the strat just to literally spread as much as you can? Would it not be better to structure the case in a way where you make sure to get through what is important? For example, you read the stuff about warming, but you did not even get through the "warming causes extinction" stuff, so you do not have a terminal impact for the environmental journalism subpoint.

New cards in the 1AR?! As if you do not already have enough to deal with?! This strategy is still making no sense. And then, you sent this doc with all these cards AGAIN and did not read them all. This is so weird to do in the 1AR because the strat should be really coherent because you have so little time. This was SLOPPY work."

RFD: "I negate. This was a painful/sloppy round to judge. Both debaters have this weird strat where they just read as much stuff as they can and I guess, hope that something sticks. This round could have gone either way, and I am in the rare situation where I am not even comfortable submitting my ballot. To be clear, there was no winner in this round. I just had to choose someone. So, I voted neg on climate change because it was the clearest place to vote. I buy that we need advocacy in order to solve. I buy that objectivity decreases public interest in climate change. I buy that we need advocacy to influence climate change. I buy that "objectivity" creates right-winged echo chambers that further perpetuate climate change. These args were ineffectively handled by the Aff. The other compelling line of argumentation from the neg showed how lack of advocacy on issues like climate change harm minorities more. I think neg did a good job of turning Aff FW and showing how he linked into SV better. This round was a hot mess, but I vote neg... I guess."

If I am your judge, these are the types of ballots you will get if you give me a round that it messy and hard to adjudicate. I should not have to say this because my reputation precedes me, but ASK ANYONE. LITERALLY ANYONE. I AM NICE. I AM KIND. MY BLACK MAMA RAISED ME WELL. I show up at tournaments and hug people and smile (even people on the circuit who are known to be racially problematic and even coaches who are known to be sore losers). I am literally good to everyone because as a Black woman, I do not have the luxury of raising my voice, making demands, or throwing tantrums. Actions that coaches in other bodies with other body parts are allowed to get away with are prohibited and result in career suicide for me and humans who look like me. So, if these ballots offend you, STRIKE ME NOW. Request that I not judge you/your students NOW. Do not wait until you get the ballot back and paint me into a villain. It isn't that I will not try to make my ballots less harsh. It is that IN MY QUALIFIED OPINION and in the opinion of many other qualified coaches and judges, the ballots ARE NOT HARSH. Communication styles are largely CULTURAL. And as a Black woman, I do not think that I need to overly edit myself just to make white people comfortable or happy. I have done enough to make white people love me, and my entire life, I have adjusted to their passive and overt aggression, including the white coach who most recently told me in a call that he "better not see my ass again at a tournament." I responded with an apology text.

I love students and I love debate. I am never tired of debate. I come to tournaments happy and leave fulfilled because debate is all I have loved to do since I found it. It is (or maybe was) my safe space and my happy place. *Ask me the story of how I joined Lanier debate as a 6th grader :)* Please do a Black woman a favor, and don't treat me like the world treats me. Do not read a tenor or tone into my ballots just because they are not fluffy or favorable. Unlike a lot of judges, I am flowing (on paper -- not hiding behind my computer doing God knows what), and trying to write down every single helpful comment I can come up with (and still submitting my ballot expeditiously to keep the tournament on time). As a result, I do not always do a great job of editing my ballots to make sure they don't sting a little. But students and coaches, if I say something hurtful, find me after the round. I guarantee you that it was not intentionally hurtful. You can talk to me, and I always smile when people approach me :)

Notice the parallels between how I write in my paradigm, in the "controversial" ballot, and in the new stuff I added above. If anyone would have taken the time to read my paradigm, they would know that this is how I ALWAYS communicate.

Students, TBH, a lot of the stuff I am writing on the ballots is not even your fault. Sometimes, as coaches, we do not know things or forget to tell you things, and that is ON US, not on you.

MY ACTUAL PARADIGM IS BELOW:

I don’t know everything nor will I pretend to. Please don’t hold me to such an impossible standard. But I read; I try to keep up with you kiddos as much as I can; and I’ve made speech and debate a priority in my life since 1999. So even though I don’t know everything, I know a lot.

