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KCKSNCFL

2020 — Overland Park, KS/US

Varsity Paradigm List

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Shane Billig Lawrence HS

Last changed on Sat January 20, 2024 at 9:37 AM CDT

Please include me on the email chain; shane.billig@gmail.com

I'm a fairly adaptable judge; 10+ years of debate experience as a competitor/coach. I default to policymaker framework and I am very familiar with CP/DA theory and am generally okay with any generic arguments, but I'd prefer to have the links analyzed to be as specific as possible. In general analysis and comparison of cards and warrants is the best way to convince me that your evidence is superior, and I find that many 2AC/2NC rely too much on reading more blocks rather than providing unique in round analysis.

I have and will vote on kritiks, and there are many times I think the K is the smartest choice in the round, however the more specific your kritiks get, the less familiar I am with the authors and literature. There are some key exceptions and generally any form of IR kritik or kritik of the general "structure" of society I will understand (Fem IR/Cap/Militarism for example). You must explain the kritik, the role of the ballot, and specifically explain the link and how the alternative functions. Explain the kritik in your own words, don't just read a block at me.

On topicality I default to reasonability, but this doesn't mean that I won't vote on topicality, especially if you give me reasons why I should prefer competing interpretations. In slow/quick rounds I am generally able to get citations on my flow, but in fast rounds you won't be able to extend just by author/year. Talk about the card, its tag, and its role in the round (this is just good extension advice in general). With all arguments if I don't understand your point, it doesn't make it onto my flow because you weren't clear, it got flowed onto the wrong sheet, etc then you didn't say it and I won't evaluate it. This happens most often on theory/T/K where I don't understand the violation or alternative or some other aspect of the argument--and the easiest solution to this problem is again to slow down for a second and use your own words to explain the argument.

If the round is going to have more than 5+ minutes of T/Theory I think everyone is better off if you go at 90% of your speed on those arguments. I am not as fast as you think I am, and while it's rare that I'm sped out of rounds, it does happen, and when it does 90% of the time it's me missing theory analysis because you're blazing through a pre-written block like its a politics card. I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have, and I do my best to adapt my judging style to the round I am in. One thing that I feel many teams do is over-adapt, and it often hurts them. Debate the way you want to debate, and I will evaluate it however you tell me to. I'd much rather judge really good debates over K literature I'm not familiar with prior to the round than bad or bland CP/DA debate.

Jack Booth Blue Valley West 4 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 9:51 AM EDT

Short Version:
-yes email chain: nyu.bs.debate@gmail.com

-if you would like to contact me about something else, the best way to reach me is: bootj093@newschool.edu - please do not use this email for chains I would like to avoid cluttering it every weekend which is why I have a separate one for them

-debated in high school @ Mill Valley (local policy circuit in Kansas) and college @ NYU (CEDA-NDT) for 7 years total - mostly policy arguments in high school, mix of high theory and policy in college

-head LD/policy debate coach at Bronx Science and assistant policy coach at The New School, former assistant for Blue Valley West, Mill Valley, and Mamaroneck

-spin > evidence quality, unless the evidence is completely inconsistent with the spin

-tech > truth as long as the tech has a claim, warrant, and impact

-great for impact turns

-t-framework impacts ranked: topic education > skills > clash/arg refinement > scenario planning > fun > literally any other reason why debate is good > fairness

-I updated the t-fw part of my paradigm recently (under policy, 12/4/23) - if you are anticipating having a framework debate in front of me on either side, I would appreciate it if you skimmed it at least

-don't like to judge kick but if you give me reasons to I might

-personally think condo has gone way too far in recent years and more people should go for it, but I don't presume one way or the other for theory questions

-all kinds of theory, including topicality, framework, and/or "role of the ballot" arguments are about ideal models of debate

-most of the rounds I judge are clash debates, but I've been in policy v policy and k v k both as a debater and judge so I'm down for anything

-for high school policy 23-24: I actually used to work for the Social Security Administration (only for about 7-8 months) and I have two immediate family members who currently work there - so I have a decent amount of prior knowledge about how the agency works internally, processes benefits, the technology it uses, etc. - but not necessarily policy proposals for social security reform

Long Version:

Overview: Debate is for the debaters so do your thing and I'll do my best to provide a fair decision despite any preferences or experiences that I have. I have had the opportunity to judge and participate in debates of several different formats, circuits, and styles in my short career. What I've found is that all forms of debate are valuable in some way, though often for different reasons, whether it be policy, critical, performance, LD, PF, local circuit, national circuit, public debates, etc. Feel free to adapt arguments, but please don't change your style of debate for me. I want to see what you are prepared for, practiced in, and passionate about. Please have fun! Debating is fun for you I hope!

Speaking and Presentation: I don't care about how you look, how you're dressed, how fast or in what manner you speak, where you sit, whether you stand, etc. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable and will help you be the best debater you can be. My one preference for positioning is that you face me during speeches. It makes it easier to hear and also I like to look up a lot while flowing on my laptop. For some panel situations, this can be harder, just try your best and don't worry about it too much.

Speed - I do not like to follow along in the speech doc while you are giving your speech. I like to read cards in prep time, when they are referenced in cx, and while making my decision. I will use it as a backup during a speech if I have to. This is a particular problem in LD, that has been exacerbated by two years of online debate. I expect to be able to hear every word in your speech, yes including the text of cards. I expect to be able to flow tags, analytics, theory interps, or anything else that is not the interior text of a card. This means you can go faster in the text of a card, this does mean you should be unclear while reading the text of a card. This also means you should go slower for things that are not that. This is because even if I can hear and understand something you are saying, that does not necessarily mean that my fingers can move fast enough to get it onto my flow. When you are reading analytics or theory args, you are generally making warranted arguments much faster than if you were reading a card. Therefore, you need to slow down so I can get those warrants on my flow.

