Hi!! I did pf for 4 years.

Just do comparative weighing and you’ll win my ballot. I don’t really like theory/Ks. Have fun and be nice! :))

I have 3 years of PF experience, but it has been a few years. Going fast is fine, do not spread.

I will be flowing most rounds, but if there are specific cards you want me to write down, please mention it.

Framework is important. I will be judging based off framework in almost all circumstances.

I do not judge based off of nor do I flow crossfire, bring it up again in a speech if you wish me to consider it.

Weigh!!

All of your weighing points should be in your final focus (not to say they can't be elsewhere). Tell me why you are winning here, but do not bring up points that have been dropped. It is a final focus not a second rebuttal.

Signposting and explaining the type of argument you are about to read is EXTREMELY important. Of course your arguments are the meat but if it's not packaged properly it all falls apart.

I'm happy to give personal feedback if time allows, let me know after verbal RFD and I'll try to type something up for you in the team slots :)

Feel free to ask any other questions before the round, I only emphasized a few key points here.

Hi! I debated PF for four years at Hunter College High School. I am doing APDA in college right now. I can generally flow speed.

February topic: Their evidence is not specific to West Africa is NOT a response. I will not flow it.
Please please please do not use weighing mechanisms like "strength of link" and "clarity of evidence."
Avoid evidence debates.
I don't care about cards too much! Have warrants and weigh!
I don't know too much about theory but I will flow it/try to understand it.
Read content warnings if you're going to read something potentially triggering. If you are unsure, ask anyway!

Don't be rude, sexist, racist etc. If you are offensive, I will drop you.

Have fun!

I am a parent judge who has judge previous national tournaments. If you spread then I will doc points, I have to be able to understand your arguments. The most important thing in round is clear and concise arguments, with good weighing in final focus. I do pay attention in cross-fire and factor it into my decision. I do not tolerate any racism, or trigger warnings. Any signs of that against your competitors and you automatically lose. Finally, this is supposed to be fun, so enjoy your time.

Also, any reference to the Simpson's earns you extra point Duh!!!!

Hi there! I debated PF for Harker for 4 years and currently am a junior at Columbia.

1) I'd prefer if you speak slowly, but I'm ok with some speed if you enunciate well. That said, spreading in PF decreases the format's accessibility to lay judges and novice debaters in my opinion.

2) Please understand (or at least make me think you understand) your warrants. I will almost never call for evidence unless there's blatant abuse/misuse of it; it's your responsibility to effectively weigh your warrants.

3) I don't flow cross-x, but I'll listen to it (and hopefully be entertained).

4) Signpost! Tell me where you are going down the flow.

5) I have a very rudimentary understanding of theory, but if you run it you must be explicit in how I should evaluate it.

6) Weigh your arguments in summary/FF (heck, you can even start in rebuttal sometimes). Don't just repeat the warrants of offensive arguments; tell me why your arguments (or their warrants/link-chains) outweigh the opponents' on timeframe, probability, magnitude, etc. In final focus, extend necessary defense and give me your offensive voters/weigh them.

Have fun, and feel free to ask me any questions you have before/after round!

did pf, will flow, make a joke pls <3

pls extend defense in first summary, frontline in second rebuttal so first summ isnt useless

no theory but progressive weighing is cool (also quite strategic tbh)

i really think all impacts are exaggerated in PF so please engage more with qualitative weighing rather than "my number is bigger" -- I am more compelled by why i should care about domestic lives than international, for example, than how many lives are saved by either team

don't believe in low speak wins-- they are lowkey problematic

ask me about bp debate and ill bump ur speaks hehe

alec.j.boulton.molero@vanderbilt.edu

My name is Alec, you can call me that and not "judge" <3

-General-

Tech > truth, "tabula rasa" whatever.

Make these rounds interesting. Debate is a game, have fun with it!

Postround.

Cool with anyone speaking in cross.

Ignore my facial expressions.

If you think something is missing from my paradigm, ask me before round or make an argument in round for why I should follow a certain rule when judging. You can also ask me paradigm questions in-round, but I won't give answers that will advantage one team.

Give me real extensions. "Extend our argument" is not an extension. "Extend Cortez who says M4A grows the economy" isn't one either. I also don't care for the card name. I need warrants.

Be quick with evidence or read off cards/send card docs, I'll hard dock speaks.

-Traditional-

Second rebuttal doesn't need to frontline defense, just offense (including implications and weighing).

Weigh. "We outweigh on probability because [insert a response you forgot to read]" is not weighing. If an argument is won, the probability is high. Clear up mess, I'm not voting on unarticulated implications. Scrap weighing categories like "time frame" and "magnitude," just tell me why your offense is more important.

Terminalize your impacts. "20% GDP" isn't an impact.

-Progressive-

I increasingly feel the need to specify that I have a bar for warranting in progressive debate: understand what you're saying. Don't assume I'll vote on your shortcuts. Nothing to be scared of, if you think you'd normally be fine you shouldn't need to change your debating. Anything is fine, just be clear with offs and actually make warrants.Think through what you're doing and try to explain your position to me as though the goal was to fully get me to understand your argument.

If the other team didn't explicitly agree to have a prog debate and they make any abuse claim, I'll drop you. The exception is in-round violations that require theory, but in that case at least be clear pre-speech about what you want to do.

Speech by speech responses are fine, extensions start in summary.

Paraphrase and don't disclose if you want. An absurd amount of judges are incredibly bias and basically auto-drop teams that don't paraphrase or disclose as long as any half-written interp is read. I'll judge those debates.

-Evidence-

I'll call for evidence that I think is important or if I am told to call for it. If you have terrible evidence ethics, I'll call you out, drop the evidence from the flow, and prob take speaks off depending on how bad the evidence is.

If you don't give the warrant in the round, I don't care how good the evidence is.

You don't need evidence for everything. The "arguments start with research and evidence" coach/judge mentality strangles creativity and free thought. If you have a logical claim, back it up with logic. Be careful with what you may think is "logical," you might not see the hole in your chain, and that's part of why you are debating. If something requires evidence (pointing out quantifiable changes for example), then evidence is needed. If one side has evidence and the other has bad logic, then the evidence will be weighed heavily. Trust yourself. Evidence is very nice, and research is important, but don't let it be the cage of your mind.

-Speaks-

If you care about this (which you should!!!), here are some things you can do to up your speaks:

- dap up your opponents (sportsmanship!)

- be nice (or really just don't benot nice)

- don't steal prep time, it's always obvious

- have your evidence ready

- play fair

- literally just don't give me a reason to drop your speaks. I'm not trying to give out 30s, but I like giving higher-end speaks when I see genuine debating and real attempts to engage with this activity :)

I coach withDebateDrills- the following URL has our roster, MJP conflict policy,code of conduct, relevant team policies, and harassment/bullying complaint form:https://www.debatedrills.com/club-team-policies/lincoln-douglas-team-policy

Please ask in-round if interested, happy to answer any questions! :)

I am a parent judge.

Please speak relatively slowly and clearly. I will be looking for the most convincing argument. I'd rather hear fewer well-made points than multiple partially made points. I also expect everyone to be kind even while disagreeing.

Ask me questions if needed.

Thanks.

I judge primarily on the flow. If you're talking too fast that I can't write your arguments down, or if you are not properly sign posting to where I should write that argument, I might not be able to vote on it. Please be explicitly clear. Don't be pompous and disrespectful or you will lose points and will make a very bad impression. The collegial spirit of academic debate is paramount. Off-time roadmaps always appreciated.

Good luck!

For email chains/evidence exchange: chancey.asher@gmail.com

I am a lay parent judge. I am looking at Contentions, Rebuttals, Extend, Impact, Weighing. Also, I am looking at your links - if you are trying to link to an impact of 8 billion lives lost because whatever this debate is about will lead to global thermonuclear war and the end of humanity, I PROBABLY won't buy it.

What is your impact, and why is it greater than your opponent's impact?

I also love clean rounds. I start to lose focus when a round gets bogged down in technical disputes.

Rapid speaking and excessive technical language may hinder your performance. It's acceptable to speak quickly as long as you remain clear. But if speed affects your clarity, it's better to slow down.

I won't share my decision post-round to ensure the tournament progresses smoothly and to uphold fairness in all debates. The decision will solely be reflected in the ballot.

Parent Judge

Public Forum Paradigm

I place a lot of importance on critical analysis, reasoning/rhetoric, and wit. Please do not card dump and or misrepresent your statistics.

Speech and Crossfire: Please focus on the main arguments from both sides and argue about the same things rather than drift to various subtopics.

Intervention: I do not intervene in debates. However, I do look at the sources when calling cards just in case the cards do not exist or the cards are questionable.

Summary: Please note that any new arguments in summary will result in decreased speaker points out of fairness to the other team.

Comments and Feedback: I do not give immediate remarks right after the round. I need time to make decisions.

Time: Please follow the rules and do your best within the allowed time frame.

Have fun!

Lexington High School 2020/Northwestern 2024

For 2024: I haven't judged in a while so I am rather rusty and I certainly don't have any topic knowledge at this point

Before the round starts, please put me on email chain: victorchen45678@gmail.com(no pocket box, and flashing is ok with no wifi)

Scroll down for PF/LD paradigm

Policy:

TLDR: tech over the truth but to a degree. (no sexist, racist, other offensive arguments) You do you, and I'll try to be as objective as possible. Aff should relate to the topic and debate is a game. Just make sure in the final rebuttal speech you impact out arguments, explain to me why those arguments you are winning implicate the whole round.

2022 season: I have absolutely no topic knowledge on this year's topic so expect me to know nothing and make sure you explain the stuff in a very detailed yet not convoluted manner.

The long paragraphs below are my general ideas about the debate

Top Level Stuff

1. Evidence -- I believe debate is a communicative activity, thus I put more emphasis on your analytical arguments than your cards. That being said, I do love good evidence and enjoy reading them. I think one good warranted card is better than three mediocre ones. I am cool with teams reading new cards in all the rebuttal speeches. A good 1AR should read more than 3 cards and don't be afraid to read cards in the 2NR. I believe that at least one speech in the block should be pretty card heavy, otherwise it makes the 1AR a lot easier. I will read the tags during rounds for the most part and read the text usually after rounds, but I won't do the extensive analysis for you because you should have already done that in the round.

2. Cross X is incredibly important to me and I flow them---I find it extremely frustrating when the 2N gets somewhere in 1ac cx, and then the 1N doesn't bring it up in the 1NC. Winning CX changes entire debate both from a perceptual level and substance level. Use the 3 minutes wisely, and don't ask too many clarification questions. You can do that during prep.

3. Be nice -- Obviously be assertive and control the narrative of the debate round, but there's no reason to make the other team hate the activity or you in the process. I am cool with open cross x but you should try to let your partner answer the questions unless they are going to mess up.

4. Tech over truth, but to a degree- If an argument is truly bad, then beat it. Otherwise, I have to intervene a ton, and I prefer to leave the debating to the debaters. However, I'm extremely lenient when one team reads a ton of blippy, unwarranted, and unclear args( quality over quantity). The only real intervention is when I draw the line on new args, but you should still make them and somehow convince they aren't new.

5. Pay attention to how I react in-round --I will make my opinion of an argument obvious

6. Make 1AR as difficult as possible. I know a lot of 2Ns want to win the round by the end of the block. However, that doesn't mean you should just extend a bunch offs terribly. In response, the 1AR should make the 2NR difficult- reading cards and turning arguments.

7. Please please have debates on case. I understand neg teams like to get invested in the offs, but case debate is precious. A lot of the aff i have seen are terribly put together, especially at the Internal Link level. Even if you don't have evidences, making some analytical arguments on why the plan doesn't solve goes a long way for you. I vote on zero probability of aff's ability to solve so even when you go for a CP, you should still go to case so I would have to vote you all down twice to vote aff.

8. Impact/Link Turns-- love them; i don't care how stupid the impact is(wipeout, malthus, bees etc), as long as you read ev and the other side doesn't argue it well, I will vote for you. As for link turn, I don't really need a carded ev for that, just nuanced analytic is sufficient for me to buy them.

9. Be funny-debate is stressful and try to light up the mood. Love a few jokes here and there, but since I am someone not invested in pop culture too much, some of the references I probably wouldn't get. If you do it well, your speaker point will reflect it.

10. Speaks- I am very lenient on speaks. I just ask you to slow down on the tags and author name and any analytical args but feel free to spread through the text of the card. I love any patho moments in the final rebuttal speeches on both sides. Here are how I give speaks

29.7-30: A debate worth getting recorded and be shared with my novices.

29.3-29.6: You are an excellent debater and executed everything right

28.7-29.2: You are giving pretty good speeches and smart analytics

28.5-28.6: You are an average debater and going through the process. I begin the round with that number and either go up or down.

28.0-28.4: You are making a few of the fundamental mistakes in your speeches or speaking unclearly.

27.0-27.9: You are making a lot of fundamental mistakes and you are speaking very unclearly

<27.0: You are rude ie being mean to your partner, opponents, or me (hope not).

Clipping card results in automatic 0 speaks and a loss, but I won't intervene the round for you, you have to call out your opponents yourself. If one team accuses the other team for clipping, I will stop the round and ask the team if they are willing to stake the round on that. If the team says yes I will walk out with the recording provided by that team and decide if the cheating has happened or not. A false accusation results in an automatic loss of the team that got it wrong. Spakes will be given accordingly.

Now on arguments

DAs

Yes, love them(Idk if there is anyone who doesn't like a good DA debate) -- go through their ev in the rebuttals; this is where i would like a team to read A LOT of evidence on the important stuff. You can blow off their dumb args, especially the links.

Zero Risk is very much a thing and I will vote on it.

If the 1ar or 2ar does a bad job answering turns case and the 2nr is great on it, it makes the DA way more persuasive -- and a good case debate would greatly benefit you as well.

Politics is OK -- fiat solves link, da non-intrinsic are arguments that I will evaluate only if the other team doesn't respond to them at all. However, I do want to see good ev on why the plan trades off with the DA.

I think it's best to have a CP and DAs together because there are just a lot more options at that point. If you really wanna just go for the DA, you need to have a heavy case debate up to that point for me to really evaluate the status quo since most of the aff are built to mitigate the status quo.

CPs and theory

I dislike process CPs-- I really don't like these debates -- I've been a 2n as well as a 2a, but I will side with the aff - this goes for domestic process like commissions as well as intermediary and conditional that lurk in your team's backfile. However, I have a soft spot for consult CP (my first neg argument). Just make sure you do a great job on the DA.

States, international, multi-plank, multi-actor, pics, CPs without solvency advocates are all good -- i'll be tech over my predispositions, but if left to my own devices, I would probably side with aff also

Condo -- all depends on the debating -- I think there could be as many condo as possible. but I also believe zero condo could be won. Still, my general opinion is that conditionality is good and aff teams should only go for them as a last resort.

I will read the solvency evidence on both sides. Solvency deficits should be well explained, why the solvency deficit impact outweighs the DA.

I don't like big multi-plank CPs, but run it as you like and kicking planks is fine

Judge kick unless the 2AR tells me otherwise.

Ks

I have some decent knowledge with a lot of the high theory Ks, but I am probably most well versed in psychoanalysis. That being said, I do want you to explain to me the story of the k and how it the contextualizes with the aff well in the block. Don't just spill out jargons and assume i will do the work for you. A good flow is important. What happens with alot of K debates is that at some point the negative team just give up on with ordering and it's harder for me to know where to put things. Any overview longer than 3 minutes is probably not a good idea but if that's your style, go for it, just make sure you organize them in an easy to flow manner. I probably will do the work for you when u said you have answered the args somewhere up top, but i would prefer the line by line and your speaker point will reflect how well you did on that.

FW should be a big investment of time and I think it's strategic to do so. That being said, you have to clearly explain why the aff's pedagogy is problematic and the impacts of that.

I am meh with generic links, just make sure you articulate them well. That being said, most of these links probably get shielded by the permutation.

Alt debate is not that important to me. I don't believe a K has to have an alt by the 2nr. I go for linear DA a lot, but make sure you do impact calc in the 2nr that explains why the K impact outweighs the aff. For the alt, I would like the aff to read more than just their cede the political block, make better-nuanced args.

Planless affs

I am probably not the best judge for these kinds of aff but I will evaluate them as objectively as possible

Framework:

The aff should defend the hypothetical implementation of a topical plan. At the very least, the aff has to have some relationship to the topic. I want the offense to be articulated well because many times I get confused by the offenses of these affs. I think fairness is absolutely an impact as well as an I/L. I default to debate is a game and it's gonna be hard to convince me otherwise.

I think the ballot ultimately just decides a win and a loss, but I can be convinced that there are extra significances and values to it. That being said, I have seen a lot of k aff with impacts that the ballot clearly can not address.

T

Not a big fan of these debates and never have been good at it.

From Seth Gannon's paradigm:

"Ironically, many of the arguments that promise a simpler route to victory — theory, T — pay lip service to “specific, substantive clash” and ask me to disqualify the other team for avoiding it. Yet when you go for theory or T, you have cancelled this opportunity for an interesting substantive debate and are asking me to validate your decision. That carries a burden of proof unlike debating the merits. As Justice Jackson might put it, this is when my authority to intervene against you is at its maximum."

On this topic specifically, I dislike effect Ts

These debates are boring to me and I will side with the aff if they are anyway close to being Topical, and that's usually how I have voted.

Reasonability = yes

LD:

I feel like most of the policy stuff should apply here. I never debated LD but I have judged quite a bit and I almost always see it as a mini Policy round.

PF:

I am more tech than truth, but I will absolutely check on evidence quality to make sure your warrants indeed support your claims. Feel free to run whatever arguments and I am willing to vote on any level of impact as long as good impact calc and weighing is done. If you have strong evidence you shouldn’t worry. I will not evaluate anything that’s not in summary by the final focus. And also please don’t stop prep to ask for another card. Ask for all the cards you want in the beginning and you will see plus on your speaks.

I'm a parent judge without real debating experience myself :-)

I don't mind your speaking speed but please be clear. My flow skill is not there yet but I do try.

I pay a lot of attention to good arguments (plus for your side) and effective rebuttals (minus for your opponent). Your summary and final focus just need to bring up those plus and minus points.

Your insightful and innovative arguments, if you can back them up well with clear logic and/or credible sources, will be appreciated. I consider judging a learning experience and enjoy it very much.

Please be respectful to your opponents as I don't favor aggressive behavior.

Good luck to both teams!

I am a parent judge and this is my 6th year judging. I take notes but I do not really "flow".

Things I like to see:

Weighing (tell me why your impact is more important than theirs)

Reasoning as to why something is

Telling me why I should vote for you (clear up clash)

Telling me where you are on the flow in rebuttal

Collapsing in the round is preferred but not required

Things I don't like to see:

Speed

Bringing up new things in 2nd final focus

Being rude to the opponents

Using debate jargon

TLDR: Signpost. Warrant everything. Don't counter-assert. Don't bring up new things in second summary, new things are allowed in first summary if they are responses to second rebuttal. Summary is for re-establishing warrants and choosing your 1 or 2 lines of offense. Give me voters in summary, and signpost under them. Final focus is for impacts and weighing - your warrants should already be established at this point, do some defense if you have to. Weigh in final focus and give me voters or some other structure. If you don't weigh, and both teams have impacts, I have to intervene in judging. Don't be rude or degrading, but be snarky if you want to. I will give you the lowest speaks possible if you (intentionally) speak over, personally attack, etc. people in the round. Say something bigoted and your chance of being auto-dropped explodes. If you're a decent human in round, you'll get a 28-30. If you reference Avatar: The Last Airbender or you're do a great job, and you're a decent person, you get a 30. You don't need to ask if you can have a question in CX with me judging, just ask the question. I'm fine with speed, but actually spread and I'll auto-drop - PF literally has no reason for spreading since you aren't reading massive cards. Feel free to make intuitive arguments based in background knowledge and/or logic - if it makes sense, I don't care if it has evidence. If you're confused about any of this, find the appropriate section below. If you're still confused, ask me before the round starts.

Argumentation

Above all, signpost. If I can't follow your speeches I can't flow them and then there's quite literally less of a reason for me to vote for you. If off-time road maps help you do that, go ahead.