Before you read my paradigm, hear this: Good debate is good debate. Whatever you choose to do, do it well, starting at a foundational level. At the end of the day, just know that I’m doing my very best to choose the best debater(s)/the person/team who showed up and showed out :)

General debate paradigm:

*I do not keep time in debate rounds, and I am always ready. If you ask me if I am ready, I will ignore you*

The older I get, the less I care about tech, and the more I care about truth.

1. ARGUMENTATION: Line-by-line and big picture are two sides of the same coin. It’s crucial not to drop arguments (but I won’t make the extension or fill in the impact for you. It is your job to tell me why the drop matters w/in the larger context of the debate). At the same time, the line-by-line is a lot less useful when you don’t paint the picture of what an Aff or Neg world looks like.

2. EXTENSIONS: When extending, I like for you to extend the claim, warrant, and the impact. I’m old school that way.

3. WEIGHING: Weighing is crucial to me. A bunch of args all over the flow with no one telling me how heavily they should be evaluated is a nightmare.

4. FRAMING: I understand that not all the debates have framework per se, but do tell me which impacts to prioritize. That’s helpful.

5. VOTERS: I like voters. I’m old school in that way too.

6. SPEED: I am generally fine with any level of speed and will indicate if this becomes an issue. I do appreciate that PF is designed to be a little slower, so I would like it if you respected that.

7. SPEAKS: If you cross the line from snarky to mean, I will dock your speaks, esp if your opp is being nice and you are being mean. I will also dock your speaks if you do to much unnecessary talking (e.g., constantly asking if I am ready, saying "Threeee.... twooooo....one" and "tiiiime....staaarts....now" or any similar phrase.) Basically, just run the round and make all your words count rather than just talking to hear yourself talk or nervously rambling.

LD:

1. STYLE: I’m indifferent to/comfortable with the style of debate you choose (i.e, “traditional” v. “progressive”). This means that I’m fine with value/vc framing as well as pre-fiat “framing” args (or whatever you fancy kids are calling them these days) like ROB/ROJ args. I love a good critical argument when done well. I’m also fine with all policy-style arguments and appreciate them when properly and strategically employed.

2. FRAMING: framework isn’t a voter. It’s the mechanism I use to weigh offensive arguments. To win the round, win/establish framework first; then, tell me how you weigh under it.

3. IMPACT CALCULUS: Offense wins debate rounds. I vote on offense linked back to the standard. Weigh the impacts in both rebuttals.

Policy/CX:

1. POLICY-MAKING: generally, I vote for the team who makes the best policy.

2. TOPICALITY: While I default reasonability and rarely vote on topicality, I do appreciate a good competing interp. I will vote on topicality if your interpretation blows me away, but I do need coherent standards and voters. Don’t be lazy.

3. THEORY/KRITIKS: I’m a sucker for philosophy. Give me a well-contextualized alternative, and I’ll be eating it all up.

4. IMPACTS: I respect the nature of policy debate, and I realize that hyperbolic impacts like nuclear war and extinction are par for the course. With that said, I love being able to vote on impacts that are actually probable.

5. TOPICAL CPs: No, just no.

PUBLIC FORUM: your warrants should be explicit. Your terminal impacts should be stated in-case. You should extend terminal defense and offense in summary speech. Give voters in the final focus.

HOW TO WIN MY BALLOT: I am first and foremost a black woman. I don’t believe in speech and debate existing in an academic vacuum. If you want to win my ballot, tell me how your position affects me as a black woman existing in a colonial, white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist, heteronormative society. Show me coherently that your advocacy is good for me, and you’ll win my ballot every time.

PUBLIC SPEAKING AND INTERP:

I judge based on the ballot criteria.

I like to see binder craft in POI.

I like a good teaser with lots of energy.

I do not like ACTING in the introductions. That should be the REAL YOU. Showcase your public speaking ability.

I like pieces to fall between 9:10-10:10 time range.

EXTEMP SPECIFICALLY:

I like a good AGD.

Restate topic verbatim.