Clarity - I'm bad at yelling clear. I try to do it when things are particularly egregious but honestly, I feel bad about throwing a debater off their game in the middle of a speech. I think you can clear or slow your opponent if you are comfortable with it - but not excessively to avoid interruption please - max 2-3 times a speech. If you are unclear with tags or analytics in an earlier speech, I will try to let you know immediately after the speech is over. If you do it in a rebuttal, you are 100% at fault because I know you can do it clearly, but are choosing not to. Focus on efficiency, not speed.

Logistical Stuff: I would like the round to run as on-time as possible. Docs should be ready to be sent when you end prep time. Orders/roadmaps should be given quickly and not changed several times. Marking docs can happen outside of prep time, but it should entail only marking where cards were cut. I would prefer that, at the varsity level, CX or prep time is taken to ask if something was not read or which arguments were read. I think it’s your responsibility to listen to your opponent’s speech to determine what was said and what wasn’t. I don’t take prep or speech time for tech issues - the clock can stop if necessary. Use the bathroom, fill up your water bottle as needed - tournaments generally give plenty of time for a round and so long as the debaters are not taking excessive time to do other things like send docs, I find that these sorts of things aren’t what truly makes the round run behind.

Email chain or speech drop is fine for docs, which should be shared before a speech. I really prefer Word documents if possible, but don't stress about changing your format if you can't figure it out. Unless there is an accommodation request, not officially or anything just an ask before the round, I don't think analytics need to be sent. Advocacy texts, theory interps, and shells should be sent. Cards are sent for the purposes of ethics and examining more closely the research of your opponent. Too many of you have stopped listening to your opponents entirely and I think the rising norm of sending every single word you plan on saying is a big part of it. It also makes you worse debaters because in the instances where your opponent decides to look up from their laptop and make a spontaneous argument, many of you just miss it entirely.

Stop stealing prep time. When prep time is called by either side, you should not be talking to your partner, typing excessively on your computer, or writing things down. My opinion on “flex prep,” or asking questions during prep time, is that you can ask for clarifications, but your opponent doesn’t have to answer more typical cx questions if they don’t want to (it is also time that they are entitled to use to focus on prep), and I don’t consider the answers in prep to have the same weight as in cx. Prep time is not a speech, and I dislike it when a second ultra-pointed cx begins in prep time because you think it makes your opponent look worse. It doesn’t - it makes you look worse.

Speaker Points: I try to adjust based on the strength of the tournament pool/division, but my accuracy can vary depending on how many rounds in the tournament I've already judged.

29.5+ You are one of the top three speakers in the tournament and should be in finals.

29.1-29.4 You are a great speaker who should be in late elims of the tournament.

28.7-29 You are a good speaker who should probably break.

28.4-28.6 You're doing well, but need some more improvement to be prepared for elims.

28-28.3 You need significant improvement before I think you can debate effectively in elims.

<28 You have done something incredibly offensive or committed an ethics violation, which I will detail in written comments and speak with you about in oral feedback.

The three things that affect speaker points the most are speaking clearly/efficiently, cross-x, and making effective choices in the final rebuttals.

If you win the debate without reading from a laptop in the 2NR/2AR your floor for speaks is a 29.

For Policy:

T-Framework: The fw debates I like the most are about the advantages and disadvantages of having debates over a fiated policy implementation of the topic. I would prefer if your interpretation/violation was phrased in terms of what the affirmative should do/have done - I think this trend of crafting an interpretation around negative burdens is silly - i.e. "negatives should not be burdened with the rejoinder of untopical affirmatives." I'm not usually a big fan of neg interpretations that only limit out certain parts of the topic - strategically, they usually seem to just link back to neg offense about limits and predictability absent a more critical strategy. I think of framework through an offense/defense paradigm and in terms of models of debate. My opinion is that you all spend dozens or hundreds of hours doing research, redos, practice, and debates - you should be prepared to defend that the research you do, the debates you have, and how you have those debates are good.

1. Topic-specific arguments are best - i.e. is it a good or bad thing that we are having rounds talking about fiscal redistribution, nuclear weapons, resource extraction, or military presence? How can that prepare people to take what they learn in debate outside of the activity? Why is topic-specific education valuable or harmful in a world of disinformation, an uninformed American public, escalating global crises, climate change, etc.? Don't be silly and read an extinction impact or anything though.

2. Arguments about debate in general are also great - I'm down for a "debate about debate" - the reason that I as a coach and judge invest tons of time into this activity is because I think it is pedagogically valuable - but what that value should look like, what is best to take from it, is in my opinion the crux of framework debates. Should debate be a competitive space or not? What are the implications of imagining a world where government policy gets passed? What should fiat look like or should it be used at all?

I can be convinced that debate should die given better debating from that side. But honestly, this is not my personal belief - the decline of policy debate in terms of participation at the college and high school level makes me very sad actually. I can also be convinced that debate is God's gift to earth and is absolutely perfect, even though I also believe that there are many problems with the activity. There is also a huge sliding scale between these two options.

3. Major defensive arguments and turns are good - technical stuff about framework like ssd, tvas, relative solvency of counter-interps, turns case and turns the disad arguments, uniqueness claims about the current trends of debate, claims about the history of debate, does it shape subjectivity or not - are all things that I think are worth talking about and can be used to make "try or die" or presumption arguments - though they should not be the focal point of your offense. I like when tvas are carded solvency advocates and/or full plan texts.

4. I do not like judging debates about procedural fairness:

A) They are usually very boring. On every topic, the same pre-written blocks, read at each other without any original thought over and over. I dislike other arguments for this reason too - ultra-generic kritiks and process cps - but even with those, they often get topic or aff-specific contextualizations in the block. This does not usually happen with fairness.