Warrant everything - by warrant I mean that you need to explain the link in logical terms, not just throw around card citations and/or taglines. You do not need to re-warrant in any speech if the argument is clean (i.e. the other team dropped it completely), with the exception of summary. You do need to clean up the warranting if the other team responded to the argument in a non-responsive manner/randomly threw a card at it and didn't actually warrant their response. Cleaning up just means clarifying why the other team was non-responsive or didn't engage with the argument on a warrant level.

If you spend the entire round without your side saying anything of substance, I will not vote for you. You need warrants, you need impacts, and you need weighing. I am not going to vote for you just because you spoke well.

Tell me an opponent's argument (legitimately) isn't warranted and I will not weigh it (I will flow it for feedback purposes).

Make sure you are not just counter-asserting. If Aff says blue is the best color, and Neg responds by saying green is the best color, both teams are just counter-asserting and I have no way to determine which argument to buy because neither is warranted and neither is weighed against the other. Aff or Neg would have to say why blue or green is the best color, and then I would buy that over the other team's unwarranted assertion. If both teams warrant a point of clash, the final two/four speeches need to either break the other team's warrant or weigh why their warrant is more important or believable, or any other way to short-circuit/weigh that you can think of.

Back-half Speeches: The team speaking first is welcome to respond to the second speaking team's rebuttal in summary. The team speaking second is not welcome to respond to team one's summary unless team one gave a new argument there. No new arguments in FF or in second summary otherwise, and please call them out in your own speeches (i.e. "This response was new, drop it, don't let them do that, it's abusive because of the time skew"). I will also do my best to weed out new arguments from second FF since there is no ability to respond to that.

All of the above about summary and new content applies to FF in the terms that FF can only contain content from summary (sticky defense is allowed, though, just make sure you're not adding anything new to it). I will do my best to weed out non-summary content as well.

Please actually collapse in summary. Do not just repeat arguments; summary is for re-establishing warrants and for picking one or two voting issues to collapse the round into (these are usually the points of clash). Miscellaneous defense is also fine, just keep things organized and actually collapse.

Please actually weigh in FF. Tell me why your impacts matter, and why they matter more than the other team's. Tell me why your warrants matter more. Actually listen to the summary and follow the collapse your partner gives, and use that to make sure your FF is organized and I can follow it.

CX

I love CX done right, and I think it's a great part of debate. I probably won't flow it unless there's some comment I am making in the feedback section, and I won't vote on anything in CX (no one should vote on arguments in CX). Ask questions that make the other team uncomfortable, put them in a double bind, back them into a corner. CX is for out-maneuvering and making your opponent look bad.

Evidence

I do not care as much about evidence as I do about arguments having actual logic and explanations behind them. That being said, I do expect in-case arguments to have evidence, as this is the PF standard, and I do expect evidence to be given truthfully. Do not purposefully misconstrue things, do not make up evidence, and do not lie to me about the other team's evidence. I can look at cards after the round if either team wants me to and/or I feel it is necessary, but I'd prefer if the round didn't come down to evidence unless it's an issue with lying/misrepresentation. When a round comes down to evidence, neither team has actually won, one team just happened to have the right card.

I won't take prep off for getting cards ready for the other team, but you do need to take prep to read cards.

Also, please don't cite ridiculous sources. I'd rather you logically support the argument than you cite Buzzfeed or Breitbart.

Speaks/Behavior

I will not dock speaks or a ballot because you are assertive. As long as you aren't using ad hominem attacks or being otherwise cruel or discriminatory, you're fine. I will not see you being assertive as being aggressive, and I do not expect you to be warm and cuddly in your speeches or CX if that's not your style. I know what it's like to be spoken over in debate and I don't want that to happen to you.

If you are being aggressive, I will dock your speaks, even if and especially if that person is your own partner. "Being aggressive" in this context means you are speaking over people/making derisive comments toward the person in CX or in speeches/not allowing them questions in CX/etc. Just be decent, allow everyone to participate, and don't push people around, and there won't be any issues. Literally just be neutral figure behavior-wise at worst and I won't dock speaks.

Do not be afraid to make arguments that seem like you're kicking the other team while they're down. Twist the knife. Make your side seem as good as possible, make their arguments seem like they've gone through an industrial shredder.

I think speaks overall are a subjective, biased, and usually discriminatory practice. I'll give you really high speaks unless you are personally attacking people in the round, saying bigoted things, or I cannot understand you at all. If I can't understand you at all, I'll still give you relatively good speaks. If you are attacking people or being a bigot, you will get the lowest possible speaks.

I'm fine with speed, just don't outright spread. Spreading in PF is not necessary and it is usually, if not always, a blatant equity issue when it is done.

Content warn your arguments, especially on topics that tend toward violence, mental health impacts, etc.

Please give your pronouns and preferred names at the beginning of the round if you are comfortable. I'll do my best to respect them in the ballot and if the teams/speakers want feedback after the round.

If you have any other questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to answer them. I promise I don't take debate as seriously as it probably sounds, I just want to see a good, clean round, and college debate has raised my standards by miles.

email: seungjohcho@gmail.com

PF paradigm:

I did PF for 4 years, and I did Big Questions for a few weeks at L C Anderson High School. I won both NSDA Nats and TFA State.

Just do whatever you planned on doing. Spreading is fine as long as you are clear. If you aren't good at spreading, first of all, you really shouldn't be doing it in PF, but if you really need to and you know you are bad at it, save yourself the L and flash me the doc you are reading. I value "tech over truth", in the sense that I will vote purely based on the ink on the flow, and I am willing to buy arguments that may not be true at all in the real world, as long as they were well articulated on the flow.

I don't flow cross fires at all, so unless you have an audience to please, I'd say just chill out a bit on cross fires. They won't really affect my decision. Also yes, I realize I was an aggressive debater myself, but if you're straight up being rude, I will dock speaks, which you really don't want from me because I generally give good speaks, so getting bad speaks from me will make you look even worse.

Make sure you weigh and you explain to me why you think you won the round by Final Focus, as I do not want to have to do that for you, especially on topics where I probably don't have any prior topic knowledge.

I will call for cards that you have asked me to call for, or cards that seem sketchy that are central to the round. In most cases, however, I will default to whatever the debaters tell me their cards say, so make sure you stay on top of that.

You do not have to extend defense if it is dropped. If it is addressed, however, I will obviously expect you to address it in speech if you are going for it.

Make sure you are sign posting.

Also please let me know where on the flow you will be starting your speech so that I can start flowing it well.

If you read frivolous theory, keep in mind that I probably will not weigh it unless it is completely dropped/inadequately responded to. I am also not a fan of disclosure theory in PF. That is not to say I won't evaluate it by default, but also run at your own risk.

And finally, everything you want me to vote on should be extended all the way to final focus. Even if it was dropped, if you do not extend it in final focus, I will not default you the win on an argument.

If you have any other questions for me, feel free to ask before the round!

LD Paradigm:

Read PF paradigm, should give you a sense of my debate background maybe how you should adapt.

Plans, CPs are all totally fine

Theory, Ks, more tech arguments are all good with me. Just do whatever you planned on doing.

Spreading is totally fine.

I made it to UIL LD State once, so post-round me as hard as you want, as long as it is educational.

Typical lay judge, make sure you go slowly and explain your arguments. Do not use debate jargon. Don't take a long time to find evidence, will probably find it annoying / lose interest. However, I am very receptive to theory argument and kritiks, so please feel free to run them around me!

(P.S. The theory and kritik thing is just a joke, please do not run it in front of me, I probably won't buy it.)

EMAIL: jcohen1964@gmail.com

I judge Public Forum Debate 95% of the time. I occasionally judge LD and even more occasionally, Policy.

A few items to share with you:

(1) I can flow *somewhat* faster than conversational speed. As you speed up, my comprehension declines.

(2) I may not be familiar with the topic's arguments. Shorthand references could leave me in the dust. For example, "On the economy, I have three responses..." could confuse me. It's better to say, "Where my opponents argue that right to work kills incomes and sinks the economy, I have three responses...". I realize it's not as efficient, but it will help keep me on the same page you are on.

(3) I miss most evidence tags. So, "Pull through Smith in 17..." probably won't mean much to me. Reminding me of what the evidence demonstrated works better (e.g. "Pull through the Smith study showing that unions hurt productivity").

(4) In the interest of keeping the round moving along, please be selective about asking for your opponent's evidence. If you ask for lots of evidence and then I hear little about it in subsequent speeches, it's a not a great use of time. If you believe your opponent has misconstrued many pieces of evidence, focus on the evidence that is most crucial to their case (you win by undermining their overall position, not by showing they made lots of mistakes).

(5) I put a premium on credible links. Big impacts don't make up for links that are not credible.

(6) I am skeptical of "rules" you might impose on your opponent (in contrast to rules imposed by the tournament in writing) - e.g., paraphrasing is never allowed and is grounds for losing the round. On the other hand, it's fine and even desirable to point out that your opponent has not presented enough of a specific piece of evidence for its fair evaluation, and then to explain why that loss of credibility undermines your opponent's position. That sort of point may be particularly relevant if the evidence is technical in nature (e.g., your opponent paraphrases the findings of a statistical study and those findings may be more nuanced than their paraphrasing suggests).

(7) I am skeptical of arguments suggesting that debate is an invalid activity, or the like, and hence that one side or the other should automatically win. If you have an argument that links into your opponent's specific position, please articulate that point. I hope to hear about the resolution we have been invited to debate.

I have a couple simple principles I like to stick to:

- The best arguments are those that could be made in a regular conversation. Contorting logic and evidence to access preposterous or superior impacts -- i.e. making "debater" arguments -- is usually very obvious and won't work well with me.

-I won't often card evidence, but I don't approve of sketchy sources or manipulative references. If any of your opponents' evidence seems outlandish or distorted, I encourage you to card it.

-I disapprove of using strategies to overwhelm the opponent with subpoints or rebuttals and then making your case off of a tiny response you managed to quietly extend. Make cogent, well-researched arguments that could be made in a normal conversation and choose a couple of them to make a case for me to vote for you.

I have been a judge associated with Notre Dame High School since 2018 as my older sister is the director of speech and debate there. Tournaments I have judged include invitationals and state qualifiers. My experience includes debate events such as public forum and Lincoln-Douglas, as well as interpretative, oratory and extemporaneous speech events. My debate judging style focuses on the value criteria of net benefit or maximizing welfare. If I feel the proposal would potentially do more harm than good compared to the status quo, I would vote for the negative. If the proposal seems to be more beneficial compared to the status quo, I would vote for the affirmative.

Mariel Cruz - Updated 1/3/2024

Schools I've coached/judged for: Santa Clara University, Cal Lutheran University, Gunn High School, Polytechnic School, Saratoga High School, and Notre Dame High School

I've judged most debate events pretty frequently, except for Policy and Congress. However, I was a policy debater in college, so I'm still familiar with that event. I mostly judge PF and traditional LD, occasionally circuit LD. I judge all events pretty similarly, but I do have a few specific notes about Parli debate listed below.

Background: I was a policy debater for Santa Clara University for 5 years. I also helped run/coach the SCU parliamentary team, so I know a lot about both styles of debate. I've been coaching and judging on the high school and college circuit since 2012, so I have seen a lot of rounds. I teach/coach pretty much every event, including LD and PF.

Policy topic: I haven’t done much research on either the college or high school policy topic, so be sure to explain everything pretty clearly.

Speed: I’m good with speed, but be clear. I don't love speed, but I tolerate it. If you are going to be fast, I need a speech doc for every speech with every argument, including analytics or non-carded arguments. If I'm not actively flowing, ie typing or writing notes, you're probably too fast.

As I've started coaching events that don't utilize speed, I've come to appreciate rounds that are a bit slower. I used to judge and debate in fast rounds in policy, but fast rounds in other debate events are very different, so fast debaters should be careful, especially when running theory and reading plan/cp texts. If you’re running theory, try to slow down a bit so I can flow everything really well. Or give me a copy of your alt text/Cp text. Also, be sure to sign-post, especially if you're going fast, otherwise it gets too hard to flow. I actually think parli (and all events other than policy) is better when it's not super fast. Without the evidence and length of speeches of policy, speed is not always useful or productive for other debate formats. If I'm judging you, it's ok be fast, but I'd prefer if you took it down a notch, and just didn't go at your highest or fastest speed.

K: I like all types of arguments, disads, kritiks, theory, whatever you like. I like Ks but I’m not an avid reader of literature, so you’ll have to make clear explanations, especially when it comes to the alt. Even though the politics DA was my favorite, I did run quite a few Ks when I was a debater. However, I don't work with Ks as much as I used to (I coach many students who debate at local tournaments only, where Ks are not as common), so I'm not super familiar with every K, but I've seen enough Ks that I have probably seen something similar to what you're running. Just make sure everything is explained well enough. If you run a K I haven't seen before, I'll compare it to something I have seen. I am not a huge fan of Ks like Nietzche, and I'm skeptical of alternatives that only reject the aff. I don't like voting for Ks that have shakey alt solvency or unclear frameworks or roles of the ballot.

Framework and Theory: I tend to think that the aff should defend a plan and the resolution and affirm something (since they are called the affirmative team), but if you think otherwise, be sure to explain why you it’s necessary not to. I’ll side with you if necessary. I usually side with reasonability for T, and condo good, but there are many exceptions to this (especially for parli - see below). I'll vote on theory and T if I have to. However, I'm very skeptical of theory arguments that seem frivolous and unhelpful (ie Funding spec, aspec, etc). Also, I'm not a fan of disclosure theory. Many of my students compete in circuits where disclosure is not a common practice, so it's hard for me to evaluate disclosure theory.

Basically, I prefer theory arguments that can point to actual in round abuse, versus theory args that just try to establish community norms. Since all tournaments are different regionally and by circuit, using theory args to establish norms feels too punitive to me. However, I know some theory is important, so if you can point to in round abuse, I'll still consider your argument.

Parli specific: Since the structure for parli is a little different, I don't have as a high of a threshold for theory and T as I do when I judge policy or LD, which means I am more likely to vote on theory and T in parli rounds than in other debate rounds. This doesn't mean I'll vote on it every time, but I think these types of arguments are a little more important in parli, especially for topics that are kinda vague and open to interpretation. I also think Condo is more abusive in parli than other events, so I'm more sympathetic to Condo bad args in parli than in other events I judge.

Policy/LD/PF prep:I don’t time exchanging evidence, but don’t abuse that time. Please be courteous and as timely as possible.

General debate stuff: I was a bigger fan of CPs and disads, but my debate partner loved theory and Ks, so I'm familiar with pretty much everything. I like looking at the big picture as much as the line by line. Frankly, I think the big picture is more important, so things like impact analysis and comparative analysis are important.

Hello, I am writing for my Dad's paradigm. I do Varsity PF debate, so yeah this is a parent judge.

Disclaimer: Even if you thought you clearly won plz don't argue with my dad, he's taking his own time to come and help out for the debate community so don't be "that" debater, just try to be as clear as possible.

Flow:My dad will be flowing on paper and won't bring any biases into the debate round.

Speed: Please don't speak too fast, try and aim for about 700 words for 4min speeches. If you talk too fast and my dad doesn't get the chance to write it down it's your own fault.

Manners:Please introduce yourself, your school, and your speaking position when you first enter. Also during cross, please don't talk over your opponents or be rude in any way, that's an easy way to lose speaks. Lastly, turn on your cameras too.

Evidence:My dad won't call for any cards unless a team tells my dad to call for the card or if ur card is just sus af.

Other: Like for all lay judges try to run args that are mostly true, my dad has learned some debate jargon but I would suggest not using them because it might be too confusing(ex. don't say weigh, extend,turn,delink etc), and don't run progressive args.

Important Stuff: Like a lot of other lay judges my dad may vote of stuff said in cross and overall how good were the questions you asked and how good your responses are to questions. ALSO my dad doesn't care about weighing he is just going to count who won the most arguments at the end(I don't agree with it but it is what it is).

Disclosing:I told my dad to disclose because I think it helps with getting feedback.

If you have any questions b4hand dm me on Facebook messenger(Runzhe Cui)

Have Fun!!

i debated in Lincoln Douglass and Policy in high school. Therefore, I can flow pretty well and keep up with some speed. That being said, I think that presentation is an important part of argumentation. Beyond that, I'm pretty familiar with Ks but I can also keep up with the much more traditional debates in both the form of classic policy or LD.

With LD in particular I do prefer a framework to evaluate the round under. This is especially true with somewhat nebulous impacts that can be read in round. I don't expect it to be in the form of value and criterion in particular but I do expect some sort of value and a weighing mechanism. I have seen plenty of rounds in which a roll of the ballot accomplishes that so if that is your preferred method you won't have to worry about that with me.

I doubt I'll judge policy but the same sort of sentiment applies.

Quick TLDR - I vote off the flow to the best of my ability. I value quality of argumentation over quantity, please collapse, warrant, and make it OBVIOUS in Sum and FF who is winning (weighing, point out drops, concessions - this is gonna be one of the biggest things I look at). With all that said, come in with your amount of experience, and I will evaluate you fairly. Debate is a weird game, and not everyone has the same access to the tools "normalized." Don't worry, do your best, and know we are all here to learn.

Background: I am a recent graduate from Duchesne Academy, and I have been a second speaker in PF for three years. I debated on the local and national circuits and consider myself to evaluate rounds pretty technically. I also did speech on the local and national circuit, but you defs don't want me judging that.

Basic Judging Philosophy: I vote off of what is warranted, I prefer what is weighed. If you make a well-structured argument, then give me reasons to prefer your warranting over their warrants, and finally do weighing that COMPARES your impact to their impact, and tells me why yours is more important and WHY it's more important. Don't just say a buzzword like "scope" and move on.

Here are some more specific notes

- Jargon and Speed: Honestly, I can handle a fair amount of speed, just please don't spread. Also, its important to make sure you don't exclude your opponents from the round; spreading as a tactic to lose your opponents is really inconsiderate in my opinion. If everyone in the round is cool with jargon, I'm fine with it too.

- Evidence: Love it. Please note that I usually flow ideas, not card names, so feel free to extend your evidence but make sure you extend what the evidence says. Please make sure evidence is exchanged quickly- if it isn't, speaker points will be dropped. Citations are needed, and at a minimum must be an author and a date, but more information is always better. Feel free to go after poor-quality evidence in round, I love a good indict (always exciting).

- Topic Knowledge: (tailored for the Beyond Resolved Tournament) - I am going to be honest, I don't know much about this topic. I will do my best to inform myself on the basics before your round, but you really need to pretend I don't know anything. I can pick info up quick so explain it effectively and you'll be fine. :D

- Rebuttal: Pretty short here. I think 2nd rebuttal should defend case. Disads in first rebuttal are cool. Second rebuttal they are sketchy. Make sure you tell me where you are on the flow, and I reeeaaallly like numbering your responses to things, it makes flowing easier for everyone.

- Summary: This is a hard speech; I have no idea how my partner Danielle did this. I expect you to reiterate and defend your case with warrants AND extend responses on your opponent's case while still weighing. I don't care how you structure it so long as it is logical for me to follow. First summary I will be a little more lenient towards, but you still need the previously mentioned things at a minimum. YOU HAVE TO COLLAPSE IN SUMMARY. Make a few, strong arguments and win them, and you will win my ballot. Weighing should be in second summary.

- Final Focus: Mirror the summary speech, collapse and warrant your few arguments even harder. Don't make new arguments or new weighing metrics, please. Warrant and weigh what you have to work with and you'll be fine.

- Crossfires: I won't be flowing them, I might listen in, but if you get an important concession, mention it in a speech! Debaters are bound to what they say in crossfire, so don't lie. Remember to be kind; I take note of that intensely!

Theory/Kritiks: I am not very well versed in T/K; I wouldn't do it infront of me tbh. Sorryyyy!

Decorum: Please be nice; it shouldn't be hard. I'm not flowing cross, and I frankly don't value it that highly, so please don't turn it into a screaming match - instead, try to get valuable/strategic info out of it. If you are rude, racist, sexist, homophobic, or take another obviously unacceptable actions, I will 100% drop your speaks as low as I can and, depending on the infraction, it will affect my decision. So please, be kind. Debate is stressful, don't make it harder than it has to be.