Most important thing in extemp is directly answering the prompt.

Three main points preferred.

I like at least 2 sources per main point.

Do not get tangential.

Do not be stiff, but do not be too informal.

No colloquialisms.

STRONG ORGANIZATION (Intro, 3MPs, and a Conclusion that ties back to intro.)

I LIKE ALL THE STANDARD STUFF.

Im a lay judge speak slow and give good argumentation.

I need docs to understand and articulate arguments send them to shail21_21@yahoo.com

Thanks and I hope for a good debate!

UT Austin

Email: misharafiq2020@gmail.com

I did PF for 4 years at Elkins High School

I am not very familiar with progressive arguments so I will not evaluate any theory, tricks, Ks, etc., unless there is a violation in the round that hurts or excludes someone. Even then, I would prefer you point it out to me in paragraph form with a warrant and explanation rather than forcing me to evaluate progressive argumentation. Honestly if you're planning to run these type of arguments, strike me.

Sending me cases prior to the round would be greatly appreciated. If you're gonna spread SEND ME A SPEECH DOC.

If you run an offensive overview in second rebuttal it will make me really sad

General Stuff

-Tech>truth

- MUST signpost and weigh

- don’t just card dump in rebuttal without any analysis

- Frontlining turns in second rebuttal is a must

- Any turns not frontlined in second rebuttal have a 100% probability

-If you’re not extending with author name and warrant then wyd

- If you want me to vote off case offense, you have to extend uniqueness - link - impact

Evidence

- I won’t call for evidence unless the other team tells me to do so. The only time I’ll do it is if that one piece of evidence will win you the round.

- If I end up calling for evidence that you misrepresent/fabricate, you will get L20

Speaks

-As long as you’re not rude, blatantly cocky, or you start yelling for absolutely no reason - then i got you with speaks don’t trip over it.

Any baby keem reference will get you auto 30 speaks

1. Please stop speaking so fast. I max out at 220 wpm. Past that, I'll only catch bits and pieces of it all, and that is not a good position for any of us.
2. *if you have me in any other debate event than PF or LD: I'm so sorry. I'm not gonna lie to you: this won't go well, and I apologize in advance.
3. Yes, put me on the email chain. krishna.shamanna2401@gmail.com
4. *For LDers: they've been sticking me in ya'll's rounds all year despite my objections, so I've reluctantly become somewhat mildly knowledgeable about how the event works, and can safely say that I won't be the absolute worst judge in this event, and should generally be able to follow along most substance. That said, please treat me like a flay judge, and ease up on the speed and the jargon, because if ya'll start spreading or feel the need to try some new-fangled progressive argumentation, I promise you that I will have no idea what's going on and will either default to the team I can comprehend or literally just flip a coin if I don't know what's going on for either of ya'll.
5. No longer relevant because COVID, but leaving it here for posterity: Bring me food and I'll give you a 30 (just you, not your partner, unless he/she/they brings me food too-- no freebies).

6. Some stuff abt me: I debated in PF for two years for Westwood High School, one of them on the national circuit where I achieved mild success. Now I'm a second year out. Here's what you rly need to know:

7. TLDR: Warrant, weigh, and don't be abusive. Tech>Truth, but don't be offensive and/or dumb. Yes, I disclose, and no, you don't have to.

   Long version:

   1. Yes, I intervene. 2 scenarios where it will happen: Either you're being incredibly offensive (sexist/racist/homophobic, etc.) in the round, or you lie about evidence. To clarify the first: I haven't seen many egregious examples of this type of conduct, but suffice to say: when you cross a line, I will drop you. I don't care if you won the flow-- if you actively contribute to making the debate space more exclusionary, I refuse to reward you for that with a W. To clarify the latter: It's one thing to marginally overstate the extent to which a card supports your contention. It's another thing entirely to cherrypick the part of a card that supports your argument, while ignoring the entire list of answers to your argument made in the next paragraph. In the overwhelming majority of cases, I will simply drop a piece of evidence if I find it to be misconstrued. But if your entire link chain is based on one card, and that card is a straight-up lie (at least the way you read it), I will drop the entire argument from my flow and refuse to evaluate it. I won't necessarily drop you for it, if you have some other source of offense that wins you the round, but you will be at a disadvantage from that point forth, and your speaker points will be dismal. This has happened exactly once so far in my time judging-- please do not be the second, whoever is reading this.
   2. I'm nice on speaker points now. Don't worry too much, just be respectful.