B) I often find fairness very unimportant on its own relative to the other key issues of framework - meaning I don't usually think it is offense. I find a lot of these debates to end up pretty tautological - "fairness is an impact because debate is a game and games should have rules or else they'd be unfair," etc. Many teams in front of me will win that fairness is necessary to preserve the game, but never take the next step of explaining to me why preserving the game is good. In that scenario, what "impact" am I really voting on? Even if the other team agrees that the game of debate is good (which a lot of k affs contest anyway), you still have to quantify or qualify how important that is for me to reasonably compare it to the aff's offense - saying "well we all must care about fairness because we're here, they make strategic arguments, etc." - is not sufficient to do that. I usually agree that competitive incentives mean people care about fairness somewhat. But how much and why is that important? I get an answer with nearly every other argument in debate, but hardly ever with fairness. I think a threshold for if something is an impact is that it's weighable.

C) Despite this, fairness can be impacted out into something tangible or I can be convinced that "tangibility" and consequences are not how I should make my decision. My hints are Nebel and Glówczewski.

5. Everyone needs to compare their impacts alongside other defensive claims in the debate and tell me why I should vote for them. Like traditional T, it's an offense/defense, disad/counterplan, model of debate thing for me. For some reason, impact comparison just seems to disappear from debaters' repertoire when debating framework, which is really frustrating for me.

Kritiks: Both sides of these debates often involve a lot of people reading overviews at each other, especially in high school, which can make it hard to evaluate at the end of the round. Have a clear link story and a reason why the alternative resolves those links. Absent an alt, have a framework as to why your impacts matter/why you still win the round. Impacts are negative effects of the status quo, the alternative resolves the status quo, and the links are reasons why the aff prevents the alternative from happening. Perms are a test of the strength of the link. Framework, ROB, and ROJ arguments operate on the same level to me and I think they are responsive to each other. My feelings on impacts here are similar to t-fw.

I still study some French high theory authors in grad school, but from a historical perspective. In my last couple years of college debate I read Baudrillard and DnG-style arguments a lot, some psychoanalysis as well - earlier than that my tastes were a little more questionable and I liked Foucault, Zizek, and Nietzsche a lot, though I more often went for policy arguments - I gave a lot of fw+extinction outweighs 2ARs. A lot of the debates I find most interesting include critical ir or critical security studies arguments. I have also coached many other kinds of kritiks, including all of the above sans Zizek as well as a lot of debaters going for arguments about anti-blackness or feminism. Set col stuff I don't know the theory as well tbh.

Affirmatives: I think all affs should have a clear impact story with a good solvency advocate explaining why the aff resolves the links to those impacts. I really enjoy affs that are creative and outside of what a lot of people are reading, but are still grounded in the resolution. If you can find a clever interpretation of the topic or policy idea that the community hasn't thought of yet, I'll probably bump your speaks a bit.

Disads: Love 'em. Impact framing is very important in debates without a neg advocacy. Turns cases/turns the da is usually much better than timeframe/probability/magnitude. Between two improbable extinction impacts, I default to using timeframe a lot of the time. A lot of disads (especially politics) have pretty bad ev/internal link chains, so try to wow me with 1 good card that you explain well in rebuttals rather than spitting out 10 bad ones. 0 risk of a disad is absolutely a thing, but hard to prove, like presumption.

Counterplans: They should have solvency advocates and a clear story for competition. Exploit generic link chains in affs. My favorites are advantage cps, specific pics, and recuttings of 1AC solvency ev. I like process cps when they are specific to the topic or have good solvency advocates. I will vote on other ones still, but theory and perm do the cp debates may be harder for you. I think some process cps are even very pedagogically valuable and can be highly persuasive with up-to-date, well-cut evidence - consult Japan on relevant topics for instance. But these arguments can potentially be turned by clash and depth over breadth. And neg flex in general can be a very strong argument in policy. I won't judge kick unless you tell me to in the 2NR, and preferably it should have some kind of justification.

Topicality: I default to competing interps and thinking of interps as models of debate. Be clear about what your interp includes and excludes and why that is a good thing. I view topicality like a disad most of the time, and vote for whoever's vision of the topic is best. I find arguments about limits and the effect that interpretations have on research to be the most convincing. I like topicality debates quite a bit.

Theory: Slow down, slow down, slow down. Like T, I think of theory through models of debate and default to competing interps- you should have an interpretation to make your life a little easier if you want to extend it - if you don't, I will assume the most extreme one (i.e. no pics, no condo, etc.). If you don't have a counter-interp in response to a theory argument, you are in a bad position. If your interpretation uses debate jargon like pics, "process" cps, and the like - you should tell me what you mean by those terms at least in rebuttal. Can pics be out of any word said, anything in the plan, anything defended in the solvency advocate or in cx, any concept advocated for, etc.? I think there is often too much confusion over what is meant to be a process cp. The interpretation I like best for "process" is "counterplans that result in the entirety of the plan." I like condo bad arguments, especially against super abusive 1ncs, but the neg gets a ton of time in the block to answer it, so it can be really hard to give a good enough 1ar on it without devoting a lot of time as well - so if you are going to go for it in the 2ar, you need to expand on it and cover block responses in the 1ar. Warrant out reject the argument vs. reject the team.

For LD:

Prefs Shortcut:

1 - LARP, High Theory Ks

2 - Other Ks, Topicality

3 - Phil, Theory that isn't condo or pics bad

4/5/strike - Trad, Tricks

My disclaimer is I try to keep an open mind for any debate - you should always use the arguments/style that you are most prepared with and practiced in. You all seem to really like these shortcuts, so I caved and made one - but these are not necessarily reflective of my like or dislike for any particular argument, instead more of my experience with different kinds, meaning some probably require more explanation for me to "get it." I love when I do though - I'm always happy to learn new things in debate!