Speaks: Honestly, the idea that public speaking skills should be valued excludes people from the debate space. I will give speaks solely off the quality of the argumentation you make in your speeches and your ability to signpost so it is easy for me to follow you on the flow. If you are one of those people who are "dominant in cross" and are rude to your opponents, I will drop your speaks (not joking). In short, the best debaters with the best structure will get good speaks, not the best speakers.

I hold a college degree in electrical engineer and a master's in computer science. Although I started as a lay parent judge in 2019 to support my child’s growth and participation in local tournaments, since that time, I have acquired expertise in evaluating Public Forum debate by adjudicating several national and local debate competitions. I have judged top-ranked debaters in the past thus I have enough experience in understanding complex arguments.

In my career as a business owner and engineer, I also have experience evaluating professional presentations, contracts, and negotiations. I speak three (3) languages and have traveled to seven (7) countries, but I am fluent in English and value the democratic ideals of freedom of expression and the rule of law found in the United States. When evaluating students, I treat each individual as unique and worthy of respect, maturity, and intellectual growth to achieve his/her highest potential in school and in future professional endeavors. Then proceed to the paradigm, and expand on what you look for in definitions, value frameworks, contentions, rebuttals, cross-fire, final focus, and speaker points. It would also be good to create an email chain so we can create a fast evidence exchange.

I am a lay parent volunteer and this is my fourth year judging debate but it has been a minute! I am a lawyer, and I was a litigator for over twenty years. So, I know how to put together an argument and I know a bad argument when I see it. A few things I will offer:

1. I recommend not filling your arguments with debate jargon. I am not familiar with these terms and using them isn't helpful to me. Making arguments like, "the other team did X debate thing while we did Y debate thing which is better," is not meaningful to me and so will not advance the ball for you. If there's something I need to know, just tell me.

2. Don't assume I know anything about your topic. I get that you have spent a lot of time researching and learning the topic, but I haven't, and that isn't my job as your judge. It is your job to educate and convince me. Be very clear about the components of your argument and likewise quickly break down your opponent's argument. This is extremely helpful to any judge when done well.

3. I'm a fast talker myself, but I find PF debaters can be in a category of their own. Please do not speak too quickly - I will not be able to fully follow or understand you. If you do need to speak quickly, make sure your speech is not monotone, which makes you even more difficult to follow.

4. I value "real-world" links. I will not weigh your impact, no matter how large, if what you are saying defies logic and common sense. Don't stretch your link chains beyond value.

5. Common sense arguments are valuable. Simply turning repeatedly to "my source vs. their source" after the constructive probably isn't going to win the day for you with me. I prefer that you use reasoning to show me how your argument works and apply real understanding of the topic.

7. Be polite to each other. Pay attention to this advice during cross-fire in particular. Avoid speaking over each other, not answering questions, being condescending, or taking too much time on your point.

Good luck and have fun!

My name is Winston Fisher, and this is my first time judging a high school debate round, so please speak clearly and please try and not to speak extremely fast. Also, since this is my first time judging, please make sure to provide an off-time road map before each speech.

I am looking for clear, concise, well-articulated arguments to support your position on the matter. Please do not fabricate or exaggerate your evidence.

Also, please keep track of your own time.

I expect everyone to be respectful, but otherwise have a good time debating.

I'm a parent judge and also a corporate lawyer. This is my first time judging. Please do not use technical terms and speak clearly. I value logic over unexplained evidence. Analogies are appreciated and humor is helpful.

Background - I did PF as my main event for four years at Montville Township High School.

Specifics - I highly appreciate it when teams weigh. Weighing can begin as early as rebuttal. If you guys as debaters make comparisons between your own arguments and your opponents’ arguments by any metric, it tells me where to focus when making my decision. This is far better than a round without any weighing that leaves it up to me to decide where to vote. Other than that, I think it makes a lot of sense to start frontlining in second rebuttal.

Have fun!

I am a lay judge with little knowledge on this topic.

Please speak slowly and clearly and explain why your arguments are weighted.

Spend a lot time to explain your argument and your talking point is the most important for me.

I will not disclose in prelims.

Please do the timing yourselves.

I did some LD debate in college for UC San Diego in a couple national touraments with Harvard and Yale. However, I am by no means a tech or flow judge because its been a long time since I've debated and the style of debate has completely changed. I am considered to be a lay judge that can understand all arguments.

Don't rush speeches. Be clear.

Bring up important arguments all throughout your speeches and EXTEND.

Make sure to tell me why your argument is more important or more clear than theirs by weighing it.

Lastly, be respectful of each other throughout the debate round

I did PF for three years in high school, and have a couple years of judging experience as well.

Things I like: 1) Framework debate; 2) Linking to your impacts. Don't just throw out numbers/conclusions without explaining how you can access them; 3) Signposting; 4) Numbered responses in rebuttal; 5) Turns; 6) Weighing and big picture analysis in Summary and FF. I like when teams can clearly explain why their impacts should outweigh their opponents' impacts, especially when those impacts are quantified differently (ex: lives vs. economics).

Things I don't like: 1) Sketchy or misconstrued evidence; 2) Tenuous links to impacts; 3) When teams bring up arguments in FF that they didn't push in Summary.

Hey, my name is Sam! I debated on the GA circuit for 3 years and nationally for 2 (2014-2017), breaking even my senior year at ToC and Nationals. Since then, I have judged and coached for several programs. Weigh your arguments and their terminal impacts against your opponent's arguments and impacts in summary/final focus. Second-half cohesion is important, make sure the summary and final focus work well together. I will not vote off of anything that fails to be extended from speech-to-speech. I can follow most speeds you're used to, but please do your best to speak clearly. Be polite to each other and enjoy the learning experience: D.B.A.A!

I am a junior at Columbia and debate with the CU parli team. I can keep up with moderate speeds but will appreciate very clear signposting. I look for warranting that goes beyond just evidence; explain to me why your argument works, don't just show me a piece of evidence. Finally, I really appreciate clear weighing and well-warranted rebuttals.

I am a lay parent judge with experience judging a couple of tournaments.
My preferences:

1. Speak at a conversational speed.
2. I give more importance to valid and well researched points.
4. Avoid repetition and use of technical terms.
5. Please do not take too much time to pull up called evidence. Be organized.
6. I consider cross to give speaker points so be confident but not too aggressive.

Good Luck!

What I Prefer to See in a Debate:

1. Please use sources/references for all facts that you are bringing up. This includes percentages, numbers, stats, and any ideas of other authors that you are paraphrasing. This is really, really important to me. I will not believe you if you don't have your facts backed up.

2. Don't eyeroll your opponent or speak in a matter that's rude, i.e., that they don't know what they're talking about. They may have absolutely no idea of what they're talking about, and you should call them out on it, but just don't be rude, dude. This is also insanely important to me.

3. Please don't go too fast. I can follow arguments faster than parents but not super, super fast.

4. Don't give me hypotheticals and try not to use just theory to support your points. Real solutions/real things get across to me much better.

5. I'll only call for cards if you and your opponent are saying opposite things about the same exact thing.

6. You can respond to any rebuttals in any of the time periods allocated for rebuttals. I see a debate as a whole thing, so the entirety of what is said is up for game in rebuttals.

7. Please do not run a topical case. Please speak to the resolution.

Please send all speech docs to icwestdebate@googlegroups.com. Please also send the speech doc to cooper.john@iowacityschools.org. Please label each email with the round number, the partnership code, and the side. Example: "R1 Duchesne BB AFF v. Iowa City West KE."

Resources

I have compiled some resources to get better at debate here!

TLDR

Always tell me "Prefer my evidence/argument because." Meaningful and intentional extensions of uniqueness + link + internal link + impact (don't forget warrants) in combination with weighing will win you the round. NOTE: I am a PF traditionalist. Spreading will not get you far in rounds with me.

Experience

I attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa and debated with Ellie Konfrst (Roosevelt GK). I was a two time state champion when competing. I broke at the TOC and placed ninth at NSDA nationals my senior year (2018). I have also coached at NDF the following years: 2018, 2019, 2020. I am currently a 3L law student at the University of Iowa. I am the current varsity PF coach at Iowa City West. I have coached two teams (Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart BB and Iowa City West KE) to qualifying to the gold TOC.

What you should expect of me

It is my obligation to be familiar with the topic. I am also a very emotive judge, if I look confused please break down your argument. It is my obligation to provide for you a clear reason why my ballot was cast and to ensure that you and your coach are able to understand my decision. However, it is not my job to weigh impacts against each other / evaluate competing frameworks. I am always open to discuss the round afterwards.

Flowing

I love off time road maps and they help me flow, please give them! What is on my flow at the end of the round will make my decision for me and I will do my best to make my reasoning clear either on my ballot or orally at the end of the round. If you are organized, clean, clear and extending good argumentation well, you will do well. One thing that I find particularly valuable is having a strong and clear advocacy and a narrative on the flow. This narrative will help you shape responses and create a comparative world that will let you break down and weigh the round in the Final Focus. I also appreciate language that directly relates to the flow (tell me where to put your overview, tell me what to circle, tell me what to cross out).

Extensions

It’s important to note that to get an argument through to the final focus the team must extend the uniqueness+links+impacts. If a single piece is missing, then it significantly weakens the point’s weight in the round. If an argument is dropped at any time, it will not be extended and you’d be better off spending your time elsewhere. Extensions are the backbones of debate, a high-level debater should be able to allocate time and extend their offense and defense effectively.

Framework / Overviews

Framework

If a framework is essential for you to win the round / to your case it should be in constructive. I want to see your intention and round visions early on, squirrel-y argumentation through frameworks muddles the whole round. Only drop the framework if everyone agrees on it. If there is no agreement by summary, win under both.

Overviews

There are two types of overviews in my mind.

1: An overall response to their case.

Good idea.

2: Weighing overviews.

GREAT IDEA

I prefer overviews to be in rebuttal.

The Rebuttal

Extend framework if you want me to use it in order to weigh in the summary and final focus. I also have a soft spot for weighing overviews and usually find them incredibly valuable if done and extended correctly.

If extended and weighed properly, turns are enough to win a round, but if you double turn yourself and muddle the debate you wasted critical time that could have been spent on mitigation/de-linking/non-uniques.

My preference is that the entire first rebuttal is spent on the opponent’s side of the flow. For both teams, I like to see layered responses and very clear road-mapping and sign-posting. The refutations should cover both the entire contention and also examine specific warrants and impacts. The second rebuttal should engage both the opponent’s case as well as the opponent’s responses. Ideally, the time split should be between 3:1 and 2:2.

Summary

I believe the job of the summary speaker (especially for first speaking teams) is the hardest in the round and can easily lose a debate. Extending framework/overviews (if applicable), front lining, and weighing are the three necessary components of any narrative in summary.

Structure:

1. Case extensions (uniqueness, link, internal link, impact)
2. Frontlining
3. Defense/Turn extensions
4. Weighing (this can be put anywhere among the other three above).

Frontlining =/= narrative extension.

Defense in the first summary. Make smart strategic decisions. If the defense is being blown up - or mentioned - in final focus it needs to be in summary.

Final Focus

This should be the exact same as your summary with more weighing and less frontlining. It is okay to extend less arguments if you make up for it with weighing.

Speed

Clarity is critical when speaking quickly. My wpm is about 200, going faster than this is risking an incomplete flow on my ballot. If I miss something because of speed, there was an error in judge adaptation.

Organization through all speeches is essential and especially paramount in summary. Make sure I know exactly where you are so that I can help you get as much ink on the flow as possible. Tell me where to flow overviews otherwise I'll just make a judgement call on where to put it on the flow.

Progressive Arguments

I'm fine with Theory / Ks / role of the ballot though you always should "dumb them down" to language used in PF and you must clearly articulate why there is value in rejecting a traditional approach to the topic. Theory / Ks / role of the ballot will also need to be slowed down in terms of speed. Also, you need to read theory right after the violation happens. If you read it as a spike to throw the other team off, I will not evaluate the argument.

I value teams taking daring strategic decisions (EX: drop case and go fully for turns EX2: non-uniquing / severing contentions to avoid opponents turns) and will reward you smart and effective risk-taking with speaker points. That being said, if you do it poorly I will still drop you.

Cross

I like to see strong engagement of the issues in CX and appreciate a deeper analysis than simple clarifying questions. Please be polite and civil and it is everyone’s responsibility to de-escalate the situation as much as possible when it grows too extreme (some jokes are always preferred). Issues in CX will not be weighed in the round unless brought up in a following speech. Making jokes in grand cross to liven up the debate is always good for your speaker points (but don't be that person who tries too hard please).

Speaking

30: Excellent job, you demonstrate stand-out organizational skills and speaking abilities. Ability to use creative analytical skills and humor to simplify and clarify the round.

29: Very strong ability. Good eloquence, analysis, and organization. A couple minor stumbles or drops.

28: Above average. Good speaking ability. May have made a larger drop or flaw in argumentation but speaking skills compensate. Or, very strong analysis but weaker speaking skills.

27: About average. Ability to function well in the round, however analysis may be lacking. Some errors made.

26: Is struggling to function efficiently within the round. Either lacking speaking skills or analytical skills. May have made a more important error.

25: Having difficulties following the round. May have a hard time filling the time for speeches. Large error.

Below: Extreme difficulty functioning. Very large difficulty filling time or offensive or rude behavior.

Public Forum:

I flow the rounds and judge based on your speeches not cross fire. I review notes, contentions that flow from beginning to end. Please make sure to have definitions and framework. Framework is very important to your case. Make sure you are clear in your contentions and arguments. If I cannot understand you or you are talking too fast, I miss things and it can be a problem. You are there to convince me why your team wins-explain the impacts and weighing, FRAMEWORK and explain the reason for decision. Pretend I do not know anything about the topic. Be respectful of your opponents and let them talk during cross fire. You should be able to provide your cards, evidence quickly. You should be organized and have them quickly to provide competitor if asked. I will reject any extinction impacts. I will look at climate change and increasing threat of war, but the huge numbers used will not be counted. I do like when teams collapse to one or two best contentions and not the laundry list. Give me the impacts, weighing and why you win.

LD

LD is a speech form of debate and I need to understand your case and reasoning. Spreading is very common today, but it does not mean you are an excellent debater, logical or can convince someone to your side of the argument. You need to convince me, your contentions, framework and the reasons why you won the round. I will flow the rounds and judge based on your speeches not cross fire. I review notes, contentions that flow from beginning to end. Please make sure to have definitions, values and criterion. Make sure you are clear in your contentions, definitions and arguments. If I cannot understand you or you are talking too fast, I miss things and it can be a problem for you. You are there to convince me why you win-explain the impacts, logic, reasoning explain the reason for decision. Pretend I do not know anything about the topic. Debate the resolution and topic. Some LD topics are more like PF but keep to the resolution. Plans and counterplans need to fit the resolution and debaters need to keep to the resolution.

Congress:

Make sure to advance the debate and there are differences betwen first, middle and ending speeches. Do not use debate lingo as please affirm is not done in Congressional debate. Do not use computers and read your notes. Make sure you have credible sources and know your topic. Be able to debate both sides of the topic. Two good/great speeches are better than 3 average/poor speeches so in other words, less can be more. I want you to particpate but quality is very important. You are there to persuade the members.

IE:

Impromptu: Biggest ranking is did you answer the question or prompt. Do you understand what is being asked. Make sure you are organized, confident and always each reason/point relates to the prompt.

Extemporaneous. Use good sources of material. Economic would be The Economist, Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times. New York Times is better than Arizona Republic but make sure you have good credible research. The topics are very advanced and in many cases specific so answer the question. You are to use persuation and logic, with your sources to convince me the answer-keep to the question.

I am a parent judge, my son is a junior in high school. He did not write my paradigm.

And awayyyyyy we go!

TLDR: Tech > Truth, Line-by-Line good, Signposting good, writing my ballot good, progressive good.

I have found the best thing to do from an evidence sharing perspective is to put a link to a google doc in the chat that we can all edit and view. Please do this.

I self-identify as a progressive tabula rasa flow judge.

Tech > Truth. Underdeveloped or ridiculous arguments are hard to vote on (low bar for !truth).

Speed: I will clear you if I feel the need. I like a speech doc as much as anybody, but I feel like it is intellectual laziness on my part or poor speechifying on your part if I rely on it. I should be able to understand and flow what you are saying, right? But I do like to spell an author's name correctly when flowing citations.

Theory and T are fine. I am a bit out of touch with reasonableness vs. competing interps debates. I am a bit out of touch with modern CP theory, so make sure you are clear on your advocacy. I am familiar-ish with K but not up to speed on my Heidegger or whatever. You will need to make sure your argument is extremely clear. Frivolous theory or tricks seem easy to vote against, but you are welcome to try your luck.

I sometimes judge Novice and JV rounds. If I had to identify the thing I have enjoyed the least in these rounds, it would be the technical lack of proficiency most commonly expressed through the cliche “two ships passing in the night”. Good flowing leads to good line-by-line. Good line-by-line leads to a good story. Write my ballot for me. If any of this is unclear, make sure you ask before the round. If this is a novice round or JV, if you show me a good flow after the round, I will bump your speaks.

A common pre-round question I am asked is how I feel about tag-team CX. If your partner is about to give away the farm, by all means jump in. If you have a question prior to your speech that you just really need to ask, jump in. Otherwise, why not just let the appropriate people interact in the usual way? Do you enjoy CX that much? Also, I'm probably not listening.

This is an educational activity and I don't like a hostile environment. Let's keep it fun.

Public Forum:

Everything above applies. If it is in Final Focus, it was in Summary, right? People ask me if defense is sticky and while these terms of art are somewhat confusing to me, my response is that if you want to do stuff in the Final Focus, it should be in Summary, but you can extend dropped arguments very, very quickly. I don't need you to do this (common in PF) line-by-line, card-by-card extension in Summary. You can tell the story in Final Focus.

I expect, starting in Rebuttals, people to answer arguments in prior speeches. I know this makes the 2nd Rebuttal hard, but I believe in you and can think of no reasonable alternative. Happy to discuss.

I see people saying they will bump speaks if you read cards instead of paraphrasing. I am on the train: If you show me before the round that you are reading carded constructives, I will bump your speaks. Paraphrasing may have started as an attempt to increase persuasion, but I feel like it devolves to blippy args. I am considering transitioning to "paraphrase = lower speaks".

I find that with the volume of paraphrasing, people can blur through tags and authors. Please be articulate on the tag and author so I know what you want me to flow. In policy, I feel like I have the time they spend reading the card to write down the tag and author and the tag/citation/card model makes it easy to differentiate between tags and cards. PF seems to be somewhat sub-optimized for flowing by blurring the tag and content via paraphrase. I assume you want me to flow a tag and author if you go to the trouble to say something, but I probably can't write as fast as you read.

After judging several rounds at a recent tournament where I had a problem, let me say this: If your 1st constructive is paraphrased and has more than 20 citations, you are probably over paraphrasing and/or going too fast. I write down your citations. I have seen multiple instances where cases or arguments are so heavily paraphrased that there are two or more citations in a single sentence. I will not be able to write down your argument if you are expecting me to write down two arguments and two citations in a single sentence. And it is probably abusive to the other team. This is a real opinion. If you think this is an unfair standard, I would love to discuss.

Progressive PF is fine.

And I just want to say, for whoever happens to be reading this: It's strange to me that a judge would say that they don't like theory or progressive arguments. I understand if you say you have a bias against tricks, but if people can't feel comfortable making an argument about abuse in round in front of you, that opens the door for off-topic advocacy. Why would we want that? Policy debaters didn't have theory day one, theory evolved to check abuse. I get that people may not have experience with theory, but close-mindedness and a pre-conceived idea of what is acceptable seems super meh and interventionist. Just putting it out there as a check against all the judges that try to actively discourage theory, which I dislike. Happy to advocate for theory before or after round if people want to shoot the breeze.

I have more opinions, just ask.

I did high school parli debate (went to TOC a few times), no PF/LD, so go easy on me. This stuff is information I got from PF friends that make sense to me:

I am tech>truth. I have an okay threshold for warranting, i.e. if you read an argument without a warrant I will evaluate it but only if the other side drops it. That applies to impacts, I default death, dehumanization and suffering bad, but you have to tell me what “economy” means in terms of those three things. All of my defaults can be disregarded if that argumentation is made in round. I know that pf has rules about what arguments can and can't be made, but I'm willing to listen to those arguments but please don't make them if they're bad arguments.