   3. I heavily dislike presumption/default votes, and expect you to not put me in that position. If you're confused about what this means, let me elaborate: A very disturbing situation is one in which I have to view two or more paths to the ballot that are both equally strong. Don't misunderstand-- this most often means you're doing something wrong. For example, if I have two ways to evaluate the round and I can literally flip a coin to figure out who gets the W because you frontline and extend completely separate arguments while doing 0 comparative weighing, I will consider factors such as quality of extensions, which scenario is more of an offensive argument to vote off of, etc. to make my decision. To clarify, this DOES NOT mean I will intervene to give the W to the team I like more in the round. It just means that the team does the better debating in a bad round should win the debate, rather than me reducing the ballot to the outcome of the coin flip-- ergo, no "presuming" anything.

   4. Speak fast if you want (mostly-- but if you're over 250 words per minute, we'll have trouble), as long as you’re clear, and your opponents don’t get spread out of the round (hint: if this is a potential issue, ask if they would like to establish a speed threshold). But if you wanna ignore this, just let me be clear about something: I. Am. An. Extremely. Lazy. Person. I try to intervene as little as possible in debate rounds, and that extends to your speaking. If I cannot understand you, I will not work to understand you-- I shouldn't be doing that anyways. It's your job as a debater to convince me of stuff, so do it right.

   5. CPs/Ks/Theory and progressive whatnot--- Please, don't do it unless there's no other option. There are some situations where it's unavoidable: If your opponents paraphrase like 100000 cards and spread to place a boatload of responses, leaving you with not nearly enough time to make responses and call for evidence and whatnot, sure, run theory about spreading, paraphrasing, or whatever-- but it has to be egregious abuse. And even then, please dumb it down rather reading a shell. This event was designed to be a form of debate accessible to everyone, and I believe these types of arguments, while sometimes necessary, undermine that purpose. Not only do I doubt I can evaluate them correctly, but I'm frankly tired of seeing teams (you know who you are) from big schools with multiple coaches that are flown out every other weekend, go into round and spread theory shells against small-school teams (from predominantly local, lay circuits) about how small schools are supposedly harmed by non-disclosure or paraphrasing (this means I almost never evaluate disclosure theory).

   6. Paraphrasing- I don't understand why people are so uptight about this in PF. Reading direct quotes doesn't mean you can't misrepresent what the evidence says, so the logic behind the "no paraphrasing" requirements that many judges/coaches set doesn't really make sense to me. Again, this event is designed to be accessible to everyone-- in some cases, that necessitates paraphrasing evidence in order to articulate your arguments in the clearest way possible. But independent of that, I think it's important to realize that with the time limits being what they are in this event, sometimes paraphrasing is the only way that you can have enough time to make an argument at a deeper level and really provide a complete narrative for the judge to evaluate. So please, paraphrase if you want, and don't read theory against it unless there's actually an egregious case of misrepresentation that changed the coarse of the whole round.

   7. I shouldn’t have to say this but: Claims/Statistics need warrants before they can be evaluated as arguments, and this applies to all offense and defense in the round. If you extend an impact without extending the warrant (or vice-versa), I count it as dropped-- not weighable. Extending an argument, ESPECIALLY with the new extra minute of summary, should be done cleanly, with everything important mentioned in both summary and final focus. If neither team does this, I won't be happy.

   8. First summary is no longer allowed to skip extending terminal defense. If you're gonna extend it in final focus, I want it in summary as well. This year, the NSDA has literally given you an entire extra minute of summary AND prep time. There is no excuse anymore.

   9. If you want to concede defense to kick out of turns on your case, or read your own defense on your own case to kick those turns (sketch, but I'm cool with it), you need to do it immediately after the opposing speech which made those turns.