Phil Debates: Something I am fairly unfamiliar with, but I've been learning more about over the past 6 months (02/23). I have read, voted for, and coached many things to the contrary, but if you want to know what I truly believe, I basically think most things collapse into some version of consequentialist utilitarianism. If you are to convince me that I should not be a consequentialist, then I need clear instructions for how I should evaluate offense. Utilitarianism I'm used to being a little more skeptical of from k debates, but other criticisms of util from say analytic philosophy I will probably be unfamiliar with.

Trad Debate: By far what I am least familiar with. I don't coach this style and never competed in anything like LD trad debate - I did traditional/lay policy debate a bit in high school - but that is based on something called "stock issues" which is a completely different set of standards than LD's value/value criterion. I struggle in these debates because for me, like "stock issues" do in policy, these terms seem to restrictively categorize arguments and actually do more to obscure their meaning than reveal it. In the trad debates I've seen (not many, to be fair), tons of time was dedicated to clarifying minutiae and defining words that either everyone ended up agreeing on or that didn't factor into the way that I would make my decision. I don't inherently dislike LD trad debate at all, it honestly just makes things more difficult for me to understand because of how I've been trained in policy debate for 11 years. I try my best, but I feel that I have to sort through trad "jargon" to really get at what you all think is important. I would prefer if you compared relative impacts directly rather than told me one is better than the other 100% of the time.

Plans/DAs/CPs: See the part in my policy paradigm. Plans/CP texts should be clearly written and are generally better when in the language of a specific solvency advocate. I think the NC should be a little more developed for DAs than in policy - policy can have some missing internal links because they get the block to make new arguments, but you do not get new args in the NR that are unresponsive to the 1AR - make sure you are making complete arguments that you can extend.

Kritiks: Some stuff in my policy paradigm is probably useful. Look there for K-affs vs. T-fw. I'm most familiar with so-called "high theory" but I have also debated against, judged, and coached many other kinds of kritiks. Like with DAs/CPs, stuff that would generally be later in the debate for policy should be included in the NC, like ROBs/fw args. Kritiks to me are usually consequentialist, they just care about different kinds of consequences - i.e. the consequences of discourse, research practices, and other impacts more proximate than extinction.

ROB/ROJs: In my mind, this is a kind of theory debate. The way I see this deployed in LD most of the time is as a combination of two arguments. First, what we would call in policy "framework" (not what you call fw in LD) - an argument about which "level" I should evaluate the debate on. "Pre-fiat" and "post-fiat" are the terms that you all like to use a lot, but it doesn't necessarily have to be confined to this. I could be convinced for instance that research practices should come before discourse or something else. The second part is generally an impact framing argument - not only that reps should come first, but that a certain kind of reps should be prioritized - i.e. ROB is to vote for whoever best centers a certain kind of knowledge. These are related, but also have separate warrants and implications for the round, so I consider them separately most of the time. I very often can in fact conclude that reps must come first, but that your opponent’s reps are better because of some impact framing argument that they are making elsewhere. Also, ROB and ROJ are indistinct from one another to me, and I don’t see the point in reading both of them in the same debate.

Topicality: You can see some thoughts in the policy sections as well if you're having that kind of T debate about a plan. I personally think some resolutions in LD justify plans and some don't. But I can be convinced that having plans or not having plans is good for debate, which is what is important for me in deciding these debates. The things I care about here are education and fairness, generally more education stuff than fairness. Topicality interpretations are models of the topic that affirmatives should follow to produce the best debates possible. I view T like a DA and vote for whichever model produces the best theoretical version of debate. I care about "pragmatics" - "semantics" matter to me only insofar as they have a pragmatic impact - i.e. topic/definitional precision is important because it means our research is closer to real-world scholarship on the topic. Jurisdiction is a vacuous non-starter. Nebel stuff is kind of interesting, but I generally find it easier just to make an argument about limits. Reasonability is something I almost never vote on - to be “reasonable” I think you have to either meet your opponent’s interp or have a better one.

RVIs: The vast majority of the time these are unnecessary when you all go for them. If you win your theory or topicality interp is better than your opponent's, then you will most likely win the debate, because the opposing team will not have enough offense on substance. I'm less inclined to believe topicality is an RVI. I think it’s an aff burden to prove they are topical and the neg getting to test that is generally a good thing. Other theory makes more sense as an RVI. Sometimes when a negative debater is going for both theory and substance in the NR, the RVI can be more justifiable to go for in the 2AR because of the unique time differences of LD. If they make the decision to fully commit to theory in the NR, however, the RVI is unnecessary - not that I'm ideologically opposed to it, it just doesn't get you anything extra for winning the debate - 5 seconds of "they dropped substance" is easier and the warrants for your c/i's standards are generally much better than the ones for the RVI.

Disclosure Theory: This is not a section that I would ever have to write for policy. I find it unfortunate that I have to write it for LD. Disclosure is good because it allows schools access to knowledge of what their opponents are reading, which in pre-disclosure days was restricted to larger programs that could afford to send scouts to rounds. It also leads to better debates where the participants are more well-prepared. What I would like to happen for disclosure in general is this:
1) previously read arguments on the topic are disclosed to at least the level of cites on the opencaselist wiki,
2) a good faith effort is made by the aff to disclose any arguments including the advocacy/plan, fw, and cards that they plan on reading in the AC that they've read before once the pairing comes out,
3) a good faith effort is made by the neg to disclose any previously read positions, tied to NC arguments on their wiki, that they've gone for in the NR on the current topic (and previous if asked) once they receive disclosure from the aff,
4) all the cites disclosed are accurate and not misrepresentations of what is read,
5) nobody reads disclosure theory!!