I presume the first speaking team. I won’t flow new arguments in summaries or final focuses. The second rebuttal should answer the constructive as well as the first rebuttal. First summary should extend defense. Weighing isn’t new.

Don’t be mean to your opponents. I WILL call you out for micro & not-so-microaggressions, I WILL call you out for reading problematic arguments, and I also WILL call you out if you’re reading arguments that aren’t accessible to your opponents (do not read a K or theory or go really fast against a team that has no idea how to deal with that kind of argumentation, for example). I WILL dock your speaker points and possibly auto drop you.

I’ll vaguely pay attention to cross but I won’t flow it. Please do not blatantly steal prep, I might not say anything about it but I am noticing it and will almost certainly dock speaks for it. If both teams are down for it, I’m ok with speed, but please signpost.

My pronouns are she/her.

Email: olivia.hardage3@gmail.com

I did PF at Westlake and I currently coach there.

You only need to extend defense in first summary if it has been frontlined otherwise, it sticks.

I think 2nd rebuttal needs to at least frontline offense and preferably defense as well. I won't automatically down you if you don't do this but I prefer it and I think it's more strategic.

If you want to concede a de-link to kick out of a turn you can't just say that phrase, you need to explain why the particular arguments allow you to do that. If you only say "we concede the de-link so we kick out of the turn" and move on and your opponent extends the turn, I will grant them the turn.

I will vote on the least mitigated link chain leading to the most weighed impact. I will vote for a team with a fleshed-out link chain and a poorly extended impact over a team that does the opposite.

I give speaks mainly based on presentation or if I think a team should be in out rounds. However, if you want a 30 from me focus on speaking clearly and having good round etiquette.

I'll evaluate any arguments like theory/Ks but I don't have pervasive knowledge of how they traditionally function in rounds so make sure everything is explained thoroughly.

I'm good with speed to an extent, anything getting close to spreading I probably can't follow.

The most important thing in debate is weighing! If you don't weigh, I am forced to decide what I think is the most important argument.

If you want more specifics, feel free to ask me questions!

Hi! I'm Mac Hays (he/him pronouns)! I did 4 years of PF at Durham Academy. I have spent 4 years coaching PF on the local and national circuit. I now debate APDA at Brown. Debate however is most fun for you without being exclusive.

Disclaimers:

* TLDR tabula rasa, warrant, signpost, extend, weigh, ballot directive language makes me happy, metaweighing ok, framing ok (I default "pure" util otherwise), theory ok, speed ok (don't be excessive), K ok, no tricks, be nice and reasonable and have fun, ask me questions about how I judge before round if you want more clarity on any specifics. Ideally you shouldn't run theory unless you're certain your opponents can engage.

* Nats probably isn’t the place for theory/Ks unless the violation is egregious and your opponents can clearly engage. Don’t run whack stuff for a free win

* Please send all evidence you read in the email chain (ideally before speeches)

* Every speech post constructive must answer all content in the speech before it. Implications: No new frontlines past 2nd rebuttal/1st summary (defense isn't sticky, but that doesn't mean that 1st summary must extend defense on contentions that 2nd rebuttal just didn't frontline), any new indicts must be read in the speech immediately after the evidence is introduced, etc. New responses to new implications = ok. New responses to old weighing = not ok.

* How I vote: I look for the strongest impact and then determine which team has the strongest link into it as a default. See my weighing section for more details. If you don't want me to do this, tell me why with warranting.

* Add me to the chain: colin_hays@brown.edu.

* The entirety of my paradigm can be considered "how I default in the absence of theoretical warrants" - that is, if you see debate differently than I do, then make arguments as to why that's how I should judge, and, if you win them, I'll go with it. (exceptions are -isms, safety violations, speech times and the like, reasonability specifics are in the doc below).

Have fun!

My paradigm got unreasonably long so I put it in a doc, read it if you want more clarity on specifics:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lFX0Wja9W_h1xC1YBrUl8XZZzRenxOGOx7LCKd9liRU/edit

Parent judge here. Lay judge.

Speak slowly and clearly--I would prefer good presentation as well. Just be persuasive.

Signpost--It makes it easier to follow.

Logical arguments--these make a lot more sense than a big card dump, and I'm more likely to understand it.

Weigh--makes it clear to me who's winning

Don't be rude or offensive.

My debate background is mostly college BP and APDA. I also debated under the Worlds Schools format in high school.

I appreciate it if you explain the structure of the speech from the beginning and then clearly signpost your arguments. I value honest and respectful engagement with the other team. Do not assume that I have specialized knowledge on the topic.

I prefer teams email me their speech document to amyhu881@gmail.com before the round starts. Please do so asap as it takes a while for the email to arrive and sometimes the first email fail to reach me. It is Ok that you don't send me your speech doc but it will help me to understand your round.

Please time yourself. I wont keep track of the crossfires. Tell me what is the priority to weight and why your impact is bigger.

Keeping your arguments simple and logical. I can easily get lost if you talk too fast or provide me tons of information.

Please be calm and polite. When you getting hostile to your opponent, I will think you lose control because you know you fail the round.

4 years of PF, UVA '23

Winning my ballot starts with weighing, in fact, weighing is so important I'd prefer if you did it at the begiNning of every speech after first rebuttal. Be cOmparative, I need a reason why I should look to your arguments firsT. Please collapse, don't go for more than one case arg in the second half, its unnecessaRy. I'm a lazy judge the easIest plaCe to vote is where I'll sign my ballot. I'm not going to do more worK than I need to. I will not vote off of one sentence offense, everything needS to be explained clearly, warranted, and weighed for me to evaluate it(turns especially). I try not to presume but if I do, I will presume whoever lost the coin flip.

I will evaluate progressive arguments.

If you are going to give a content warning please do it correctly - this means anonymized content warnings with ample time to respond.

I'm very generous with speaks, speaking style doesn't affect how I evaluate the round and I don't think I'm in a place to objectively evaluate the way you speak. With that being said I will not tolerate rudeness or ANY bm in round. I can handle a decent amount of speed but do not let speed trade off with quality.

Online debate I will be muted the entire round just assume I'm ready before every speech and time yourselves and your own prep. I will disclose if the tournament allows.

Questions: chashuang1@gmail.com

Hi! I did a lot of Congress and Worlds for over 4 years and compete in college APDA now. Basically, be super clear, do A LOT of weighing, and tell me exactly why I should vote for you. I'm not super big on theory and I need to see cards/evidence for your arguments.

Don't be rude! Have fun in the round!

Debated for Bronx Science for 4 years (2015-2019) and been judging for three years in college; polsci and public policy major at Hunter College

DISCLAIMER FOR CAT NATS: I am completely new to the water topic (haven't researched, coached it, etc.), keep this in mind while debating in terms of technical terms and knowledge of topic Ks, CPs, etc. I have also not judged policy in over a year so chill with the spreading

Feel free to run any argument in front of me. I want you to tell me how to vote and how I should view the round. Besides that, I'm down for anything.

Quarantine edition edit: My connection isn't the best so please send the analytics and/or spread like 5% slower so I can flow it, if the argument isn't on my flow I can't evaluate it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Feel free to add me to the email chain: undercommonscustomerservice@gmail.com

tl;dr: run what you want

I decide rounds pretty quickly so I usually disclose right after the 2AR.

This is more for policy rounds but don't just card-dump, I hate it when teams just spew a bunch of cards at each other and expect me to do all the work.

If I’m on a panel with Eugene Toth there is a literal 100% chance that we will vote the same way.

My paradigm has been greatly influenced by my god-tier debate partner in high school so if you want to give it a look: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?judge_person_id=46818

TKO: If you think you 100% won the round at any point in the debate (i.e. other has no path to a ballot bc of conceded off case, etc.) then you can call a TKO and the round will stop. If I buy that the opponents have no path to the ballot, I will give you the win and 30s. If you are wrong, you will get an L and 25s.

DA

DA should at least have a aff-specific link and not just "Protecting water resources means Biden loses political capital". Make sure impact calc is tight, and good evidence comparison will notch up your speaker points. I want you to tell me a story of how the aff actually triggers the impacts.

CP

Haven't gone for that many CPs, not really my favorite argument. Please slow down for the CP text, especially if it's one of those really long ones. Whatever you run, make sure that you have a clear net-benefit.

FW/T

Unless its not even in the direction of the topic, I won't automatically vote down an aff because it violates your interpretation of framework and the resolution. If there is no significant impact and there is sufficient response from aff, I will weigh education over fairness.

I like to hear cleverly thought out T arguments against K affs that aren't just USFG, but an explanation, again, is necessary.

K

I run Ks very often and love a good K debate but I also hate it when the links for the Ks are not explained well or are just generic. Most of the K debate is rooted in the link debate and you have to be able to do this well in order for me to understand how the kritik functions in terms of the affirmative.

A side note: I am not a judge who thinks you need to win the alternative debate in order to win the round. As long as you can prove that each link is a non unique disad to the aff, and those disads outweigh, I will gladly vote neg. However, winning the alternative debate definitely makes your job a LOT easier. If you do go for the alt, I need to know what the alt is supposed to do, how it is supposed to do it, and why what it does matters. You have to be able to explain the alt well, a lot of debaters do not read the literature behind their kritik and this means they cannot explain their alternatives well or just summarize the tags of the cards when explaining the alt.

Love creative K args, topic-specific Ks are really cool too and I've been finding myself voting for more eccentric and high theory Ks so take that as you will

Ks I've ran: Cap (almost every variant of it: logistics, Dean, historical materialism, etc.), academia (Moten and Harney, Tuck and Yang, etc.), ID stuff (set col, queer theory), psychoanalysis.

K affs

I have read K affs the majority of my debate career. Love them, they great. But if it is a nontraditional aff, an EXPLANATION is necessary. If I don't understand what the aff is, what it does, or why it's good, then I will absolutely default neg

Theory

Have judged a fair amount of theory debates at this point and have voted for condo and ASPEC, so I'm down w it just make sure you have interpretation, violation, and standards esp in the last speech

Troll args

Been there done that, just don't be reading random files you found in the backfiles or online without knowing what they mean

He/Him pronouns.

(anyone and everyone is allowed to be aggressive in round regardless of gender/sex/etc. That being said, don't be mean. If you think I'll perceive your aggression as being mean then don't do it.)

Win my ballot by winning the debate. Debate is a game and you should probably treat it like that. If you want the debate discourse to matter outside of the specific round, you should probably tell me that.

I'll give you high speaks if you're fluent and fill speech time. Being funny also helps you get speaker points.

Impact calculus is also important! If you can use impact calc to reasonably outweigh your opponent's args, I'll probably vote for you.

Make sure to have fun! If you're not having fun doing debate, you shouldn't be doing it.

TLDR: Debate good and you'll win. Don't be rude or a bigot and you won't get auto dropped.

Hey! I’m Kash. I’m a college freshman who competed in speech throughout high school. Please consider me to be a lay judge. That being said, please don’t make new arguments in final focus.

Please be respectful towards your opponents!

Thanks, and I look forward to judging :)

"Assuming a pill exists that compels the user to tell the truth, THW destroy it." — Recent fun motion

UPDATE FOR COLUMBIA 2022 (VPF)

Read the following sections: Overview, General Paradigm, Miscellany and Weird Aside on Evidence -- all else is Parli specific.

Relevant information for PF: I have a strong distaste for theory but as per modern paradigmatic standards, I'm happy to evaluate it as warranted in the round. The bar to convince me to pick up or drop a team on a theory call is likely pretty high. I will tank you if the theory is strategic and not based on something reasonable.

Regarding evidence in PF. I actually debated PF some in High School, I'm not unfamiliar with evidence and carded debate. The maxim that evidence doesn't replace warranting is still true, though, and I will reward better warranted arguments over better carded arguments assuming the belivability of the claim is constant.

Ask me questions before the round if you have questions -- I'd love to get to know you as well -- debate is a game, but we are all members of the community of debate and I'd love to foster that as much as possible. Ask me questions about college debate if you're a senior (or not) -- I'll connect you with the debate team of your institution if you know where you're going etc. I love verbal RFDs so will probably give one. I don't understand PF speaker points so take those with a grain of salt.

I don't claim to be an expert in PF or anything close. I do understand argumentation, warranting, impacting, weighing, etc, and want to see all of that in a round at the highest quality possible.

Parliamentary Debate

If you read nothing else, read this: don't spread; don't tag team; keep stuff in your time; be wary of theory; impact; weigh; warrant.

Overview

I debated for four years as a student at Stuyvesant High School and currently debate APDA for Columbia University. I have experience teaching debate to middle school and high school students, I tab way too often, and have lead more judge orientations than I care remember. If you care, I'm the president of APDA, the oldest and best college debate league.

People tend to care a lot about these paradigms — I really don't — if you have specific questions, ask me before rounds, in GA, whatever. Please do ask if something is unclear!

I run whacky cases, I debate whacky cases, I choose whacky motions — I really don't mind a lot if it's done well and respectful and conducive to a good round of debate.

General Paradigm

So everyone likes to claim they're a tabula rasa judge. I think this is nonsensical. Obviously personal views will not influence the round, but as arguments leave the sphere of the normal and easily bought, the burden of warranting well increases.

It's reasonably straightforward for me to buy, for example, that individuals do things that make them happy, and since eating ice cream makes people happy, people eat ice cream; but is comparatively hard for me to buy that actually, instead of eating the ice cream in my refrigerator, I'm going to make a 2 day trek across tundra to obtain some of the same ice cream.

I don't mean to discourage complex, strange, or whacky argumentation; rather, I aim to encourage elegant, simple, but robust warranting.

Theory

Theory has its place (LD / Policy / new PF circuit / your dinner table maybe ?) — and it's almost never in a parliamentary debate round.

Please limit any kritiks, theory calls, whatever else theory masquerades as nowadays, to instances where the use therein is warranted. Unless something is tightly or abusively defined / modeled or one team is engaging in reprehensible behavior, there is no need for theory — debate the resolution. This is an instance where I am certainly not tabula rasa, I will almost always, except in these previous instances, assume that the theory is being used in an effort to actively exclude the other team simply because the assumption is that I, as a seasoned debater, can follow it (which I can). Except in the caveated cases, the burden is on the team using a kritik or some other theory to prove to me they are not doing this.

If you want to argue about mutual exclusivity of a counterplan, or whatever else you want to do, please be sure to not forget to warrant, and explain things in reasonable terms. Just as you're not going to go off using advanced economic terms in rounds, and instead going to explain how a bubble works (hopefully), don't just use a pick, actually explain and warrant it. And on that, a counterplan had better be mutually exclusive, or at least functionally so, given certain tradeoffs.

Expect lower speaker points and to lose in cases of over eagerly applied theory.

Miscellany

I don't want to warrant for you. Don't make me.

I don't want to impact for you. Don't make me.

I don't want to weigh for you. Don't make me.

I am not going to get into what makes a warrant 'good' or an impact effective or weighing necessary, please as your coach, varsity, mentor, or email me if none of the previous options are available to you (johnrod.john@gmail.com).

The final two speeches of a round (the rebuttal or crystallization speeches) are NOT to restate every point in the round, but instead are meant to synthesize, weigh, and flesh out impacts. Please do that. The most effective rebuttal speeches focus on two to three levels of conditional weighing. I won't vote on some random unimpacted and unweighed pull through.

Don't spread — think about a speed a non debater would be able to reasonably follow. This usually means something fast, but not double breathing. Side note: someone who enjoys spreading please explain to me how this doesn't destroy the educational value in learning how to be a rhetorical and persuasive speaker please!

Instead of focusing on a breadth of argumentation, please focus on a depth of argumentation that is complex, and includes a high level of weighing structures and effective warranting.

Tag teaming — never seen this in parli outside of the west coast. Don't do it, you'll have your own chance to speak.

POIs — take them, use them, respect them. Don't go back and forth — if I wanted crossfire I'd be at a PF tournament. Seriously. Also, these are supposed to be fun and humorous — if you don't believe me, watch the House of Commons — however, you are HS debaters and probably take everything way too seriously, therefore I'll settle for not rude.

Offtime Stuff — No. You don't have to tell me what you're going to do, just do it.

Weird Aside on Evidence

Please don't confuse providing evidence with providing warrants. Simply because you were able to effectively use Google and find someone who said something doesn't mean that it's a) true b) important c) relevant d) it will happen again e) isn't without opposing evidence. Please always default to explaining why something happened, not simply that it did, or that someone believes it will happen again.

I have never once picked a team up for the quality of a card, and no round should ever come down to a piece of evidence in any way, shape, or form.

Hi! I’m writing this for my dad (who doesn’t believe in paradigms). A couple things you should know:

He’s a parent. Treat him as such; you know what to do.

He’s a professor who gets paid to evaluate students. You’re debating in front of someone who definitely can tell a good and bad link chain apart.

He says he understands speaking quickly. However, he doesn’t think that fast speech is persuasive. I wouldn’t go fast, and definitely not spread.

He doesn’t know any debate jargon. Use at your own risk.

He is a historian, and knows a lot of history. Same for public health -- be careful that what you run would be accepted by an academic in the field.

Be polite & fairly formal. He just spent 15 minutes complaining to me about informal paradigms.

He wants debate to be fun. I'd recommend smiling.

He doesn't believe in off-time road maps. He says that he has never seen them in the rulebooks, and that debaters simply say "first I will rebut the opponent's case, then I will make our case" -- which isn't either surprising or helpful.

Overall, debate like you would in front of a teacher ready to edit your case. Good luck and good debating!

I am a lay judge but it may help to know that I invest in young entrepreneurs for a living: so I judge peoples effectiveness at convincing me on a daily basis. I do not bring my existing knowledge or biases to the round - rather I look for effective contentions and how well you defend them.

For speaker points - I start midrange and go up or down from there in small increments. Clear enunciation of contentions and counters are appreciated. Use your words always and politely! Rudeness, speaking over others, aggressive body language are not.

Good prep counts as much as your delivery skills. I look for data-driven arguments and logical arguments. If you are asked for a card, I expect you to find it quickly.

If you choose to share your case arguments with me (so I can follow along better) or share evidence when called for, please email Shyam.Kamadolli@yahoo.com.

Email is zkaufmann24@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to be pen pals. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to make a round better for you!

Some general notes:

* Make strategic decisions!

* Please, for the love of all that is holy, put a warrant in everything you say. If your argument lacks a warrant, it's not an argument. I don't feel comfortable voting on things which I would be unable to explain to the opposing team as part of an RFD. Good logic > decontextualized quantitative evidence.

* Please, please weigh. Make fewer arguments and weigh them more. Please explain explicitly how your arguments interact and do weighing that is good, nuanced, and makes sense within the context of the round. Quality > quantity.

* Rebuttal should answer turns on case and include weighing; generally I think that you should respond to offensive arguments in the next speech, case obviously excepted. You need to extend defense in every speech, conditional on your opponents' having answered it.

* If you want me to vote on something, it needs to be cleanly extended in both summary and final focus (i.e. link, warrant, impact, even for dropped arguments). Extend turns in first summary if you’re gonna hinge your whole round strat on it, basically. If I don’t know what I’m voting for, I’ll be sad and your speaks will suffer.

* Debating the way you want to debate and having fun is great, because otherwise there’s no reason for any of us to be here.

* I appreciate non-util framing and making arguments that you actually care about.

* If you feel comfortable, add your pronouns on tab.

Things I am Fine With:

* I am okay-ish with speed. I'll say "clear" if I can't understand you, but if you want me to flow important analysis or author names you should slow down.

* I'm fine with theory which checks back for actual abuse and which is articulated more like a traditional PF argument (i.e. paragraph form, which I find much easier to evaluate. If you start spreading, I will have no idea what is going on). I don’t know a ton about theory/Ks/etc, so if you want to do this explain it clearly and a little slower than usual and you should be fine.

In the words of Harry Bagenstos: "I think it is probably possible to debate nontraditional PF arguments such that even an opponent who has no prior familiarity with the style can understand and make technically valid responses to them, and I think you should try to do that rather than presuming the existence of highly-developed theoretical principles imported from other events." In general, just debate how you want to debate, but make a good-faith effort to include your opponents.

Specific Things Which I Dislike:

* Bad evidence ethics. Good logic beats bad evidence. If you want me to call evidence, tell me.