   10. Second rebuttal MUST frontline turns, AT A MINIMUM. I think you should frontline defense as well, but I won't penalize you for not doing it. I like overviews, and don’t care if they’re in second rebuttal. Any overview read in first rebuttal MUST be answered in second rebuttal, otherwise it is conceded. You can allocate your time however you want-- I did 2-2 splits throughout my (very short) career, and it usually worked.

   11. Terminal defense extensions are good. Turns are better. You can drop your case at any point in the round and still have a shot, assuming you did it right.

   12. Anything in final focus must be in summary, except weighing (It doesn’t matter to me when you do it, as long as you do it because too many of you don't). Everyone needs to weigh. No one does. Please do. If not, you run the risk that the round becomes a messy stalemate (happens more often than you’d think), forcing me to intervene, and neither you nor I will appreciate the outcome of that.

   13. Weighing is more than saying buzzwords like probability, scope, magnitude, etc. You actually need to explain it. In fact, if you just get to the point and avoid saying those buzzwords (as in just say "Our impacts are more important because 1) we save 150 million people, while they only save 5 thousand, 2) We give you global benefits while they're restricted to China, 3) The chance of accessing X benefit is X% more likely to happen that nuclear war, which is almost possible today because of mutual deterrence"-- ALL WITHOUT SAYING THE WORDS "WE OUTWEIGH ON MAGNITUDE, SCOPE, AND PROBABILITY, BC ___") , I can guarantee you'll have extra time to warrant and even add some more weighing mechanisms, and maybe even some meta-weighing-- and then you'll be EXTREMELY likely to get my ballot, along with a FAT 30 :)).
   1. I realize that a lot of people won't be comfortable with this because it goes against everything ya'll were taught in debate camp and school and whatnot--- so I won't penalize you for it, meaning you COULD get a W30 without doing any of this-- it's just infinitely more likely that you'll fall back on buzzwords as a crutch and do 0 weighing, so be careful.

   14. I strongly prefer that teams collapse in summary/final focus on key issues. You can go line by line in summary if you want, but by the time you get to final focus, I think you should be collapsing on 1-2 voting issues in the round, and CRYSTALLIZING.

   15. Please have your evidence (preferably cut cards, but PDFs are ok if you paraphrase) available when your opponents call for it. As someone who debated with a very unreliable laptop and frequently used paywalled articles, I know sometime it takes some time to pull up evidence, so I'm slightly forgiving with this and will do my best to not be unfair. But try to not take it too far, because it's annoying, and if I'm on a panel, I can guarantee that I'll be one of the only ones who'll be nice about this.

   16. Misconstrued cards will be dropped from the round. If I catch you straight up lying/falsifying, you’ll be able to tell; my face (particularly my eyebrows) is very expressive when I’m angry. Suffice to say: you’ll get an L25, and you’ll know you did, well before I announce it, post it on tabroom, and loudly scold you.

   17. I don’t like jerks, but I love sass!. Please, by all means-- Be funny!!! (if you can haha) Tournaments are too depressing most of the time, for everyone, so ya'll might as well make this an entertaining experience for all of us.

   18. If you are being overtly offensive (as in racist, xenophobic, sexist, etc.), you will get an L25, period.

1. Please stop speaking so fast. I max out at 220 wpm. Past that, I'll only catch bits and pieces of it all, and that is not a good position for any of us.
2. *if you have me in any other debate event than PF or LD: I'm so sorry. I'm not gonna lie to you: this won't go well, and I apologize in advance.
3. Yes, put me on the email chain. krishna.shamanna2401@gmail.com
4. *For LDers: they've been sticking me in ya'll's rounds all year despite my objections, so I've reluctantly become somewhat mildly knowledgeable about how the event works, and can safely say that I won't be the absolute worst judge in this event, and should generally be able to follow along most substance. That said, please treat me like a flay judge, and ease up on the speed and the jargon, because if ya'll start spreading or feel the need to try some new-fangled progressive argumentation, I promise you that I will have no idea what's going on and will either default to the team I can comprehend or literally just flip a coin if I don't know what's going on for either of ya'll.
5. No longer relevant because COVID, but leaving it here for posterity: Bring me food and I'll give you a 30 (just you, not your partner, unless he/she/they brings me food too-- no freebies).