This is basically the situation in college policy, but it seems we still have a ways to go for LD. In a few rare instances I've encountered misdisclosure, even teams saying things like "well it doesn't matter that we didn't read the scenario we said we were going to read because they're a k team and it wasn't really going to change their argument anyways." More intentional things like this, or bad disclosure from debaters and programs that really should know better, I don't mind voting on. I really don't like however when disclosure is used to punish debaters for a lack of knowledge or because it is a norm they are not used to. You have to understand, my roots are as a lay debater who didn't know what the wiki was and didn't disclose for a single round in high school. For my first two years, I debated exclusively on paper and physically handed pages to my opponent while debating after reading them to share evidence. For a couple years after that, we "flashed" evidence to each other by tossing around a usb drive - tournaments didn't provide public wifi. I've been in way more non-lay debates since then and have spent much more time doing "progressive" debate than I ever did lay debate, but I'm very sympathetic still to these kinds of debaters.

Especially if a good-faith attempt is made, interps that are excluding debaters based on a few minutes of a violation, a round report from several tournaments ago, or other petty things make me sad to judge. My threshold for reasonability in these debates will be much lower. Having some empathy and clearly communicating with your opponent what you want from them is a much better strategy for achieving better disclosure practices in the community than reading theory as a punitive measure. If you want something for disclosure, ask for it, or you have no standing. Also, if you read a disclosure interp that you yourself do not meet, you have no standing. Open source theory and disclosure of new affs are more debatable than other kinds of disclosure arguments, and like with T and other theory I will vote for whichever interp I determine is better for debate.

Other Theory: I really liked theory when I did policy debate, but that theory is also different from a lot of LD theory. What that means is I mainly know cp theory - condo, pics, process cps, perm competition (i.e. textual vs. functional, perm do the cp), severance/intrinsicness, and other things of that nature. You can see some of my thoughts on these arguments in the policy section. I've also had some experience with spec arguments. Like T, I view theory similarly to a da debate. Interpretations are models of debate that I endorse which describe ideally what all other debates should look like. I almost always view things through competing interps. Like with T, in order to win reasonability I think you need to have a pretty solid I/meet argument. Not having a counter-interp the speech after the interp is introduced is a major mistake that can cost you the round. I decide theory debates by determining which interp produces a model of debate that is "best." I default to primarily caring about education - i.e. depth vs. breadth, argument quality, research quality, etc. but I can be convinced that fairness is a controlling factor for some of these things or should come first. I find myself pretty unconvinced by arguments that I should care about things like NSDA rules, jurisdiction, some quirk of the tournament invitation language, etc.

Tricks: I think I've officially judged one "tricks" round now, and I've been trying to learn as much as I can while coaching my squad. I enjoyed it, though I can't say I understood everything that was happening. I engaged in some amount of trickery in policy debate - paradoxes, wipeout, process cps, kicking out of the aff, obscure theory args, etc. However, what was always key to winning these kinds of debates was having invested time in research, blocks, a2s - the same as I would for any other argument. I need to be able to understand what your reason is for obtaining my ballot. If you want to spread out arguments in the NC, that's fine and expected, but I still expect you to collapse in the NR and explain in depth why I should vote for you. I won't evaluate new arguments in the NR that are not directly responsive to the 1AR. The reason one-line voting issues in the NC don't generally work with me in the back is that they do not have enough warrants to make a convincing NR speech.

David Bowers Blue Valley Southwest High School 4 rounds

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 10:53 AM CDT

Experience: 2 years college policy, 5 years parli, 5 years NFA-LD, I've been coaching a combination of HS policy, CEDA/NDT, NFA-LD and Parli for 9 years.

Email for the chain: bowersd@moval.edu

Online Debate: A couple of things I think are important before starting. Please make sure that your computer is plugged in before starting, your mic is muted while the other person is speaking. Also, there will be tech problems throughout the year, please be cool about it. If there is a disconnect during a speech time will stop and the speaker will be responsible for picking up where they left off when they reconnect.

General: I very much believe that I am here for you, so whatever style of debate you enjoy doing you should do that. I think that I probably will hold the line on cheap shot arguments more often than not, typically one line arguments on a theory shell/solvency flow will not get my ballot. Generally the team that does the better link/impact analysis/comparison will win my ballot.

I'll talk about some things here to maybe clear some questions you may have but genuinely whatever you want to do. If you have questions please feel free to ask.

Impact framing: Sans an alternative I think that death is the worst impact in the debate, but I'm very willing and happy to listen to other impact framing arguments.

Theory: I think that absent another framing mechanism I would evaluate T via competing interps, that being said I'm open to whatever method you want in terms of evaluating the argument. I think that my threshold for voting on T is low IE it's just another argument that if you win I will vote on. I don't have a preference on whether or not condo is good or bad. Most if not all questions like that can be resolved in round. I do not need proven abuse to vote on Topicality.

CP: Awesome, fun, I don't think I've met a counterplan I wasn't in some way a fan of from a strategic standpoint. That being said I think that overly complicated texts need to be explained. If I don't know what the counterplan does or how it functionally solves the aff it is harder to win me.

K: I don't have a preference for any type of alternative, I will say that it would be easier for me to vote for a K if I understand what the alternative does. I won't vote against a K if I don't understand what the alt does it just definitely makes it an easier ballot for you.

Trinity Brockman Lawrence HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri March 12, 2021 at 12:41 PM CDT

pfd peeps:

I have only judges pfd a handful of times, but I did qualify for nats in public forum in high school. I also competed in public forum for three years in high school. I should be good with anything you decide to do, but let me know if you have any questions at all.

Policy peeps:

You don't lose until I sign the ballot - if you know you are way too behind then it's time to shoot for the moon; condo, dispo turns, try and sell a new link turn, whatever. I appreciate not giving up and being risky on a mid round strat change if executed well and justified.

Voted aff on the policy topic: 13

Voted neg on the policy topic: 19

email: trinityb@ksu.edu

she/her/hers

Four years at @ Manhattan High School

Assistant Coach @ Lawrence High

Everything is up for debate.