* Card dumping with no warrants. Also, extensions with no warrants. Basically anything without warranting. If you don't warrant something, "this isn't warranted" is an acceptable response.

* Exclusion generally. Debate fails if it’s not accessible to everyone. If you’re spreading to make sure your opponents can't flow or reading arguments that exclude the other debaters in the round, I will not be happy. This also means that I am open to progressive arguments if they check back for this.

* Debaters not treating other debaters like real human beings. Joking around and being snarky is great, but anything blatantly offensive/ mean/ dismissive will get your speaks tanked and you possibly dropped. I debated as a female second speaker with a male partner and I encourage everyone—especially male debaters and those on all-male teams—to consider how "perceptual dominance" or humor can come across as demeaning.

* Co opting issues for a strategy. Care about the issue and make the debate productive for everyone. Consider content warnings and flexing contentions if someone objects--sensitive topics don't exist in a vacuum and can affect the people around you, so be conscious and you should be fine. IF YOU DO NOT READ A CONTENT WARNING ON A SENSITIVE ARGUMENT AND YOUR OPPONENTS OBJECT IN ANY WAY, I WILL DROP YOU. IF ARE RACIST, SEXIST, CLASSIST, ABLEIST, ETC, I WILL DROP YOU. I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPASSION FOR OTHER PEOPLE. If you don't know how to run a content warning, you can ask me before the round starts.

Things I Do Not Care About:

* What you’re wearing, how you're sitting, etc... Debate is stressful and you should be comfy.

10 years judging and coaching PF—9 times at TOC (gold and silver divisions--two online years), 7 times at Nationals

Add me to your evidence email. brandonc@svsd410.org

I coach only Public Forum.

I am a high school English teacher full time.

Speed is fine with me.

I prefer big picture summaries

Role of the Final Focus: Crystallize the round (cliché, I know), but if it does not follow through on the flow I won’t weigh it.

Extension of Arguments into later speeches: I want to see everything on the flow. I look specifically at the summary and the final focus to see what you want me to really focus on in my decision.

Topicality/Plans/Kritiks: Make me engaged and interested in how you approach the round. I am not a stickler for or against anything at all. I want to see solid debates with clear argumentation and exceptional evidence.

Flowing/note-taking: I flow on the computer in an excel spreadsheet. I have my own shorthand and do not flow during crossfire because I would rather see the ammunition come up in speeches.

I value arguments. Style is irrelevant to me as long as I can understand your speaking—be snarky, be rude, whatever. Just get your point across.

If a team plans to win the debate on an argument, in your opinion does that argument have to be extended in the rebuttal or summary speeches? I think that the argument should be clearly flowed across. However, that does not mean I would not consider a major missing element from the constructive if it was crucial to the round.

If a team is second speaking, do you require that the team cover the opponents’ case as well as answers to its opponents’ rebuttal in the rebuttal speech? No, I do not require this. It can be effective at times, but not required.

Do you vote for arguments that are first raised in the grand crossfire or final focus? Sure. If it is clear and well grounded.

Weighing: I want you to weigh for me if the resolution and your case are really asking for it (usually you would know if you need to.) If you don't weigh and tell me what you ultimately want me to vote for and why by the final focus.... then I will just choose based on the flow.

Crossfire: I'm listening to what you are saying, but I don't write anything down for the most part, unless I am checking my flow against what you are saying and editing. If you want me to flow it, it better come up again in the speeches.

Framework: Sure. Do it. But if you both have one, you better make sure you decide which one to use and why and convince me of that.

Off time roadmaps: Don't care.

My only expectation is good clear debate. I do not like the argument that Public Forum is only for “lay” people off the street. I think it has much more potential to be an intellectual and engaging technical challenge. I am not a big fan of weighing lives because it really seems to be about the pathos/narrative and not the actual argumentation. Not that I don’t care about lives or whatever, it just is generally not an effective argument and most times there are more interesting ways to approach a topic than that.

I am the Director of the Debate Team at Manchester Essex High School. I am new to the position and the world of Debate! Due to a regard for human rights and individual freedoms, my higher education background is in cultural anthropology, law, public policy, and art education. I value integrity, respect for your opponent, and a calm explanation of your perspective on any given issue when engaged in a Debate. I will take away points if a speaker is sarcastic, condescending, or prejudice based on a person's race, class, gender, religion, or language and, alternatively, award points to speakers that calmly deliver well-informed arguments.

Carmen Kohn’s Paradigm

I have been judging speech and debate events since 2016. I am also currently the Director and Head Coach for Charlotte Catholic HS in NC.

Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum:

I enjoy both the ethical component of the discussions in LD and the current topicality of most PF topics. I appreciate the informative nature of these debates, especially in the current political climate.

I am a classic flow judge for both events and am looking for good clash between opponents. In LD, I place more emphasis on contentions rather than value, however, that evidence must clearly link back to the VC. I am also more interested in the impacts. A dropped contention is not automatic grounds for a win. It depends on the relevance of the argument. When rebutting, don't just extend the author's card. I am not writing down all of the authors. Please remind me of the evidence that was presented. I prefer the well-thought out, well-paced arguments. While debates are won based on evidence presented, I do find a direct correlation between technical speaking abilities and evidence offered. I also make a note of how professionally debaters present themselves and behave towards myself and each other.

I would classify myself as a advanced traditional lay judge. I am not a progressive judge. Do not run theory shells or any other "progressive" argument with me. While I do appreciate the occasional non-traditional argument, especially towards the end of the topic time frame, all cases should be realistic and applicable in the current environment in which we find ourselves. Please debate the current resolution.

Absolutely No Spreading!!! I cannot follow it, especially with online tournaments. You will lose the round. This is probably my biggest pet peeve. I feel there is no educational value to that in a competitive environment. You run the risk that I will not have caught all of your arguments and may miss a main point in my flow. Please keep technical jargon to a minimum also. Throwing around debate jargon and just cards identified by author gets too confusing to follow. And if you ask a question during cross-ex, please let your opponent answer and finish their sentences. It’s unprofessional to cut someone off. Signposts and taglines are always appreciated. I generally do not disclose or give oral RFD. I want time to review my notes. Debates where opponents respect each other and are having fun, arguing solid contentions, are the best ones to watch.

Congress:

I've just started judging Congress. My "comments" are usually summaries of your speeches. Occasional commentary on the delivery and/or content. Please interact with previously given speeches (by Rep name also) and don't just rehash a "first speech". If you can bring a new point to the discussion 6 speeches in, that is awesome.

I will give points to POs. I appreciate what is involved in POing. During nomination speeches, it can be assumed that a PO will run a "fast and efficient" chamber. No need to state the obvious. However, if that actually doesn't take place, a lower rank will result.

Good luck to all!!

I am a lay judge. Feel free to add me to the email chain: ariel.kronman@weil.com

I may not call/read a card unless you mention it in speech, so make sure you do that.

Do not assume that I am familiar with your arguments, so lay them out clearly.

It is best to number each argument, and clearly identify the argument that you are countering ("their Point 2," etc.).

Don't speak so quickly that I can't take accurate notes.

Please collapse. Make it very clear that you are only going for one argument, if that's the case.

If another team does something abusive (raising new points in later speeches), explain why that's bad (saying "You can't evaluate X, it was brought up too late so you can't evaluate it" should do it).

Make sure you emphasize and lay out your weighing. Explain why your impact is more important. I will not weigh for you.

In summary and ff, be specific as to why you're winning the round and why the other team is losing.

If you don't speak too quickly and explain your arguments well you'll do fine.

I am a Parent Judge and been doing this since 2017, I mostly judge debates. I am convinced with the team/person who were able to convince me regarding the resolution. I would like the debater's not speak too fast, but clearly. I am of the opinion of being respectful of others opinion and wait for their turn to speak. I am mostly swayed who is able articulate with cool head. I am interested most of the topics and does some research.

Hello!

• I am an an amateur parent judge
• I will flow the debate and make my decision mainly on the contentions you win on the basis of evidence and weighing in the Final Focus
• I judge on content, not delivery. I am comfortable with most speeds but please don't go too fast

Good luck and I am excited to see your debate.

Speak slowly and clearly so I can understand your arguments; if I don't understand them, I cannot vote for you. Use only realistic arguments.

It's helpful when you frontline and give implications in your speeches. Make sure to weigh in summary and final focus with consistency.

Do not run theory or any type of progressive arguments.

Be respectful to your opponents.

Looking forward to listening to your round!

Hi, my name is Laura. Good luck to you in your round.

I'm a parent judge, so you can imagine a few of my preferences. . . .

I am "truth over tech." I want you to debate the topic. I am not a fan of theory and think it is bad for public forum debate. Also, your arguments should be based upon weighable, realistic impacts, not extreme hypotheticals.

Speak conversationally. You can assume I am somewhat familiar with the topic you are debating. However, I prefer you to speak at a conversational speed. This is public forum, not LD, and I am against spreading in PF. Also, signpost please. If I can't follow your argument, I can't appreciate it.

Treat your opponent with respect. Don't say anything rude or offensive. Don't roll your eyes when your opponents are speaking. Don't interrupt excessively during crossfire. If you interrupt constantly, I will assume that you think they have a strong argument and that you don't want me to hear it.

Hello!

I'm a sophomore at Tufts University studying political science and economics and I did pf for 4 years at Newton South High School.

I have a couple of preferences when it comes to debate rounds that I think are pretty standard. I can deal with some speed, but no spreading please! I like good weighing. Essentially, don't just shout magnitude and scope at me, but actually explain why your impact is more important than your opponents. Good warranting and explanation of your arguments is very important to me because if I don’t understand your link chain I can’t justify voting off of it. Try to keep things as clear as possible because that’s probably who I’ll vote for. I may have debated in high school, but that does not mean that I know anything about the topic so please explain things relevant to the topic as if I've never heard them before because I probably haven't. I’m also not a big fan of theory unless it's absolutely necessary. First speaking teams can extend defense not said in first summary into final focus. Signposting is always a nice plus. I also enjoy if you are human and tell a story while debating if you can. Finally, in your 2 minute speeches please collapse your arguments and focus on 1-2 points.

This should be a given, but just generally be nice to each other! Feel free to make jokes and have fun as well because debate is supposed to be enjoyable.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I look forward to watching some good debates :)

TL;DR

Add me to the email chain: caroline.li.debate@gmail.com

I have no topic knowledge yet this year, I'm back in after having not judged for 2 years. Please help me out in the round!

Policy

I'm a current senior at Penn, she/her. I did policy debate for 4 years at Lexington High School, was a 2N. I ran mostly policy arguments on the neg, but my partner ran K and policy affs.

Top 4 things you need to do to win in front of me:

1. Do impact calc.

2. Have numbered warrants.

3. Prioritize what you want me to vote on in your last speeches.

4. Be civil to your opponents!

K-------------------------x--------------Policy

Advice

High level how I decide rounds. 1. I look for any major tech mistakes (dropping a perm, condo, flow, straight turn, etc) that mean I can auto vote for one side, no guilt necessary. If this happened in your round, stand up, make 2 arguments, and sit down. 2. I break the debate into blocks, (ie for a K, framework, link, alt, impact) and decide who won each block. 3. I decide what winning a block means for a team, and how the blocks implicate each other. If you made even if statements, bonus points in this step. If you did impact calc, bonus points in this step. 4. I return a decision.

Also, I'm mostly flowing by listening. Clarity~

Framework Debates

At the end of this debate, I will write down the impacts each side goes for, assign some probability of solvency depending on how well you're doing on the internal links for that impact, and then figure out if they implicate/outweigh one another. As such, feel free to expand the debate in the 2AC through the 1AR, but in the last speeches buckle down on 1-3 key pieces of offense, weigh it against your opponents' best offense, and then apply it to all the other arguments that show up on these massive T flows. Also, procedural fairness can be a terminal impact if you can convince me it is. Doing good case debate and then applying it offensively to the T flow is always an excellent idea.

Policy aff v Ks

On the aff, having specific, well-thought-out perms and explaining why they mitigate the risk of links is an excellent idea, as is using your impacts to outweigh. On the neg, winning strong impacts to each link helps a lot, as does pointing out specific parts of the aff speeches that link. These debates also tend to become massive, so collapsing in your last speeches and not getting caught up in the line by line will help.

DAs

I do think it's possible for there to be 0% risk of a DA. I find it more persuasive if you have like 5 reasons why one internal link of the DA won't happen than if you put one reason on five different internal links. Aff-specific DAs which are well-prepared will be entertaining, as will having specific links to the aff.

CPs

Don't like process CPs. Do like advantage CPs, or any CP that you made up on the fly but solves the entire aff. CPs are tests of how necessary the aff is to solve its impacts. On the aff, creative permutations are entertaining.

T

Make clear internal link and impact scenarios, do impact comparison, and internal link turns, and you'll be good to go. If they clarify how the aff works late in the debate, and it's egregiously untopical, I don't mind if you introduce a new T violation in the neg block.

Final thoughts

Make my job easy please!

Give me judging advice/Review my judging: https://forms.gle/FrmsLwNv95YQZpgF9

Loud prep is a pet peeve

I don't love it when other members of your team sit in on your prelim rounds sorry!

Speaks Scale

28.0 needs some improvement

28.5 good

29.0 impressive

I am a lay judge, and this is my second tournament judging.

I do not understand progressive arguments such as theory, K, counterplans, etc. Similarly, please do not spread—I will not understand. However, I will do my best to follow along and take notes.

Please give big picture overviews that explain how the arguments in the round interact, and clash with your opponent’s arguments.

Hello. This is Xiaojin Liu and I'm a parent judge at Newton South High School. I prefer logical and concise presentation. I will judge on both the content and how the content to be delivered. I vote for the team that show direct evidence to support your arguments.

Hi, I'm Anusha (she/her/hers). I did Public Forum Debate at Shrewsbury High School for 2 years, as well as other events like extemp, congress, and BQ. Above all, I ask that you are respectful of everyone in the round.

A little more about my judging:

- While I have competed in debate, I am a little new to judging it. I will be flowing and will be able to follow your arguments, please speak slowly (spreading will not help your case). If I miss an argument or a piece of evidence because of your rushed speech, that will only hurt your case in the long run.

- Extend your offense to the summary if you want it evaluated in the FF.

- If you're second speaking, you should be responding to turns/frontlining in the rebuttal, bringing up new responses in summary isn't something I appreciate

- Unless an alternative FW is provided, I'll assume a utilitarian FW

- MAKE SURE YOU WEIGH! Tell me why your impacts are more important than your opponents, and if you can do it before the summary and FF, great!

- I will do my best to flow any argument (keep in mind what I said about speed), and I am always open to hearing new perspectives and arguments on the topic, but I have been out of the PF loop for a year or so and am not really experienced with k's, theory, etc., so if you plan on running it, you will likely have to over-explain it.

- As far as speaks go, I do value good speaking (clear, understandable, not too fast) but it will not make or break your round. I understand that debate speaking styles are pretty different from speech ones, so honestly as long as you are confident and know what you're talking about you will be fine.

- As I said above, respect is #1 for me, so if you are rude to your opponents or me, or you say anything that is derogatory, homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ablest, etc., understand that the round will likely not go your way (a.k.a I will likely drop you and tank your speaks). I appreciate jokes and sarcasm, as long as they are not made at anyones expense.

All of this being said, I wish you all the best of luck!

This is a retired account as I no longer coach or compete in competitive high school debate. However, here is a video of me doing the activity I loved way back in 2019:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNKKYA5KiO4

Here is my old paradigm:

Debate is a game, play to win.

-General-

Started circuit-level pf my junior year, was a speech kiddo before that. Qualified to Gold TOC both years and auto-qualified for the second, qualified to NSDA junior year and auto-qualified for senior year.

I'll vote on anything. Tech > truth, tabula rasa.

Postround as hard as you want. (Post-round means ask questions about my decision)

Cool with anyone speaking in any cross-examination, I don't see a reason why every cross shouldn't just have everyone involved.

If you're going over 300 wpm(words per minute), send a speech doc and slow down on analytics not in the doc.

If the tourney is online, send the speech doc anyways in case something cuts out

If you think there is something missing from my paradigm, ask me before round or make an argument in round for why I should follow a certain rule when judging.

-Substance-

Dump all you got, but at least be responsive.

First summary doesn't need to extend dropped defense.

Weigh. "Probability" is not weighing. If an argument is won, the probability is high. You can do strength of link weighing, but ultimately anything that you say is "probability weighing" is probably just impact defense that needs to come in rebuttal.

-Progressive-

Go for it, I encourage it.

Know the difference between theory and a K, and structure your theory shells.

Go as may off as you want against willing teams.

Parent judge.

Prefer debaters to speak clearly at a normal speed.

I did PF for four years, now I’m a coach for Walt Whitman and a college debater.

If you’re comfortable, please put your pronouns in your tab account.

I'm a pretty standard tech judge, however I care infinitely more about good logical warranting than cards.

I can deal with any speed, but if you're going fast please signpost clearly.

I don't require all defense to be extended in first summary, however if it's frontlined you should respond if you want to extend it.

If you have any questions about my feedback or decision, feel free to ask. Be respectful tho.

tldr: traditional flow judge with nat-circuit experience, prefers well warranted and narrative debates, does not enjoy speed

Hi! Quick background about me, I am old now but used to debate at Boston Latin. Hit me up on FB with any questions before the round.

Think of me like a lay judge trapped in a tech debater's body. I will flow, I am (usually?) tech>truth, tabula rasa blah blah blah but I will vote 99 times out of 100 for the team that a) collapses and weighs strategically, b) provides a clearer narrative across all speeches, c) actually warrants their args (I really don't care how many cards you dump on me if I don't hear a clear warrant). Don't just extend your args, tell me why I should care about your arguments in the real world or at least care more about your arguments than your opponents'.

I never ran progressive args while I debated, so I have a pretty high threshold to hearing them in round. Once again, I'm flexible: if there's something in the round that truly warrants such an arg, read it. Just don't get all caught up in technical mumbo-jumbo as much as just trying to keep things clear and reasonable for me.

I am not great at flowing speed, and I never preferred to go ultra-fast when I debated so don't expect me to be able to follow along if you are gonna pull an Eminem (at least Em is usually pretty clear when he spits).

The activity is meant for everyone to have fun and learn so honestly just do whatever y'all do best and lemme know if there is anything I can do better to accommodate you as debaters.

I appreciate strong evidence along with viable warrants.

Good speaking is imperative.

Be respectful during cross, and don't spread.

I debated for four years at Walt Whitman High School (MD), where I now serve as a PF coach. This is my fourth year judging/coaching PF. The best thing you can do for yourself to cleanly win my ballot is to weigh. At the end of the round, you will probably have some offense but so will your opponent. Tell me why your offense is more important and really explain it—otherwise I’ll have to intervene and use my own weighing, which you don’t want.

Other preferences:

- If second rebuttal frontlines their case, first summary must extend defense. However, if second rebuttal just responds to the opposing case, first summary is not required to extend defense. Regardless, first summary needs to extend turns if you want me to vote on them.

- Second summary needs defense and should start the weighing part of the debate (if it hasn't happened already).

-I will only accept new weighing in the second final focus if there has been literally no other weighing at any other part of the debate.

- I don't need second rebuttal to frontline case, but I do require that you frontline any turns. Leaving frontlining delinks for summary is fine with me.

-I highly suggest collapsing on 1-2 arguments; I definitely prefer quality of arguments over quantity.

- I love warrants/warrant comparisons. For any evidence you read you should explain why that conclusion was reached (ie explain the warrant behind it). Obviously in some instances you need cards for certain things, but in general I will buy logic if it is well explained over a card that is read but has absolutely no warrant that's been said. I also really hate when people just respond to something by saying "they don't have a card for this, therefore it's false" so don't do that.

- Speed is okay but spreading is not.

- Don’t just list weighing mechanisms, explain how your weighing functions in the round and be comparative. Simply saying "their argument is vague/we outweigh on strength of link/we have tangible evidence and they do not" is not weighing.