6. Some stuff abt me: I debated in PF for two years for Westwood High School, one of them on the national circuit where I achieved mild success. Now I'm a second year out. Here's what you rly need to know:

7. TLDR: Warrant, weigh, and don't be abusive. Tech>Truth, but don't be offensive and/or dumb. Yes, I disclose, and no, you don't have to.

   Long version:

   1. Yes, I intervene. 2 scenarios where it will happen: Either you're being incredibly offensive (sexist/racist/homophobic, etc.) in the round, or you lie about evidence. To clarify the first: I haven't seen many egregious examples of this type of conduct, but suffice to say: when you cross a line, I will drop you. I don't care if you won the flow-- if you actively contribute to making the debate space more exclusionary, I refuse to reward you for that with a W. To clarify the latter: It's one thing to marginally overstate the extent to which a card supports your contention. It's another thing entirely to cherrypick the part of a card that supports your argument, while ignoring the entire list of answers to your argument made in the next paragraph. In the overwhelming majority of cases, I will simply drop a piece of evidence if I find it to be misconstrued. But if your entire link chain is based on one card, and that card is a straight-up lie (at least the way you read it), I will drop the entire argument from my flow and refuse to evaluate it. I won't necessarily drop you for it, if you have some other source of offense that wins you the round, but you will be at a disadvantage from that point forth, and your speaker points will be dismal. This has happened exactly once so far in my time judging-- please do not be the second, whoever is reading this.
   2. I'm nice on speaker points now. Don't worry too much, just be respectful.

   3. I heavily dislike presumption/default votes, and expect you to not put me in that position. If you're confused about what this means, let me elaborate: A very disturbing situation is one in which I have to view two or more paths to the ballot that are both equally strong. Don't misunderstand-- this most often means you're doing something wrong. For example, if I have two ways to evaluate the round and I can literally flip a coin to figure out who gets the W because you frontline and extend completely separate arguments while doing 0 comparative weighing, I will consider factors such as quality of extensions, which scenario is more of an offensive argument to vote off of, etc. to make my decision. To clarify, this DOES NOT mean I will intervene to give the W to the team I like more in the round. It just means that the team does the better debating in a bad round should win the debate, rather than me reducing the ballot to the outcome of the coin flip-- ergo, no "presuming" anything.

   4. Speak fast if you want (mostly-- but if you're over 250 words per minute, we'll have trouble), as long as you’re clear, and your opponents don’t get spread out of the round (hint: if this is a potential issue, ask if they would like to establish a speed threshold). But if you wanna ignore this, just let me be clear about something: I. Am. An. Extremely. Lazy. Person. I try to intervene as little as possible in debate rounds, and that extends to your speaking. If I cannot understand you, I will not work to understand you-- I shouldn't be doing that anyways. It's your job as a debater to convince me of stuff, so do it right.

   5. CPs/Ks/Theory and progressive whatnot--- Please, don't do it unless there's no other option. There are some situations where it's unavoidable: If your opponents paraphrase like 100000 cards and spread to place a boatload of responses, leaving you with not nearly enough time to make responses and call for evidence and whatnot, sure, run theory about spreading, paraphrasing, or whatever-- but it has to be egregious abuse. And even then, please dumb it down rather reading a shell. This event was designed to be a form of debate accessible to everyone, and I believe these types of arguments, while sometimes necessary, undermine that purpose. Not only do I doubt I can evaluate them correctly, but I'm frankly tired of seeing teams (you know who you are) from big schools with multiple coaches that are flown out every other weekend, go into round and spread theory shells against small-school teams (from predominantly local, lay circuits) about how small schools are supposedly harmed by non-disclosure or paraphrasing (this means I almost never evaluate disclosure theory).