I am a heavy flow critic. I find myself looking towards the arguments and how they function in the debate over the inherent “truth” of an argument. I will vote on an argument I know is not true (many economy arguments, for example) if this is not refuted. Basically, I am tech over truth in most instances...

However, I will not vote on arguments such as racism good, patriarchy good, transphobia good, ableism good, colonialism good, etc. Give content warnings for graphic content (I will vote you down) If there are any of the aforementioned violence practiced theoretically or materially in round I will vote against your team immediately. These types of injustices kill education and means that no ethical pedagogy can occur. Zero tolerance here. Debate space should be a space to act without fear of oppression - I will make sure that is reflected in my judgments and comments.

I am fine with any speed you choose, you will not go too fast for me. However, do not spread just to push the other team out. That is an accessibility issue and if they are pushed out of the round and make an abuse argument or criticism of your practices I will most likely vote against you. I see way too many debaters push other teams out just because they think they are better than the other team. Don't be a dick.

Topicality: I love it. A good T debate is my favorite debate to judge and was my favorite argument to run. T is always a voter because it taps into the performative aspects of debate and how this education can be effective. They are always about competing interpretations and the reasons as to why that interpretation is more beneficial than others. You must weigh the offense based on your standards/voters vs. the C/I and their subsequent standards/voters. You have to win your interpretation is the best for the debate. This applies to all theory arguments.

***Topicality is just an agreement between two teams on what is to be debated.*** If there is/are more pertinent issue(s) that the teams wish to discuss (e.g. anti-blackness, transphobia, colonialism, ableism) of a particular event that is proximal to the debaters then that is okay. Do not think you are stuck to the topic if there is a general consensus on what should be debated.

Counterplans: Read one, please. If you don’t, you need status quo solves. If you read a perm text, please give SOME explanation on how the perm functions. I don’t view perms as advocacies (no one does anymore) because the CP is just opportunity cost to the affirmative, so don’t act like you suddenly have an amazing new net-benefit because you permutated the CP. Presumption never flips aff. Presumption, simply put, is that the existing state of affairs, policies, programs should continue unless adequate reasons are given for change. I believe condo is good, I'm going to have a hard time listening to anything else.

Criticisms/Performances: I do run Ks as a debater. (I have argued neolib, cap, security, fem, gender, set col, and queer kritiks) It should be an advocacy. Additionally, I do not think white debaters should run anti-blackness. I do not think non-queer individuals should run queer theory. This runs the line of commodification and you cannot work within that position if you do not belong to it, meaning that you will never truly understand what you are running and operating form a position of privilege to do so. I am okay with whatever criticism or performance you so choose to run, just make sure you can explain it and how it solves the aff.

Case: haha you should do it, literally aff's are so bad and not well designed anymore. I could have lost on presumption so many times my senior year but people are too afraid to give that 2NR. If that is your best 2nr option, do it.

***BOTTOM LINE***

It is much more important to me that you find an educational gain from this activity and adequately express the things you care about greatly than hitting all the stock issues or being a policy maker. Debate is about the debaters, make the round what you want. ANY attempt to push the other team out of the debate will result in a dropped ballot.

fiat is fake and the debate round should be ethically and strategically centered in the contact between the bodies in the space (me and the debaters). that doesn't mean i don't buy your ptx da or shady i/l link chain, but that i want to see a politely conducted, complex debate with four people who know a lot more about what they are talking about than me. at the end of the day, we all leave the round and what we take away from it is knowledge, empathy and experience. if you prove to me that you are best for the production of those three things in this space, then it is likely you have won. (Sam took this from me)

Attack the argument, not the debater. As a woman in debate, I have experienced forms of sexism, if I see any of this, you will be voted down. microaggressions, racism, homophobia, or xenophobia will not be tolerated by me. If I encounter this, I will stop flowing and vote you down. CX is a time for understanding, not for coming after the other team. Don’t be a jerk. If you are, you will be voted down. Debate is a place for fun and learning, not for being mean to people for the sake of “winning.”

Any other questions just find me and ask.

Azja Butler Shawnee Mission South High School 1 rounds

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 6:59 PM CDT

Paradigm Last Updated – Summer 2023

Coach @ Shawnee Mission South and the University of Kansas.

Put me on the email chain :) azjabutler@gmail.com

TLDR:

Judge instruction, above all else, is super important for me – I think this looks differently depending on your style of debate. Generally, I think clear instruction in the rebuttals about where you want me to focus my attention and how you want me to filter offense is a must. For policy teams I think this is more about link and impact framing, and for more critical teams I think this is about considering the judge’s relationships to your theory/performance and being specific about their role in the debate.

For every "flow-check" question, or CX question that starts with a variation of "did you read..." I will doc you .5 speaker points. FLOW DAMNIT.

General:

I am flexible and can judge just about anything. I debated more critically, but read what you're most comfortable with. I will approach every judging opportunity with an open mind and provide feedback that makes sense to you given your strategy.

I care about evidence quality to the extent that I believe in ethically cut evidence, but I think evidence can come in many forms. I won’t read evidence after a debate unless there is an egregious discrepancy over it, or I've been instructed to do so. I think debaters should be able to explain their evidence well enough that I shouldn’t have to read it, so if I'm reading evidence then you haven't done your job to know the literature and will probably receive more judge intervention from me. That being said, I understand that in policy debate reading evidence has become a large part of judging etc, because I'm not ever cutting politics updates be CLEAR and EXPLICIT about why I am reading ev/ what I should be looking for.

Please know I am more than comfortable“clearing” you. Disclosure is good and should be reciprocated. Clipping/cutting cards out of context is academic malpractice and will result in an automatic loss.