- Not big on Ks and theory is only fine if there is a real and obvious violation going on. Don’t just run theory to scare your opponent or make the round more confusing. With this in mind, please trigger warn your cases. Trigger warning theory is probably the only theory shell I will ever vote on, but I really really don't want to because I hate voting on theory. PLEASE TRIGGER WARN YOUR CASES AND/OR ASK YOUR OPPONENTS IF THEY READ SENSITIVE MATERIAL PRIOR TO THE ROUND BEGINNING TO AVOID TRIGGERING PEOPLE AND THEN RE-LITIGATING THE TRAUMA FOR THE ENTIRE DEBATE. If you care about protecting survivors, you will ask before the round if a case has sensitive material. Also, I hate disclosure theory. Just ask your opponent to share their case if it is a big deal to you.

- I highly encourage you not to run arguments in front of me about people on welfare having disincentives to work, or any other type of argument like that which shows a clear lack of understanding/empathy about poverty and the lived experiences of low-income people.

- I like off-time roadmaps, but BE BRIEF.

The only time I’ll intervene (besides if you don’t weigh and I have to choose what to weigh), is if you are being sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. or are blatantly misrepresenting evidence. I’ll drop you and tank your speaks.

Also, I know debate is often stressful so try to have fun! Let me know if you have any other questions before the round or if there is anything I can do to accommodate you.

Speak slowly and articulately rather than racing through your speech

I like hearing logical arguments based up by evidence

In your final speeches, tell me why you should win

I have a background in PF and Policy and 11 years of coaching experience. I vote based on the flow and won't make any arguments for you (i.e. expect you to extend consistently if you want me to consider something when voting, point out dropped args. and why they matter, etc.).

-If you have a question/want to call for evidence, ask before prep starts, not in the middle to steal 20 seconds.

-If you're going to give an off-time roadmap, it should be specific. "I'm going to go down their case, and then expand on my own if time permits" is completely unnecessary and doesn't tell me anything.

-Summary and final focus should actually be responsive to the arguments made during the round, rather than reading something you've prewritten. Focus on demonstrating your understanding of the topic/your link story and handle to root causes and warrants of arguments in your analysis.

If you're setting up an evidence doc, my email is kelseymmcglynn@gmail.com

I am a parent judge with no background in high school or college debate. I am a former math professor who also has 15 years of experience in global macro-economic investing.

I will attempt to flow the debate, but it is mostly just me taking notes. A citizen judge, I prefer not to get tangled in the arcana of debating rules. If I feel you’ve made and overall maintained a strong argument in favor of your case (or in opposition to your opponent’s), I will rule in your favor.

Logic reigns supreme (that math thing I mentioned before). A well-constructed argument backed by a small number of quality statistics will usually sway me better than a barrage of statistics. Similarly, a smaller number of quality arguments will sway me better than a barrage of arguments.

Which brings us to speed. I don’t mind if you speak quickly, but I will be more impressed by watching you think on the spot than by watching you rattle off prepared remarks. I’ve also found that the more you say, the more likely you are to contradict yourself. Give your opponent the chance to contradict him- or herself.

Be gentle with each other and have fun.

I am a parent judge and have been actively judging since 2019 in multiple national tournaments. I have completed the NSDA judge training and Cultural Competency course. As a global business professional, I travel extensively and am fairly familiar with most topics debated in NSDA PF.

Speak at a reasonable pace – clarity is your responsibility. If you make an argument, you should explain and weigh the argument. Warranting is important. Clearly signpost throughout the round. Extending an impact, without explaining its warrant won’t win you the impact. Paraphrasing is fine – but needs to be accurate. Explain clear voting issues in the final focus. I like to hear why you should win.

Cards: Exchange of cards is mandatory when requested. If you cannot produce a card in 2 minutes, I will ignore it.

Timing: Time yourself (rounds and prep)

Audience: This is public forum – public (especially parents) are welcome.

Hi

Did PF for 4 years at King High School, now attending Emory University in ATL.

Please add me to the email chain/google doc (I prefer google doc): Khem6th@gmail.com

If both teams agree, I will give 45 seconds of prep time instead of grand cross (taken simultaneously by both teams after summary, does not get added to individual team prep time).

Feel free to postround me, I don't really mind since it makes me a better judge and my decisions more clear. My decision, as written, will not change.

Pretty standard PF flow:

- Warranting is big important – cards shouldn’t do all your work

- Second speaking team should at least frontline turns in rebuttal, I will put less weight on new frontlines made to defense in Second Summary (meaning a blippy response/backline in final by 1st speaking team will be adequate)

- Anything in Final has to be in Summary, except weighing for either team and unresponded defense for 1st speaking team

- I will only vote on things that make it into final focus, I work backwards on my flow

- If there's no ink on the link chain, you can use blips to extend it in final focus, but try to keep it cohesive in summary.

- Please collapse

- Explicit weighing (jargon) and explanations of mechanisms

- I prefer more probable, low severity impacts over less probable, high severity impacts – the best thing you can do is provide historical examples

- Speed: I prefer well-warranted, conversation-paced debate. If you are to go fast, keep in mind that I flow on my computer and can type like max 80wpm when I have text in front of me, so don’t go mad fast else I’ll miss stuff

- I will vote on the easiest path to the ballot

- I do not care about cross, make it fun, anybody can talk if they want to

-"Are you tech over truth?" - to some extent, I will evaluate an argument I know to be false if its not responded to but this doesn't mean that you should skip warranting just cause its on the flow. Like other judges, my threshold for quality of responses goes down the more out-there an argument is.

Progressive arguments:

- General:

I do not have a lot of experience with progressive argumentation (this means probably argue util for a better ballot). If you want me to vote on progressive arguments, please give me explicit explanation of what the link is and good explanation of why the impact comes first. I don’t really like unwarranted “moral duty” arguments but warranted and explained moral weighing is fine.

- Kritiks:

With Kritiks, I have little experience with them as well – if you want me to vote on a Kritik, I need really defined role of the ballot arguments of why my vote makes a structural change. I don’t understand a lot of K lit so please make it as if you were talking to a friend of why something in the system needs to change and less like you’re in front of a well-versed policy debater.

- Theory:

I have a little more experience with theory than general progressive args and Kritiks, but normative arguments need very good Standards and Voters/Impact for me to vote on it – I generally like undisclosed, paraphrased (heathen statement right?) PF but I’m open to good arguments on that or on other norms. Also, I do need you to go slower and present an actual flowable shell.

Evidence Ethics:

Please do not take any longer than a minute to find a piece of evidence, and if you are having technical issues finding a card please just say so.

Evidence should not be misrepresented, whether its cut or paraphrased. I will read evidence as its written, not how its cut or tagged, even if it’s not brought up by your opponents – I think it encourages lazy research practices and abuse of PF rules.

This being said, I likely won't call for a card unless it is a) pivotal in my decision, b) its veracity is contested and important, or c) if both teams read opposing evidence and none gives a warrant of why their's is better

Speaks:

- I think speaks should be based off the pool, so no set rules on scale

- If you make the round fun for me to judge, or if I laugh, you and everybody else in the round will probably get higher speaks

- I don't listen to cross, so do whatever you want really

- I appreciate competitors being nice to each other and friendly, it makes the activity more fun for everyone. This event, though competitive, should support a learning environment with a community so treat your opponents like you would your friends in conversation :)

Misc:

I don't have an onboard camera for my computer, and its a hassle for me to use the usb plugin one. I likely won't have my camera on.

Yall gotta rock with the oral rfd ❗️❗️

My son does PF debate for Horace Mann. I'm a relatively new Judge. I favor key points made clearly and slowly. I favor substance over speed.

I am a lay judge.

My preferences

Speak normal conversational speed and not use debate jargons

Collapsing will be helpful

Be precise and clear with your reasoning

Please keep track of your time

I would not like to see

Being disrespectful to other team

All the best!

Tech (like a few years ago, i’m more tired now and may miss some things)

weighing in second rebuttal

be respectful

no K’s please

He/Him

oliverhniu@gmail.com

Update for Ridge 2022:

I competed in Public Forum for four years at Millard North HS, graduated in 2019, and coached at NDF/VBI/on the circuit pre-Covid. I’m basically retired now and Ridge will be my first time judging in about two years. Therefore, assume I have very limited topic knowledge and am unfamiliar with any recent norms.

Here's a few preferences:

If you want the easy path to my ballot; weigh, implicate your defense/turns, tell me why you should win.

Smart analytics > bad evidence or paraphrased blips.

Debate is a game, as such I will normally be a tech>truth judge except in circumstances where I deem an argument to be offensive/inappropriate for the debate space.

Rebuttal:
I prefer a line by line. Second rebuttal should respond to turns/disads.

Extensions:

I won't do ghost extensions for you even if the argument is conceded, extend your arguments.

Arguments that I am comfortable with:

Theory, T, Plans, Counter Plans, Ks. I will caution that these arguments were not super common when I competed so please be thorough in your explanations and make your path to the ballot clear. If I don't understand your argument well, I will default against it.

Evidence Challenges:

Unless the tournament says otherwise, in the event of a dispute about evidence, I will pause the round and ask the accusing team if they wish to stake the round on their claim. I will then determine if there was a violation of evidence ethics and vote accordingly.

I have no background in high school or college debate, but I have been a practicing attorney for more than 35 years and have been judging PF debates for 8 years.

I am a great believer in the “citizen judge” roots of Public Forum. The debater’s job is to persuade the man on the street, with no background as to the resolution of the month, that pro or con should win. Thus, clarity and focus are paramount. Your job is to persuade, not confuse, me. Well-structured arguments and effectively utilized evidence are key, but so are articulation, modulation, and engagement. A glance up from your laptop from time to time can work wonders, as can staying in the Zoom frame in a well-lighted room.

I do flow arguments, but not in a very technical way. A dropped argument will only count against you if it is material to your overall presentation and not offset by more meritorious arguments that make it through Final Focus.

Spreading and the pointless acceleration of pacing it engenders are strongly discouraged. You should choose your arguments carefully and deliver them at a pace, and with an energy and focus, that are designed to persuade.

Use your evidence fairly and judiciously. Do not overstate its significance or twist its meaning beyond recognition. I will only ask to see your card if the outcome of a round turns on an evidentiary dispute, but, if it comes to this, you want to be confident that your card can be read as presented. Also, feel free to request your opponent's cards, but do so sparingly and only when necessary to dispute a material contention or buttress a key argument.

Unfortunately, only one team can win; that’s the way it is in real life and in every courtroom I have ever appeared, so try to roll with the punches.

Most importantly, have fun. Few things are as satisfying as a hard-fought win; or as motivating (for the next round) as a too-close-to-call loss.

I'm pretty new to debate - this is my third year judging

- Please talk in a way I can understand (not too fast, not too much debate jargon, etc.)

- As I'm new to debate, just saying things like "nonunique" or "link-turn" mean absolutely nothing to me, EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE SAYING PLEASE

- Despite the fact that I'm a parent judge, I will be judging how you debate not what you say, so do with that what you will

- I might call for evidence if something is fishy (so don't be fishy)

- Above all else, be respectful, nice, and cordial to your fellow debaters. Let's all have a good time with this!

Technically a senior on leave from Harvard, I debated 4 years in Public Forum for The Dalton School.

For 1st Speakers:

During Constructive: Please make eye contact with me during your constructive speech. You have ideally read your own case at least 2 times before round, so I want you to at least try to make a personal connection (i.e. genuinely try to sell me on your case).

During Summary: Please start boiling down your points. I want you to start weighing during this speech, and tell me how you're winning.

If you go for every single point in the round, you will lose 0.5 speaker points. Your job is to start condensing it for me. Also, don't just do it for me; as a former 2nd speaker, I remember how much easier my job became when my 1st speaker would deliver a very clear and effective summary. So, please do it for your partner, too!

For 2nd Speakers:

During Rebuttal: Please start out with an overview, explaining why I should listen to your framework / overview over your opponents, not just telling me why your framework is valid.

If you're the 1st speaking rebuttal, just go down their flow. Don't just dump evidence; you could read me all the evidence in the world, but I want you to provide me with the logic behind such arguments. Explain any turns you may make clearly.

If you're the 2nd speaking rebuttal, I want you to not only go down their case, but also respond to any turns your opponents make on your case.

During Final Focus: Write my ballot for me. Do this, and you will win. Explain to me what arguments you are winning on; hammer in on things I should extend in the flow and explain to me why they're important. Don't just read me evidence I should extend, or else I have no justification for doing so. Anything that you say in final focus that wasn't mentioned in summary will be ignored.

General Stuff:

1) PLEASE SIGNPOST. Tell me where you are on the flow, or else I will be lost, which will be very frustrating.

2) I don't actually flow cross, so please provide crossfire analysis at the beginning of subsequent speeches if you want anything said during cross to be weighed in the round (concessions, turns, logic explanations, etc.).

3) Any disrespectful or racist, sexist, inappropriate, etc things said in round will lead to an automatic 25 speaker points or less, and depending on severity, may even lead to an automatic win to the other team.

4) At the end of the day, it's just a debate round where you guys are arguing a topic you've spent hours researching. Have fun, WEIGH, and enjoy!

I am a recent high school graduate from Scarsdale High school, and I debated PF for 2 years in high school.

I understand how stressful debate can be, so here are some tips and some of my preferences:

-I know it can be hard, but try to stay calm and speak loudly and clearly

-Use off-time roadmaps or sign-posting to keep your speeches organized

-Make sure you clearly explain your claims (I.E. always tell me a clear logical flow for why/how something happens)

-Be respectful to the opposing team, do not speak over them or interrupt during crossfire

-I believe that probability isn't weighed a lot and I think that works against teams.

-I will pay attention to cross but I will not flow most of it unless it is something that is being contested the entire round.

-Identify and clarify your voters in summary and final focus.

-I know how irritating it is to not have the round disclosed. I will do my best to make a decision and disclose the result, but sometimes it needs extra time. If I do disclose and you would like some more reasoning/tips after RFD if you ask me politely I will be more than happy to help.

-I won't usually call for a card unless it is the deciding factor in the round or I believe it is being misused.

-If possible keep debate jargon to a minimum

-I don't evaluate Ks and theory

Finally, just have fun and do your best.

I debated in high school and college some years ago. I am a lay judge. I have judged PF over the past 3 years. I encourage speaking clearly and at a pace that is not too fast. I will flow the round. Explain why you believe your side should win and why your arguments are more compelling than the other side’s. Good luck to everyone!

I am a lay judge. Please explain your arguments clearly and convincingly.

Also please be respectful to your opponents. I admire debaters who are convincing yet humble. I also appreciate a good sense of humor.

~Updated for Feb 2022~

FYI I have not judged in approximately a year and I have not interacted with debate in just as long. I would recommend taking this into account while prepping strats and speaking MUCH SLOWER than you usually would.

Conflicts: Walt Whitman, Lexington, Hunter, Hamilton RM

Send docs: 19.prasadm@gmail.com

I did LD and PF at Lexington HS (MA) 2015-2019.

Disclaimers:

Hello! This is ZOOM debate which means it is GLITCHY and GROSS pls SLOW down!

Used to be Yale 2020, now thoughts on e-debate in general: I'm tired, I am burned out, and I get very bored listening to badly explained Baudrillard Ks multiple rounds in a row. If you do pref me, know that double flighted tournaments make my eyes *burn* and I will be flowing on paper for most rounds if it's a double flighted tournament. I used to care a lot about the things listed below. To some extent I still do, but I haven't taught/intensely thought about debate since summer 2019 so at the moment I'm not very invested in specific types of arguments or up to speed with whatever is trendy this season. Judging over Zoom is exhausting and it's honestly pretty hard for me to flow that well with little voices screaming out of my laptop. Please, please, please, for the love of all things good, SLOW DOWN. At least for tags. I'm begging.

PLEASE TRIGGER WARN APPROPRIATELY!!! If you don't know how please ask!

Postrounding is a no <3. Questions about strats are fine, but you won't change my ballot.

LD:

Short version.

Ks we love. LARP/policy is solid. Traditional is also good. Phil is kinda meh, you'd need to explain it very well. Please leave your tricks, skep, and frivolous theory at home, I don't trust myself to evaluate them. Probably okay at evaluating T/theory if there is a persuasive abuse story. If you read T/theory the shell needs to have an impact. Disclosure and email chains are good. When you extend or make new arguments don't forget to implicate them! Tell me what comes first and why.

Long version.

I used to vibe p hard with Mina's paradigm and I share a lot of her views on debate. I was also heavily influenced by Paloma O'Connor, CQ, and David Asafu-Adjaye. As a result, I'm not a fan of the whole "debate is a game" mindset and doing whatever it takes to win a round. Debate is about education, not about your record. Also -- I'm sorry, fairness is not a voter.

Kritiks/Non-T K affs/Performance

I mostly ran these as a debater so these are my favorite arguments. I really like hearing performance affs but you also need to be able to point to something the aff actually does.

That being said, don't read random Ks in front of me just because of my paradigm. I need to see a clear link and know what the alt does. Links of omission are ~questionable~ and I'm sympathetic to args against them. I'm also extremely picky when it comes to people reading and other kritiks relating to indigenous scholarship. I think a lot of authors are bastardized and commodified in debate and I see this the most with indigenous scholarship. Not uber familiar with all K lit, especially newer pessimism arguments.

New microaggression independent voter args that seem to be trendy and function on some sort of level between theory and K, but probably above policy?

Impact these out if you're reading them. I'm not going to vote off of a blippy one line claiming something is an "independent voter" or a "voting issue" and no implication of the argument. Also, don't just drop all the other flows because you think something is an independent voter -- I don't think this is very strategic; explain how it interacts with the other flows and which layer of the round it should be evaluated on. I don't really enjoy voting off these arguments...tbh they make me kinda uncomfy, but if they're warranted and impacted I will.

Plans/CPs/DAs/LARPy policy stuff

These are cool, low key would like to judge more of them. Just be wary of super long link chains. I default to comparative worlds in most debates (esp when framing becomes murky) so this is probably the type of debate best equipped for that.

T/Theory

I did not like these arguments as a debater and I generally do not enjoy judging them. I'm also not very good at judging them so PLEASE make the abuse story very clear and SLOW DOWN A LOT.

Post Big Lex 2020 edit: I'm honestly starting to hate these arguments less. I'm not completely opposed to T and would probably be down to judge more non-T K affs vs T rather than bad/awkward K v Ks.

Yale 2020: Idk if this is a new thing but y'all aren't impacting your shells. Like great you just spent a minute reading T, but didn't tell me what to do about it. DTD or DTA, but if not idk what I'm supposed to do with the shell lol.

Blake 2020: If you read disclosure against a trad/small school debater who is not familiar with the wiki I will probably not vote on the shell,,, like bruh why?

T v K

I went for K over T a lot as a debater but I'm gonna try to be tab about this and say both sides are gonna need hella warrants and hella weighing when making these arguments.

Tricks/a prioris/friv theory

just no <3.

Speaker Points

I start at a 28.5 and then move up or down depending on what y'all do. Go slow at first and let me get used to you before you go full speed. I'll say clear 2-3 times but if nothing changes don't expect my flow to be that great and I'm not gonna check the speech doc to play catch up. Be strategic and don't be rude and you'll probably be happy with your speaks. Read: adapt to your opponent if they have considerably less experience than you. I am not afraid of giving a mean debater with a good strat a 26.

PF:

I didn't do a ton of PF because I don't think it's very nuanced/not well-structured. Biases aside, just make good extensions, do a good amount of weighing and READ ACTUAL CARDS.

I am a parent judge. After consideration of the speaker's points made defending their case, I like to judge on contestants voice modulation and impact statements in Cross and Final Focus.

Never judged PF, but have done a lot of Parli.

I can flow pretty fast, but will say clear if necessary.

I'm not going to flow Cross--make sure that you repeat anything important in your speeches.

Theory/inventive argumentation are perfectly fine, but you need to weigh everything.

Be kind and civil to each other.

Yasemin Reis (she/her)

I’m a junior at Columbia and a member of the Columbia Parli Team. I can keep up with moderate speed with very clear signposting. I expect arguments and rebuttals to be substantially warranted.

Willow.C.Roark@gmail.com — She/Her

Policy Debate(NDT/CEDA) at the University of West Georgia

Western Washington University (2020-2023)

Mount Si High School (2016-2020)

—— Overview ——

Emory PF Debaters: I’m a college policy debater with significant technical experience that will evaluate “progressive” arguments as well as any other (complete) argument you put on the flow.