   6. Paraphrasing- I don't understand why people are so uptight about this in PF. Reading direct quotes doesn't mean you can't misrepresent what the evidence says, so the logic behind the "no paraphrasing" requirements that many judges/coaches set doesn't really make sense to me. Again, this event is designed to be accessible to everyone-- in some cases, that necessitates paraphrasing evidence in order to articulate your arguments in the clearest way possible. But independent of that, I think it's important to realize that with the time limits being what they are in this event, sometimes paraphrasing is the only way that you can have enough time to make an argument at a deeper level and really provide a complete narrative for the judge to evaluate. So please, paraphrase if you want, and don't read theory against it unless there's actually an egregious case of misrepresentation that changed the coarse of the whole round.

   7. I shouldn’t have to say this but: Claims/Statistics need warrants before they can be evaluated as arguments, and this applies to all offense and defense in the round. If you extend an impact without extending the warrant (or vice-versa), I count it as dropped-- not weighable. Extending an argument, ESPECIALLY with the new extra minute of summary, should be done cleanly, with everything important mentioned in both summary and final focus. If neither team does this, I won't be happy.

   8. First summary is no longer allowed to skip extending terminal defense. If you're gonna extend it in final focus, I want it in summary as well. This year, the NSDA has literally given you an entire extra minute of summary AND prep time. There is no excuse anymore.

   9. If you want to concede defense to kick out of turns on your case, or read your own defense on your own case to kick those turns (sketch, but I'm cool with it), you need to do it immediately after the opposing speech which made those turns.

   10. Second rebuttal MUST frontline turns, AT A MINIMUM. I think you should frontline defense as well, but I won't penalize you for not doing it. I like overviews, and don’t care if they’re in second rebuttal. Any overview read in first rebuttal MUST be answered in second rebuttal, otherwise it is conceded. You can allocate your time however you want-- I did 2-2 splits throughout my (very short) career, and it usually worked.

   11. Terminal defense extensions are good. Turns are better. You can drop your case at any point in the round and still have a shot, assuming you did it right.

   12. Anything in final focus must be in summary, except weighing (It doesn’t matter to me when you do it, as long as you do it because too many of you don't). Everyone needs to weigh. No one does. Please do. If not, you run the risk that the round becomes a messy stalemate (happens more often than you’d think), forcing me to intervene, and neither you nor I will appreciate the outcome of that.

   13. Weighing is more than saying buzzwords like probability, scope, magnitude, etc. You actually need to explain it. In fact, if you just get to the point and avoid saying those buzzwords (as in just say "Our impacts are more important because 1) we save 150 million people, while they only save 5 thousand, 2) We give you global benefits while they're restricted to China, 3) The chance of accessing X benefit is X% more likely to happen that nuclear war, which is almost possible today because of mutual deterrence"-- ALL WITHOUT SAYING THE WORDS "WE OUTWEIGH ON MAGNITUDE, SCOPE, AND PROBABILITY, BC ___") , I can guarantee you'll have extra time to warrant and even add some more weighing mechanisms, and maybe even some meta-weighing-- and then you'll be EXTREMELY likely to get my ballot, along with a FAT 30 :)).
   1. I realize that a lot of people won't be comfortable with this because it goes against everything ya'll were taught in debate camp and school and whatnot--- so I won't penalize you for it, meaning you COULD get a W30 without doing any of this-- it's just infinitely more likely that you'll fall back on buzzwords as a crutch and do 0 weighing, so be careful.

   14. I strongly prefer that teams collapse in summary/final focus on key issues. You can go line by line in summary if you want, but by the time you get to final focus, I think you should be collapsing on 1-2 voting issues in the round, and CRYSTALLIZING.

   15. Please have your evidence (preferably cut cards, but PDFs are ok if you paraphrase) available when your opponents call for it. As someone who debated with a very unreliable laptop and frequently used paywalled articles, I know sometime it takes some time to pull up evidence, so I'm slightly forgiving with this and will do my best to not be unfair. But try to not take it too far, because it's annoying, and if I'm on a panel, I can guarantee that I'll be one of the only ones who'll be nice about this.