___________________________________________________________________

Truth over Tech -OR- Tech over Truth

For the most part, I am tech over truth, but if both teams are ahead on technical portions of the debate, I will probably use truth to break the tie.

Framework

I think debates about debate are valuable and provide a space for confrontation over a number of debate's disparities/conflicts. A strong defense of your model and a set of specific net-benefits is important. Sure, debate is a game, education is almost always a tiebreaker. Fairness is a fake impact -- go for it I guess but I find it rare nowadays that people actually go for it. I think impact-turning framework is always a viable option. I think both sides should also clearly understand their relationship to the ballot and what the debate is supposed to resolve. At the end of the debate, I should be able to explain the model I voted for and why I thought it was better for debate. Any self-deemed prior questions should be framed as such. All of that is to say there is nothing you can do in this debate that I haven't probably seen so do whatever you think will win you the debate.

Performance + K Affirmatives

Judge instruction and strong articulation of your relationship to the ballot is necessary. At the end of the debate, I shouldn't be left feeling that the performative aspects of the strategy were useless/disjointed from debate and your chosen literature base.

Kritiks

I filter a lot of what I have read through my own experience both in and out of academia. I think it’s important for debaters to also consider their identity/experience in the context of your/their argument. I would avoid relying too much on jargon because I think it’s important to make the conversations that Kritiks provide accessible. I have read/researched enough to say I can evaluate just about anything, but don't use that as an excuse to be vague or assume that I'll do the work for you. At the end of the debate, there should be a clear link to the AFF, and an explanation of how your alternative solves the links -- too many people try to kick the alt and I don't get it. Links to the AFF’s performance, subject formation, and scholarship are fair game. I don’t want to say I am 100% opposed to judging kicking alts for people, but I won’t be happy about it and doubt that it will work out for you. If you wanna kick it, then just do it yourself... but again I don't get it.

Any other questions, just ask -- at this point people should know what to expect from me and feel comfortable reaching out.

Goodluck and have fun!

Danniel Christensen Lansing HS 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri February 19, 2021 at 2:19 PM CDT

Danniel Christensen

dannielchristensen1@gmail.com

Currently an assistant coach @ Lansing High School

1.5 years College Debate @ K-State

4 years HS debate @ Shawnee Mission West

Policy Debate:

Tech over truth

I have no knowledge of the current topic

Tl;dr: I will evaluate everything in the round. At the end of the day, this is a debate, so do what you are good at and have fun.

Affs: Anything. I read planless affirmatives all the time, but at the same time, I also read topical affirmatives.

Impact turns: They are fun.

Topicality: I vote on T. Even if it doesn't make sense. I do not like RVI's, but I will vote on them if they are conceded.

Disadvantages: Impact framing is important. Give me some way to weigh the impact of the DA in relation to the aff.

Counterplans: Default condo, CP's are great, cheating CP's aren't cheating until it has been proven that they are cheating. I will vote on theory but make sure you slow down on your theory shells so that I can catch all of your arguments. Debaters have a fun habit of just spreading everything, and that can make it difficult to catch blippy arguments that are often embedded in theory arguments.

Kritiks: FW is a way to win my ballot. Explain the alt in a way that resolves a link (usually isn't an instantaneous action). You don't have to go for the alt, just make sure you explain how the link/impact alone should win the debate. The role of the Ballot is a great way to explain how I evaluate the round. I know most K lit, but buzzwords don't explain anything to me.

I flow every speech straight down, so the presence of an overview is meaningless to me.

Notes for LD:

I have done both the classic value-criterion style and the new policy style. Either is fine with me. Just make sure it all flows and give me a lens to evaluate the round. Why am I voting for you (offense)? Why am I not voting for the other debater (defense)?

To win an LD debate you can employ any of these strategies:

1. My value is better than yours

2. My criterion can lead to your value, but your criterion cannot obtain my value

3. your criterion cannot solve your value, but mine can solve my value

4. Offense/Defense (policy style that has grown in LD)

Speaks:

30: Fantastic -- one of the best rounds I've seen

29: Some things to work on -- but overall you did pretty good (above average)

27-28: This is average -- some mistakes, but you recovered

26: You executed something wrong

Carolyn Cook Shawnee Mission South High School

Last changed on Sat April 13, 2024 at 3:41 AM CDT

My email is carolynsearscook@gmail.com carolyncook@smsd.org and I think it would be awesome for you all to start the email chain before I get to the debate so that we don't have to waste time doing it once I arrive:)

I debated in high school in Kansas from 1999-2003 (SME). I coached high school debate throughout college but did not debate in college. I was the director of debate at Lansing High School where I coached and taught from 2009-2018. This (23-24) is my 6th year directing and teaching speech & debate at Shawnee Mission South.

I dislike when debaters are mean. This activity is awesome--I believe that it pushes us and makes us better thinkers and people--and debaters cheapen that opportunity when we choose not to respect one another. Please just be kind humans.

I learned to debate and evaluate debates as a policy maker but also find that I much prefer seeing you do what you do best in rounds. That being said, you know your lit and arguments better than I do (at least you should). So:

If you don't think the aff should get to weigh their 1AC against the criticism, you have to tell me why--same if you think that we should abandon the topic as the aff.
If you want me to evaluate an argument and your 'warrant' is described as a specific term: that one word is not a warrant. . . you should include a description of WHY your claim is true/accurate/means you win. Debates that are heavily reliant on jargon that I am unfamiliar with will result in me being confused.
If you do little work on literature (especially lit I am not familiar with), please don't then expect me to do a bunch of work for you in the decision.

You should clearly articulate the arguments you want to forward in the debate--I value persuasion as an important part of this activity.

Please be organized--doing so allows me to focus on the quality of argumentation in the round. Debates are so much more fun to watch when you have a strategic approach that you execute with care. Talk about your evidence. Warranted and strategic analysis that demonstrates your understanding of your own arguments, and their interactions with your opponent's, make debates better.