I most align with the communications paradigm. I flow the round. I flow cross-examination.

I will evaluate all complete arguments. A complete argument is a claim, a warrant, and an implication.

I currently compete in intercollegiate policy debate but before that I’ve competed in 4 other formats: Advocacy Debate(CARD), British Parliamentary(BP), Social Justice Debate(SJD), and Public Forum Debate(PFD). I’ve had a pretty broad tour of the debate world so don’t worry about just competing as you would in your home format, be that communicative or technical, slow or fast, “progressive” or “traditional.”

I have a considerable bias toward innovative arguments across the board.

Laughing at your opponents is an auto-drop and lowest possible speaks.

If your opponents tell you to slow– slow, or I will stop flowing your speech.

Speaker Points are based on:

1. Conciseness. People use different filler words and speak and articulate at different speeds: I am evaluating these word economy elements less. I will evaluate your sentence level efficiency, overall repetitiveness of the speech structure.

2. Cross-examination – short questions, effective follow-ups, not being excessively rude or interruptive.

3. Signposting (especially including numbering responses in rebuttal/2AC)

Random pet peeve: I don’t want a “card doc.” The round is over dude.

We don’t know how to do tech or truth. Just do the work and try and make sense.

—— Public Forum ——

Argumentative preferences)

I come from the 2016-2020 PF Era but have moved into ‘progressive’ styles of debate in college.

Throw theory and Ks on the flow, I’ll evaluate it all the same.

I like procedurals, especially in a format as broken as Public Forum.

I know the rules say no plans/counterplans, they also say no snitches. It’s the debaters who get to set the norms through the theory debate, not a rulebook. I promise I won’t tell NSDA.

Evidence)

The evidence norms in PF are disturbing. Paraphrasing is everywhere, the evidence can’t be looked at before round, and the cutting of most evidence is immensely sketchy. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve had some rounds where more time was spent calling cards than actual speech time. Other debate events figured out that disclosure and highlighted cards are how you check back on this. I won’t decide every round on these half-assed evidence indicts. It’s just handing the decision to the judge at this point to sort out who did the more sus prep.

“Judge we like looked at their card after CX and squinted at it all moody-looking for a split second, drop this evidence and call for these like 12 other cards”

Because I care about PF, I will only evaluate this kind of evidence indict if:

1: There was disclosure before the round or there is an in-round email chain sent out for at least your side of the debate with your constructive and rebuttal speech docs.

Or 2: you make a formal evidence violation claim and bring your opponents to tab like serious debaters do when they think their opponent has willfully misrepresented evidence.

Summary/Final Focus)

Collapse. Hard.

Go for that one dropped turn and spend the entire back half of the round implicating it on the flow and explaining why you win.

Going for everything is bad. Don’t do it. Don’t extend three contentions in your summary.

Framework)

If you read a framework, justify it. Tell me why to evaluate that kind of impact first; read a warrant. “My opponents didn’t read a framework” is not a warrant.

Weighing)

PLEASE WEIGH YOUR IMPACTS.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t vote for your impact:

Because I was confused. Because this event is confusing, and a mess, and you are the clean-up crew. Put on some gloves and do the dirty work.

Specific peeves)

“Drop them right there” – nope.

“Strike this off your flow” – no.

“for these X reasons, [Our next author] concludes”

- No they didn’t

- Not for those reasons

—— Policy ——

Procedural preferences)

Judge kick in the block as a default.

Fairness can have its own terminal impacts.

Theory can be a reason to drop the team or the argument in any instance, it depends on how you implicate it.

Pen time is appreciated!

General Biases)

In college I have been both a K 2N and a soft-left affirmative. I don't promise to have read your specific brand of high-academic kritikal weaponry, but I will always evaluate complete arguments.

I’m not too hot on ‘infinite condo.’

Floating PIKs are often extremely sketchy. Please tell me exactly what you are PIKing out of and why it resolves your offense.

I miss impact calculus.

The K AFF is fine but IMO it should have anti-topical offense or find creative routes to topicality. You are not writing a good K AFF if your offense and method is floating way off in the void, detached from the resolution.

Speed is probably terrible for everyone who does it and the entire community.

I won’t dismiss framework against the politics DA and the states counterplan.

Don’t be a toxic rage robot.

—— Lincoln Douglass ——

Hey! I am not a frequent LD judge. A few implications:

1. Explain and warrant your value criterian arguments!

2. I have a much higher threshold for theory, especially RVIs.

3. Trix are for kids and not my ballot. Check your tom-foolery at the door.

Despite debating in policy, I actually don’t necessarily default to utilitarianism and consequentialism or prefer them. I will check my biases, but at least know that I am not going to poop on your ethics party.

I am a lay parent judge; please keep this in mind when competing in front of me, and try not to speak too fast or use an overwhelming amount of jargon. I have some experience judging debate, mostly Public Forum but also Lincoln Douglas on one occasion. While I definitely don’t fit the traditional definition of “flowing”, I do take extensive notes during round. Although I’m a parent, if you try to take advantage of me and bring up new arguments in any final focus, I will take notice and dock speaks accordingly. If you have any further questions, I’ll be happy to answer them before the round begins. Above all else, have fun!

Hi, I'm Eden and I currently debate APDA at Columbia. I'm Class of 2024 and before college, I debated policy for four years in the Atlanta Urban Debate League circuit. I've judged quite a bit for Columbia's tournaments and debated regularly my freshman year, but I remain embarrassingly clueless about debate theory and may end up rusty on my jargon, so sorry in advance.

I have attention issues but flowing is so focus-intensive that it's hard to get distracted, so I don't foresee that being a problem. I am a bit slow at deciding rounds and giving RFDs because I have to make sure I haven't missed anything (due to said attention issues). I've been working on this and am improving as I judge more! For this same reason I prefer slower speaking. Sensory stimuli, especially sound, can be overwhelming to me sometimes. I know rounds can get heated and that's part of everyone's fun. As long as you are not screaming, it shouldn't be a problem!

❗One more thing: We all get informed of the importance of trigger warnings at the beginning and throughout every tournament, but I would like to reiterate and urge you to really take it seriously. The difference they make flies over the heads of far too many people and they get taken for granted. Please be thorough in your trigger warnings. If you think any parts of your case, especially major arguments, are potentially triggering or involve systemic harms against any group, please please trigger warn.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask (unless it's questions I can't answer because of tournament rules, etc etc)!

I am a parent judge with some experience. I will take a lot of notes, but I do not “flow”. Please be respectful of each other during the debate. Please speak slowly enough to be understood. You have done your research and worked hard on your case, but I can only give you credit if I can understand what you are saying. Fast arguments challenge my ability to follow you. I will expect teams to keep their own time. I would recommend quality arguments over quantity.

I hope you have fun. Good luck and have a great round.

livingston high school '20 (4 years PF, debated @ TOC + Nats) | university of california, berkeley '24

ishan.saxena@berkeley.edu for the email chain

warrants matter (in all speeches would be ideal)

comparatively weigh

debate however you want

be a good person

I have barely judged Public Forum so I can be considered a lay judge.

What I'm looking for:

- I will try my best to not determine the round based off of speaking but rather how argumentation is done in the debate.

- I prefer the quality of arguments over the quantity of arguments being said in the round

- Try to speak slowly and clearly in the round, especially when talking about a potentially major argument.

- Since there might be a lot of contradicting arguments, please make sure to explain why your claim is better so the round becomes easier to judge

- Please keep track of your own time

Speaks:

- I will generally give good speaks unless something offensive is said in the round

- I don't mind some interruption in the questioning periods but don't be too aggressive

I do not like "theory." Debate the topic.

As always...for me, quality is much better than quantity. It is better to have one or two really strong arguments, supported by both evidence and logic, than 4 or 5 weak points.

While I can handle spreading, if I can't understand something you say because you speak too quickly or unclearly, then I can't write it down. If I can't write it down, then I can't refer back to it when making my final decision. In other words, it's as if you never said it.

If it comes down to your evidence says "x" and their evidence says "not x" and I have no way to know who is right, you will lose. What do I mean? Explain why your evidence is more relevant, accurate, and credible...and/or why theirs is not.

Other points:

Signposting is good. Please signpost. Is this a new thought or more warrants or impacts on the same claim?

Off-time road maps are bad. They are a waste of "real" time. I'm guessing you're going to tell me why you're right and they're wrong. Right? If you signpost, I'll know which order you're going in. This is a more valuable skill to learn. For those of you motivated by speaker points, know that I will deduct a full point for each off-time road map.

Be respectful of your opponents. Let's be real, if the coin toss were different, you'd be arguing for the other side so don't act like your entire life's work has focused on your stance on this topic. Keep it civil. On a related note, rudeness is unacceptable as is outright lying. I've seen too many teams blatantly lie in round. If you lie, you lose.

Yearn to Learn. This is high school debate. It's a learning experience. I don't expect you to be perfect and would hope you take every opportunity to learn, whether you win this round or not.

I have debated extensively in 3v3 debate and BP debate on the Australian circuit.

I value structured logic, critical engagement with the opposition, and an ability to weigh the relative importance of arguments.

I am familiar and adaptable to many different styles of speaking. I prefer teams to use their manner to enhance their substantive material rather than simply reading from notes.

first year out

dont:

- spread

- scream

- be offensive

please weigh!

I'm a junior at Columbia University and have run tournaments for the Columbia Debate Society! I did not do debate in high school and thus am not too familiar with LD or PF—though I've judged PF before. However, for the past three years, I've been competing and judging in college debate (American Parliamentary).

As for debating preferences...I love sign-posting and extensive weighing/warranting for your weighing!

Things I love a lot less: spreading, over-emphasis on evidence/"cards," under-emphasis of warranting and logical reasoning, "off-time" roadmaps. But on the whole, I'm pretty accommodating of different debating styles.

I did PF for 4 years in high school on the East Coast circuit. I'll most likely be able to follow what you're saying, so talk fast if you want but if it's too fast to the point of spreading, you might lose me, so be careful.

If you're gonna run crazy theory, please make it super understandable (especially since this is online, people might miss something more easily cause some peoples computers run on Dorito Chips.)

If you're the better team and you debated better, I'll vote for you, don't worry.

I don't require you to extend defense in first summary but you should definitely frontline responses to arguments you plan on extending.

You should definitely frontline turns in the earliest speech possible, as they create offense on your case that I will have to evaluate in my RFD, if not frontlined.

Do cross however you want, just don't be rude or anything. If you're getting bullied in cross, speak up and say something. I'm not going to jump in for you, but I will definitely factor being rude into my decision.

I'm liberal with speaker points. If you're getting anything lower than a 26, there's a reason.

I'm gonna laugh at you if you're wearing a suit.

Speak slow. Debators, please give offtime roadmaps and flow through your arguments in every speech.

Hello!

I am a parent judge. However, I do have extensive knowledge in the business world. I have also judged over 50 rounds of Public Forum debate. I also do flow the main points of the rounds.

Please add samuelsun99@gmail.com to the email chain. This should be started before the speeches. Please include at least the cases and call the email chain like "Stanford Round 1 - Team AB vs. Team BC."

Everything Else is Negotiable, but these aren't:

~No cheating: that means no card clipping, stealing prep, lying about your disclosure, etc.

~Debate is a safe space: I will not tolerate any blatantly offensive arguments. That means no racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

If you are running an argument that is potentially a trigger warning, then you MUST ask the opponents if they are fine with it.

Violations of either are grounds for auto-loss and the lowest speaks I can possibly give you

General Preferences

~Please speak at a slower/normal pace. If I don't understand something, then I won't put it in my decision.

~Please don't read any weird arguments (Theory, K's, etc). It will be much less persuasive if you do so. Furthermore, if you run a non-generic case, then please explain it very well or I will have a hard time keeping track of it.

~Please send me your speech doc (cases) for the round. This will help me understand your case better and recall your key details.

~Please be civil in cross. I don't like aggressiveness. If the worst occurs, then I'll dock your speaks

~I view the round from your overall performance in the round. This includes being professional, taking a short time to pull up your evidence, have well-explained reasons and statistics, and consistently bringing up your points.

~I personally value the truth of an argument over an argument that will probably not occur.

~I will judge this round off a clean slate meaning I will try to not use individual bias to affect my decision.

~I also really like weighing so please do a lot of weighing to convince me more.

~I vote my decision mainly off of summary, final focus, and sometimes cross. If you can not respond to your own case in cross, I might count that in my decision if it is cleanly extended.

In all, be independent/responsible through the debate. I will be keeping time, but I also expect you to keep your own speech and prep time. Just let me know when you start/stop prep and don't go over the time limit, etc. I dislike it when debaters try to steal prep. I trust all of you debaters and good luck in your round!

Importance of Weighing

-Prob>Timeframe

- Timeframe>Pre-req

- Pre-req>mag

---

Specific to September topic.

I'm not very knowledgable about this specific topic.

Good Luck Debaters!

My 2 most important preferences:

1. Please, please slow down. I suggest 1 to 1.5x conversational speed; I think ideal case length is 680-700 words. If you could imagine someone asking for a speech doc, SLOW down! Implications for you:

-- If your speed means I miss something important, it’s like it never existed. I’m not gonna be like, “Hmm, maybe I heard something kinda like that” when you extend it. It’s goodbye

-- If your opponent cannot understand and asks you to slow down (do this by loudly saying “clear”), you must do so. Within reason; I will intervene in obvious cases of abuse

-- This preference is also reflected in speaks. Selective vision >>> brute force coverage. Extreme speed = low speaks

2. I place a strong emphasis on warranting. Implications:

-- If you and your opponent disagree on something, I prioritize your comparisons in this order: 1. Warrant comparison 2. Warranted evidence comparison 3. Evidence comparison that is just: “dates”

-- If an arg is not warranted and your opponent mentions this, I won’t let you bring in new warranting. Don’t go for something that wasn’t warranted in case and expect me to vote off it. Only exception is commonly intuitive statements

Notes on the flow

--Theory/K's/progressive args: I consider them a barrier to entry in PF and probably won't vote on them. 99% odds I won’t buy theory about dates, speaks, disclosure, paraphrasing, etc. If you do it in combination with extreme speed, consider it an auto-drop. If it's something you're genuinely concerned about, you impact it convincingly, and you make it accessible, you can give it a try. I seriously and strongly recommend against it, but you can

--I’m not super picky about extensions (e.g. if you extend a paraphrased version of your impact in summary and one specific impact card in FF, that’s fine). But ofc any argument in FF should be in summary

--1st FF can extend defense from rebuttal if it isn’t frontlined in 2nd rebuttal. But I’d still recommend extending a couple of your favorite responses in summary

--2nd rebuttal doesn’t need to frontline their voters, though it must frontline major turns/ offensive overviews

--2nd rebuttal shouldn’t go overboard with disads; > 1 minute on them is too much. If a ton of your speech is disads and it feels abusive I may drop you. Even if I don’t, the speaks will suffer and I’ll allow blippier responses in 1st summary

--if there’s no offense in the round that I can see, I default first speaking team. (I realize this is unusual, I personally think it's fairer)

Please be kind to each other. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask me at beginning of round. Good luck!

I debated PF in high school and graduated in 2020. Contact through a.y.taylor@wustl.edu or facebook messenger.

Feel free to ask questions before or after round :D

~ Important notes ~

· I have extremely minimal experience with progressive arguments and would VERY STRONGLY prefer you do not read them. If you do, consider me a lay judge on those arguments and there's no guarantee that I will buy/be willing to vote on them. I also strongly recommend you speak slowly and explain everything very clearly. I don't like paraphrase theory, just tell me to prefer your evidence.

· It’s probably safest to assume I don’t have any prior topic knowledge

~ Essentials ~

· Stay in speech times, won’t flow anything overtime

· Don't steal prep, speaks drop fast. Same applies to roadmaps, say where you're starting and signpost

· Anything I vote on needs explicit extensions and warrants in summary and final focus (I need a clear narrative throughout the round)

·Be comparative – show me you understand and consider their points, why yours are stronger, why they can be right but you still win. Don’t just tell me how you outweigh on scope, magnitude, etc.

· Turns need the full argument extended if your opponent goes for another

· Content warnings AND anonymous opt outs are important for inclusivity, please use them when necessary and execute them properly

~ Preferences ~

· Collapse! I prefer you only go for one argument (quality >> quantity)

· Address your opponent’s framework in your next speech

· Any offense read after constructive must be implicated by either 2nd rebuttal or 1st summary at the very latest if you want me to treat it as offense

· Appreciate slower speaking (not required), erring on more explanation. If something doesn't end up/isn't clear on my flow, I won't evaluate it. I won't clear you unless you ask me to before the round starts. I WILL NOT flow off your speech doc for speed.

· Flip a coin to presume (please no)

· Time yourselves and hold your opponents accountable. If that’s not possible, just let me know BEFORE round and I’ll time for you

· Nothing in cross will be evaluated unless you explicitly bring it up in a subsequent speech.

· I won't look at any evidence unless you ask me to, but include me in the email chain for formalities

~ Speaks ~

· Average 28 (within division). Lose speaks by going significantly overtime (more than finishing your last sentence), being rude/offensive, saying you don't have any questions in cross, or poor judge adaptation

Lets make the best of today - We all had other options to spend our weekend. We are here by choice. So put your best foot forward!

Yes, I am a lay judge or rather a term I prefer - "citizen judge". FWIW: I have been judging PF for last 4+ years.

I enjoy judging and come to the table with open mind. I leave my pre-conceived notions outside, and do not check your record prior to the round.

So what do I value:

* If I can't understand you, I can't flow for you, so please speak slowly, clearly and loudly. No spreading, please.

* Simplicity of thought and explanation, BUT focus on specifics. Especially, during cross-X, I love when team not just "ask for the card" but know the weaknesses of the research and exploit it.

* It helps me to flow your speech if you give me an off time roadmap, so please do so. If you have any questions, ask me before the round starts.

* Its an intellectual fight. Dont shy from it. But the best team are those who don't "spike the ball" after scoring touchdown. Lets be civil.

* I will NOT do your job - I m here to judge, not debate. If an opponent does not point a flaw in argument, I will accept it.

* PL do not - appear dismissive (leave your eyerolls outside) or rude. Its distracting and unprofessional. I will ding u points, but not the outcome (so ironic).

* I know things like theory and kritiks are starting to show up in PF, but I am not the right judge for that kind of argument. I will only vote on the substance of the resolution.

PS - Sorry if I said your name incorrectly, or used wrong pronouns. Please correct me.

hi! i debated pf in hs. toc '19! i was a former co-director for nova debate camp and go to uva now. i also coach ardrey kell VM and oakton ML. add me to the email chain: iamandrewthong@gmail.com

tl;dr, i'm a typical flow judge. i'm tab and tech>truth, debate however you want (as long as it does not harm others). for more specific stuff, read below

most important thing:

so many of my RFDs have started with "i default on the weighing". weighing is NOT a conditional you should do if you just so happen to have enough time in summary - i will often default to teams if they're the only ones who have made weighing. strength of link weighing counts only when links are 100% conceded, clarity of impact doesn't.

other less important stuff:

online debate: unless you're sending speech docs, please just make a shared google doc and paste cards there. i get it, you want to steal prep while waiting. but really, it's delaying tournaments and i get bored while waiting :( (you don't have to though, esp in outrounds - but i will be happier if you do)

also, if you're debating from the same computer, it's cool, just lmk in the chat or turn your camera on before the round so i know, because i usually start the round when i see 4 ppl in the room

speed is ok. i think it's fun. i actually like blippy disads (as long as they have warrants). but don't do it in such a way that it makes the debate inaccessible - drop a doc if your opponents ask or if someone says "clear".

whenever you extend something, you have to extend the warrant above all else.

defense is not sticky, but my threshold for completely new frontlines in second summary is super high. turns must be frontlined in second rebuttal.

new implications off of previous responses are okay (in fact, i think they're strategic), but they must be made in summary (unless responding to something new in final). you still need to have concise warranting for the new implication, just as you would for any other response.

i don't listen during cross - if they make a concession, point it out in the next speech.

weighing is important, but comparative and meta weighing are even more important. you can win 100% of your link uncontested but i'd still drop you if you never weigh at all and the opps have like 1% of their link with pre-req weighing into your case. don't just say stuff like "we outweigh because our impact card has x and theirs has y and x>y", but go the next step and directly compare why your magnitude is more important than their timeframe, why your prereq comes before their prereq, etc. if there is no weighing done, i will intervene.

i encourage post-round questions, i'm actually happy to spend like however long you want me to just answering questions regarding my decision. just don't be rude about it.

progressive arguments:

i will evaluate progressive arguments (Ks, theory, etc).

no friv theory, no tricks

i default to reasonability, RVIs, and DtD *if not told otherwise* - before you start e-mailing me death threats, this is just so teams can't read random new shells in summary unless they're going to spend the time reading warrants for CI and no RVIs - i prefer theory debates to start in constructive/rebuttal, and i'll be sympathetic to teams that have to make new responses to a completely new shell in summary or final focus

i'm less versed on Ks than i am theory. i can probably follow you on the stock Ks (cap, sec, etc), but if you're going to run high level Ks (performance, afropess, etc), i'll still evaluate them, but i advise you run them with caution, since i might not be able to get everything down 100%. it's probably best to make these types of Ks accessible to both me and your opponents (you should honestly just explain everything like i'm a lay judge, and try to stay away from more abstract phil stuff like epistemology/ontology/etc).

if you have any more questions, feel free to ask or e-mail me before the round!