   16. Misconstrued cards will be dropped from the round. If I catch you straight up lying/falsifying, you’ll be able to tell; my face (particularly my eyebrows) is very expressive when I’m angry. Suffice to say: you’ll get an L25, and you’ll know you did, well before I announce it, post it on tabroom, and loudly scold you.

   17. I don’t like jerks, but I love sass!. Please, by all means-- Be funny!!! (if you can haha) Tournaments are too depressing most of the time, for everyone, so ya'll might as well make this an entertaining experience for all of us.

   18. If you are being overtly offensive (as in racist, xenophobic, sexist, etc.), you will get an L25, period.

I am a parent judge so please do not speak very fast. I hope to hear logically based arguments so I can understand them better and evaluate the round correctly.

Constructive: Please have clearly explained links and contentions.

Rebuttal: Try for responses against most of the topics in each case and explain them.

Summary: Big picture arguments and weighing

Final Focus: Why I should vote for you

Please be very clear on what I should vote off of in your speeches.

For debate: I am mostly lay, please speak at a slower speed and speak clearly.

For speech: I am lay. Enunciation and confidant delivery is what I am generally looking for. If you are competing in a binder/interpretation event, knowing your piece well is a good place to start. If you are in extemporaneous event, speak slower. As stated from before, confidant delivery and good word economy is what I mostly judge off of.

St. John's 20 // Stanford 25

Pronouns: he/him/his

Debated on the Texas circuit (PF) for four years and on the national circuit for one.

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Your safety is more important to me than a debate round. What this means is:

- I will NOT tolerate sexist/racist/homophobic/etc behavior from debaters. I’ll drop you if you try it. I think that most debaters are good people, so unless you’re a real piece of work, you shouldn’t worry about this. Just be respectful.

- Sensitive arguments require a content warning. Ask everyone in the round if they are comfortable with the argument you are reading. If anyone’s uncomfortable, don’t read the argument. No means no.

- If you ever feel unsafe, don’t hesitate to let me know. I will try my best to accommodate.

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General PF notes:

- Your warranting matters more than your evidence. Make sure you warrant your case/responses/blocks. The more you warrant, the more I'll enjoy judging you.

- Speed - I can normally handle speed; however, speaking really fast during an online tournament is not the move tbh.

- I’m tech over truth? I say this hesitantly because I don’t think this should give debaters free rein to run absurdly false arguments; if we all know that the arg’s untrue and the opponents just provide a warrant as to why it’s untrue, that’ll count as defense for me. That being said, I’ll buy your arg if it’s not responded to.

- I’m a sucker for narrative-style debates. In my opinion, it makes framing, extensions, and weighing a lot easier. I still require full link-warrant-impact extensions, but if I understand the argument as a part of a bigger picture, I’m more inclined to vote on it. Plus, I prefer these debates over the usual blippy extension of a poverty impact versus the probability weighing of a war link that always seems to happen in PF.

- I give more credence to weighing the earlier it’s done in the debate. Weigh early! :P

My beliefs on “progressive” debate norms:

Fundamentally, I want the debate space to be accessible to everyone. I think that progressive debate has the potential to work towards and against this goal. With that said...

- I’d prefer for progressive arguments to be read against opponents that can actually engage with it. Running prog args against novices is not the most educational, and it’s a great way for you to get a low-point win at best. Don’t use prog args to exclude your opponents from the round or I will be very sad.

- I will evaluate theory because I think it can be good for checking back abuses in round and for advancing better norms. Theory args need to be extended in every speech or else I’m not voting off of it. I’d prefer if you read a shell (A is the interp, B is the violation, etc) but paragraph theory is fine too. Please implicate the theory args for me. I need to know why, for example, disclosure is important for debate. On that note…

Common sense stuff:

o I default to util framing. Alternative framing should be warranted.

o You should frontline in second rebuttal.

o First summary should extend defense.

o Summary and FF should mirror each other.

o Voters are cool!

o Use your FF as if you were writing the RFD for me!

This bio was largely borrowed from the lovely and incredible Sylvia Duarte:)