I am a judge who willingly judges PF, LD, and World Schools debate. I competed in Policy debate many years ago in both high school and college, finishing third in the nation in CEDA debate when that event was still popular. As a coach, I have moved away from Policy debate with it's emphasis on speed and evidence wars over well-reasoned arguments. This affects my view of other debate events as I am quite completely opposed to the infusion of policy debate techniques, such as critiques, into other forms of debate. I do recognize that Public Forum is often fast and evidence heavy and I have no concerns with either the speed or the amount evidence as long as it supports credible arguments. In LD, I am more of a tradionalist who expects value clash and strong case argumentation at a reasonable speed. I enjoy World Schools precisely because this style of debate also places a premium on organization, argumentation, and rhetoric.

As a critic, I am stricly Tabula Rasa when it comes to the arguments themselves; meaning I will only consider arguments the debaters make in round and will not interject my own philosophical or policy paradigms into a round. I am a flow judge who decides votes in favor of the debater(s) who do the best job on convincing me that their arguments should carry the round based on the relative strength of their evidence, reasoning, and argumentation. I NEVER award low point wins. If you didn't do the better job while debating, you will not win my ballot.

Three notes are worth mentioning on procedure. Most importantly, I am entirely opposed to the tendency of some TOC judges to dictate PF strategy by declaring frontlining and other optional techniques as requirements to earn their vote. There are other ways to structure your approach to the round and I encourage students to debate the style that best suits them! Second, I only allow evidence requests during CX/Crossfire. Evidence requests made during prep time will be discouraged. Third, please remember to be polite and try not talk over one another during Crossfire. All speakers deserve a chance to be heard.

Hi, I am a parent judge from Westborough. I try my best to take notes in the round. Here are some suggestion that will help you get my vote.

1) I would love to see one well constructed argument that is properly explained throughout the round.

2) Please speak at a conversation speed if you speak too fast I will miss a lot of the points you make. I really feel the need to emphasize this I have a had too many rounds where debaters go way too fast and I lose interest because I have tough time following what is going on.

3) I would also like to see good evidence that supports your argument. Please make it explicit when you have pieces of evidence to support your argument. When people call for evidence please have them ready it wastes time when you do not have the card and have to google it. If you do not have the card that was asked for I will not value it in my decision.

4) Please avoid using debate jargon I have no idea what it means and it only hurts your persuasion. Additionally, make sure you introduce the entire name of an organization before using the abbreviation. Ie: before you say the WHO it is the World Health Organization.

5) I will vote of the arguments that I understand best so please explain your arguments well. If you think you are overexplaining you probably are not.

6) I do pay attention to cross, while it is not going to make or break a round I do value it in my decision and it will reflect in your speaker points.

7) Please have a respectful crossfire, screaming during round does not help get your point across.

8) All arguments that you want me to vote for in the round has to be in the opening statement, it is really confusing if you bring up arguments out of nowhere and expect me to vote on it.

9) I love when a team does a great job in rebuttal refuting the other teams case.

10) I really like if you can bring up real world examples and support your arguments with statistics and facts.

11) Tie the resolution in your speeches tell me how voting pro/con leads to your argument. Also reading the topic word for word before your speech is helpful.

12) I would love to see a respectful and educational debate.

and lastly, Have Fun!

Hello! I am a third-year judge for public forum high school debates. I look forward to hearing you debate!

For each person, I score your two speeches and crossfire on scale of 25-30. Then I average these 3 scores and deduct any decorum penalties. Here’s what I’m looking for:
a. Construction: Present your case = succinct organization, sound reasoning, credible evidence, and clear delivery.
b. Rebuttal: Refute opposing side's arguments. Do not use Rebuttal to cram in more arguments.
c. Summary: Crystallize your case, in light of everything that has happened.
d. Final Focus: Frame with clarity why your team won the debate.
e. Crossfire: Dig into other side’s arguments during CX rounds to find and expose weaknesses.
f. Decorum: I expect professional decorum at all times. I penalize anything less.

My hope is this approach will give you more insight into the areas where you are strong, and where you can improve.

Do not "spread," or speed read (more than ~150 words per minute). You should lay out a few clear arguments supported by your strongest evidence, and clearly articulate the impact of each argument. Quality, not quantity. Less is more. You will not earn points if I can't understand you, or process what you say.

Be reasonable about requesting evidence. Request evidence you don’t believe or you feel is misrepresented. But don’t request evidence you already know to be true. And make sure your evidence is well organized and available offline to maximize efficiency in case a team calls for your evidence.

In scoring each speech and crossfire, I ask myself 3 questions:
1. Did you focus on the task at hand?
2. Did I understand the argument?
3. Was the argument persuasive?

Speaker #1 score = [Construction + Summary + Crossfire] / 3 - Decorum Penalties.
Speaker #2 score = [Rebuttal + Final Focus + Crossfire ] / 3 - Decorum Penalties.

The final score for each person will be: [24] bad decorum. [25-26] below average. [27-28] average. [29-30] above average.

The team with the most points wins the debate. In the case of a tie, I decide based on which side I found more persuasive.

Good luck!

I am a junior at Columbia majoring in history and public health, I've debated for 3 years now on the Columbia team doing a mix of Adapa/BP. I don't have any super specific debate preferences except I don't love theory. Please be respectful to your opponents in the round.

General Points:

1. No Spreading;

2. Signpost your arguments;

3. Sufficient warrant is needed;

4. Weighing your impacts against impacts from the other side; if you don't do it for me, I will have to make decision based on my own belief;

5. Creative and unique arguments are a plus; philosophical arguments are more than welcomed

Have fun:)

I've judged a few times before - I'll judge how you debate not what you say. That being said, I do not know PF jargon and will not be able to understand you if you populate your speeches with such terms. Please speak slowly and clearly articulate your points. Make it explicitly clear what your claim, link, and impacts are. I'm fairly knowledgeable about most topics so don't try to pull anything sneaky with cards or evidence - I'll know pretty easily and it'll cost you. Be civil, be respectful, and make my job easy.

Hello! I am a lay judge. A few things I would like to see in a debate are as follows;

-Speak clearly and concisely. I cannot handle speed as well as other veteran judges.

-Organize your speeches well.

-The explanation behind arguments is very important.

---------------Most Recent Update: 3/30/2024 (NPDL TOC) -------------

TOC-Specific

TOC is the biggest opportunity for students to learn about different styles of debate. I expect y'all to try to learn. Refer to Luke DiMartino's section on "Ballot" for what I expect to occur when styles clash. Refer to Sierra Maciorowski's section on "Pedgogy" for my thoughts on technical accessibility. Refer to Sam Timinsky's section on "Lay vs. Flow" for my thoughts on tech v. lay in the debate community as a whole.

This is also the biggest opportunity for you all to connect with one another! For the first time in 5 years TOC will be in person so make friends with your competitors and be kind to each other! Feel free to reach out to me after the round for my thoughts more deeply on issues (or, after the tournament, if you'd like coaching (NYC is expensive :( )). I am a huge debate nerd so I love it when y'all have a good time and enjoy this beautiful activity. Have fun! :D

If you open-source your TOC prep you get automatic 30 speaks. Everyone should do it anyways....

No consistent coaching, but had intermittent mentorship from Trevor Greenan, Cody Peterson, Javin Pombra, Ming Qian, and Sam Timinsky. Philosophically similar to Esha Shah, Sierra Maciorowski, and Riley Shahar. Try not to pref both me and lay judges; splitting ballots at TOC leaves no one happy, and punting one of us will make both of us sad.... :(. I enjoy super techy intricate debates!

My pronouns are on tab now; please use them and your opponents correctly! Will drop speaks for first infraction, will drop teams after that.

Lastly, I've gotten really into Feyerabend. If you are interested in the philosophy of science (especially on topics about science/technocracy/AI/etc.), I highly recommend his work! There's an old Feyerabend K backfile I found that I can send to people who are interested!

Background

I did parliamentary debate for 4 years w/ Cupertino, but I'm pretty familiar with LD and PF. Currently coach parli and PF. Coached extemp for 2 years and policy intermittently. Debated APDA a bit but wasn't my cup of tea. I was a 1N/2A if that gives you any indication of my biases for speeches.

I mostly went for K if I could, but good on T and fast case. For Ks I usually went for Daoism or Asian Conscientization. If anyone wants a rough copy of either of the Ks feel free to message me on FB or email me (xiong.jeffrey314@gmail.com). Tried to get K-DAs off the ground but didn't debate enough rounds for it to stick :( Also if you're from a small school message me or email me for a copy of my Small Schools K.

TL;DR

- be cool, have fun, dont be a jerk

- weigh lots

- clever arguments make me very happy!

- no friv T, don't like tricks (although this I think has fallen out of favor since I've graduated)

- *not* a K hack despite my background. This is because I love Ks to death. If you are a *K debater* please pref me because I love a good K debate, but don't use a K just because you think you can get a cheap win. If you would like to get better at K debate, please pref me because I love teaching better Ks in parli :D

- seriously pleaaaaaaase be nice each other, it makes me sad when debaters get upset and debate should be fun!

Preferences

These are not hard and fast rules but general guidelines for you to see how much work you'll need to put in to win the argument. I have found that the farther I get from being a competitor in high school debate, the fewer real preferences I have and I could not care less about most issues. In other words, if it's not mentioned by name in the list below, I don't have a default and *will* flip a coin absent argumentation. If it was that important to your case, you should have mentioned it!

My number 1 preference is for you to try new things and have fun. My partner always said that if you're not having fun you're not doing it right, which I have always found to be true. Also don't be a jerk (sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc) or you'll drop instantly.

I evaluate the round systematically.

1) Who is winning framework? How should I evaluate arguments at all?

2) Who is winning the layering/sequencing arguments? According to the debaters, what order should I evaluate the arguments? Absent that, I default to my stated defaults.

3) Who is winning offense on each layer? When I hit a layer where there's a clear winner, I vote for that team

In other words, I look at layers from top to bottom (e.g. K > T > Case, Advantage 1 > DA 2 > etc., etc.) and as soon as one layer isn't a tie I will just vote for whoever is winning that.

Some things that always make me happy

• Clever plans/CPs: this usually means very good specificity that lets the Adv/DA debate get very intricate
• Ks with very specific links and interesting solvency arguments! Choosing fun solvency advocates is good for everyone!
• Theory with unique standards and approaches (e.g. going hard for reasonability or the RVI, standards like "creative thinking" or "framers' intent", etc.). I'm probably the most lenient tech judge on the underview issues in theory.
• Consistent sign-posting throughout the round. If the 2N says something like "go to the warrant on the second internal link on the Econ DA" I'm going to be really happy that you kept that up the whole round
• Collapsing to fun stuff (e.g. on weighing: timeframe, sequencing, etc.)

Defaults

- If it's not in the final speeches I'm not voting on it.

- Default to probability > magnitude. Bonus speaker points if you collapse to timeframe

- Unwarranted arguments will have very little weight in my mind; if I don't know why something is true I don't know why I should buy the argument: source w/ warrant > sourceless warrant > warrantless source > sourceless and warrantless (this last one isn't an argument at all).

- Don't care if there's a source citation in parli

- Signpost! If I don't know where you are, I'm probably not gonna be able flow it!

T

- Real-world education impacts are the way to my heart, default to Education over Fairness

- Default to RVIs valid, but you need to read a particular brightline for the RVI to function

- Default to Reasonability (esp. Content Crowdout, though I don't think people run this anymore (if you do bonus speaker points))

- Don't use "small school" arguments unless you're actually from a small school or can justify how your program is disadvantaged. I'll give leniency on this but please don't be disingenuous -- and being on the circuit for so many years I think I've developed a good intuition.

K

- KNOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL WELL AND HOW IT ENGAGES ESPECIALLY W/ FOREIGN POLICY TOPICS: most K's (especially generics) are written with the US in mind and are *not* applicable to other places, be sure that the K functions elsewhere before you run it

- PLEASE PLEASE have good links that actually connect to the specific articulation of the Aff.

- If it's a funky K, go nuts, but please explain stuff (for the sake of me and especially for the sake of your opponents) or I won't know what you're saying

- K Affs are lit, just make sure there's actual ground for both sides (for all the Negs out there, email me if you want a copy of arguments against K Affs)

- If you read a decent K out of the 2AC you'll get a 29.5 at least.

- If you read theory saying NEG Ks are not legitimate, I will drop you

- Familiar with most Ks except for super pomo stuff. I'm not sure what the place for identity Ks are in the debate space and I have not judged them enough or been engaged with the community enough to be educated but please be cool about them if you do want to read it and make sure there's an actual valid opposite side

- From Riley Shahar's paradigm: "I tend to think that debate is not the best space for arguments which are reliant on the identities of competitors. I am certainly willing to listen to these debates, because I know from experience that they can be necessary survival strategies, but making assumptions about other people’s identities is a very dangerous political move which can force outing and be counterproductive to revolutionary action."

Tricks

Go slow and explain them super clearly (probably defeats the point of running them but hey it's your round).

Speaker Points

Do work on 30 speaks theory, don't just throw it out there for the sake of it. Speaks are entirely assigned based on strategic decisions made in-round (i.e. I don't care how you say it as long as you say it). 25 or lower for problematic speech/behavior.

APDA Specific

- default to beat-the-team on tight calls

- don't be purposefully obtuse in POCs or you're getting tanked (and I'll be more lenient on tight calls and case args)

- pragmatic > principle, but easily swayed

- run a K, run theory, run condo, go nuts, just don't call it that if it's against tournament rules

- please POO shadow extensions: if it's not extended in the MG, I consider it new (even if it's in the PMC)

Non-Parli

- I don't flow cross

- Read full cites or I'm not flowing it (in particular this is @ PF)

- Cards with warrant > cards without warrant = warrant without card > claim without warrant

- Bonus speaker points if you disclosed on the wiki

- PF: If it's in FF it needs to be in summary

- Add me to the email chain (xiong.jeffrey314@gmail.com)

Misc.

- Call "clear" or "slow" if you can't keep up; if you don't slow down enough when the other team calls it several times you're going to get dropped with tanked speaks. I will also call clear/slow as necessary

- If you say something blatantly untrue, I'm giving the other team the argument (the bar for this is very high though so just please don't lie).

- If you tell me to check the argument, I'll do it but I won't treat it as a "lie" unless it's egregious (in which case I can tell either way)

- Go slow on plans/CPs, interps, alts, etc. Have copies prewritten for everyone. For online tournaments, have texts in the chat right after you say them. We're online! It's so much easier to pass texts! (boomer grumblegrumble)

- For Points of Order, tell me explicitly which argument is new and why (if you're calling it) and where it was on the flow in which speech specifically (if you're responding). I will let you know whether or not I think it's new unless it's in outrounds. Trust me when I say that it is too much work (usually) to protect against new arguments.

- Virtual POIs: put them in the chat, please be mindful of the chat if you're the one speaking

- Tag-teaming: go for it, but both speakers must state the argument

I am a parent judge. Please speak clearly and don't rush through your talks. Sometimes one good point is better than a bunch of mediocre arguments.

I am a parent judge who started debate judging from last year. Please consider me as a lay person who needs convincing by your arguments. I promise to be open minded.

• Be respectful

• No spreading please. If I cannot follow you, I will not be able to score you well

• Be passionate about arguments

• I would score teams higher when both members contribute equally well

• I am not technical, but I do care key arguments are responded to

I'm the parent of a debater, treat me as a traditional judge. Speak well and be consistent between your speeches. I expect everything to be brought up in the final focus be in the summary. I always prefer a debate with less arguments but more analysis than a debate with more arguments but less analysis. I prefer a fact supported by quantifiable measurement and good reasoning. I value logical arguments that happen in the real world as I am interested in the implication of these topics in the real world. Don't run progressive arguments such as theory, Ks, or tricks as i don't know how to evaluate them. Have fun and be respectful of each other at all times.

hello! i am hugh-jay, and i am going to be your judge for the weekend. i'm an alumni of the bronx science speech team, which means that naturally i have no prior PF experience except for hearing my peers complain about it. please speak slowly and signpost and i will do my best to take comprehensive notes. if i judge "incorrectly" i am sorry in advance i promise you it is not personal

Parent judge

speak slowly probably a little faster than conversational pace I won’t listen to speeches that I can’t understand

i will do my best to flow all the important stuff

this process will be easier for me if you send me a speech doc: stellaxh2009@gmail.com

I am a parent judge, but this is my eighth tournament judging for PF, so treat me as such.

Truth > tech; if an argument makes no sense and doesn’t have a clear warrant, I will avoid voting on it.

I can handle some speed, but avoid going over 200wpm at max, and go slower if you want to make sure I understand what you are saying.

Don’t fabricate or exaggerate your evidence, because my common sense will tell me that something is wrong and I won’t want to vote on that argument.

I don’t really listen to cross, so if something happens please tell me so in a speech, or else I won’t be able to vote off of it.

Time your own speeches and prep time, and add me to the email chain.

Don’t be rude, especially in cross. Don’t talk over each other or yell.

Have fun and enjoy!

Updated 2/6/24

Hi! I'm a graduate of Santa Clara University, studied Finance and I debated PF for Gunn High School for 4 years.

I haven’t judged/done anything debate related in a while and know nothing about this topic

----

I'm cool with all types of argumentation so feel free to do whatever you want - if you're planning on running a K or T please explain your argument thoroughly.

I am fine with speed but if you are going way too fast or speaking totally unclearly, I'll let you know. Have fun in cross and please stay calm and polite.

Some important things to note:

- read TWs if/when needed

- defense is sticky

- no new evidence in second summary, unless responding to new evidence in first summary

- I will typically only vote on something if it is in both summary and final focus

- tech > truth

- I will ALWAYS (unless you argue otherwise) presume first because I believe the first-speaking team has a structural disadvantage and significant time skew.

- weighing is def a good idea (also pls read substantive comparative weighing - just saying the words "scope" or "magnitude" does not count as weighing)

- respond to all turns in 2nd rebuttal AND frontline

- engage with clash

- if you are extremely rude or offensive (racist, sexist, ableist etc.) in any way at all I'll drop you and give you 25 speaker points.

- I won't call for evidence unless you tell me to and it's a) essential to adjudicate the round and b) sounds misconstrued

- evidence exchanges under 2 minutes

- email any piece of interesting news to me before the round, I love learning about anything tech, finance, economic, gaming, and sports related.

Feel free to email me at zhang.max616@gmail.com if you have any questions after the round - I'm happy to give advice or further explain my decision at any time!

I am a parent judge from Acton Boxborough Regional High School. I have judged Pubic Forum debate for three years.

I am not a native speaker so please do not spread and try to be as clear as possible. I also prefer arguments that are based on numbers and facts. And do not stretch too much when you talk about impact, you may need to be a bit more convincing if you are going to talk about something against common sense.

I am a lay judge. I prefer clear and logical arguments. Please do not speak too fast. Please keep your camera on at all times. Be polite to your opponents and have fun.

I am a parent volunteer judge. have a few years of PF judge experience.

Show sufficient evidence and clear logic.

Speak clearly and no spreading.