I default competing interpretations on Topicality and think T debates should include case lists and topical version of the aff. I think that weighing impacts is important. I also just enjoy good case debate. I tend to find consult and and condition CPs to be cheating...but you still have to answer them. You should always answer conditionality.

I really prefer that you are as explicit about HOW you would like for me to evaluate the debate and WHY this approach is best.

Please speak clearly... if you are incomprehensible my flow will not be great and the quality of my evaluation of the round will likely decrease.

Jason Cook Shawnee Mission South High School

Brynna Darley Shawnee Mission South High School 6 rounds

Art Delgado Blue Valley Northwest

Ethan Eitutis Blue Valley West 6 rounds

Alex Glanzman Lawrence HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Wed April 13, 2022 at 12:54 PM CDT

My email is glanzman94@gmail.com ------please include me in the email chain if present. I do prefer speechdrop though.

Experience/Accolades:

NFA-LD National Champion (2016)

NPDA/NPTE Top 8 (2016)

CEDA Double Octo-Finalist (2014)

Coach in High School Policy for 6 years

Coach for NFA-LD for 2 years

***Updated for NFA 2022***

We are back in person!! I have attended two tournaments nationally to get back into the swing of in-person debate and I believe the differences I have seen warrants me making changes to my paradigm. For some students this may be your first in person experience debating (whether that be high school or college) and I need to make it clear that certain debate practices and models do not translate well to in-person debate and causes me headaches when evaluating a winner. So I will attempt to pinpoint things I find make it difficult to judge while also providing a view for how I engage with debates.

1. Run strategies you understand and are comfortable with---do not let your peers or coaches tell you otherwise. I’ve found it incredibly disheartening that every year I go into judging and students run K’s or soft left stuff in front of me because they believe that’s all I can evaluate. It’s not true. Yes I can provide better feedback with K’s compared to a politics DA but I also evaluate every debate through offense/defense and how to frame it. So please stop running things you can’t explain beyond the surface level just because you think I like it.

2. Debate is about clash, and clash is much more than just saying “they said x argument”. Seriously I’ve judged too many debates this year where teams are just missing the point of clash and it’s annoying. Remember, comparison is necessary. Comparison happens when you provide actual warrants for your argument and then contextualize it to the debate (which means your opponent’s arguments). This means tagline extensions are not enough. This means being more predictive rather than descriptive in context to arguments clashing. Things like how your alternative solves the impacts of the aff. Or how regional conflict supercharges famine. Or how winning the epistemology framing means that you internal link turn their warming scenario or whatever. Point is---compare and contrast! Don’t just do normal impact calc that’s self-referential. Ask yourself constantly “how does this happen”/”why does this matter” and make sure you answer it.

3. Overprepping is a real thing, and reading blocks as fast as you can isn’t debate. Like for real if you go into debates just reading pre-written analytics and cards only there is no reason for *you* to be present in the debate. If at the end of your speech you ask yourself “if somebody else read my document, would the debate change in any meaningful way?” and you conclude no; you have done yourself a disservice. I get it---prep is great. But overprepping or losing yourself in fast responses creates worse debate across the board. Mainly because clash isn’t very organic. Or in most cases you ignore important arguments on the flow because it didn’t make it into your blocks. Just please…generate analytics specific to this debate. Allocate time to prove you have generated thought into how you want to approach this debate.

4. Just because you read a piece of evidence does not mean I will extrapolate its warrants and apply it to the debate unless absolutely necessary. Debate is a competition between you and your opponents. I try not to interject as much as I possibly can and leave it up to what said in a debate to filter a decision. Even if your evidence has a round winning warrant---if you don’t explain and extend it, I won’t consider it. In really close rounds that reference pieces of evidence, this changes because I naturally have to look into it. But it’s not good enough to say “extend my Zizek evidence. Cold conceded” and move on then blow me up during the RFD saying “but Zizek said this line”. That’s cool, but you didn’t after the 1AC/1NC or whatever. This is why I prefer debaters who read *less* evidence after the 1AC/1NC and focus on just explaining and contextualizing what was in their original shells. Your shells should already contain 95 percent of what you need to win. Pre-emptions and all.

5. Stop assuming the way you view debate is the way I view debate. That’s the purpose of a paradigm right? You see what I’m weak at and how I evaluate arguments. I’ve noticed this year especially teams take certain endpoints for granted. Like why competitive equity/education matters. Or why stock issues are a voter. Or why economic collapse is bad. These re-address the point I made about by asking yourself “how did this happen/why does it matter?” I am flexible at how I should vote---y’all tell me how I should evaluate the round. But you gotta give me tangible reasons why your model is good and why not following it is bad. Don’t just assume.

6. I tend not to look at speakers when they are presenting, so if I do it probably means I am looking for you to explain further/contextualize. Pay attention to my body language. Especially coming off of two years judging online, I haven’t adapted too well to making my body language neutral. Either way, never was that kind of judge. I have certain ticks. Doesn’t mean that I hate what you’re saying necessarily---probably just means I’m looking for more or think you need to move on.

7. I err tech over truth, but capital T truth will be persuasive no matter what. That’s kind of the purpose of debate, yeah? Multiple sides to multiple arguments? Kinda hard to find objectivity behind all that subjectivity so it always benefits you to focus more on the internals of it. I will say though that the way that I flow and evaluate does tend to allow for more “embedded clash” than others. And what I mean by that is that certain debaters just have that gift for knowing what matters in a debate and what doesn’t. If the endpoint of an argument you make inherently clashes and out-warrants the endpoint of your opponent’s argument; it’s not necessary in certain cases to pinpoint it on the flow and flag it. Best piece of advice I’ve ever received---you’re never winning every argument. So focus on what would win you the ballot. Not just prove you’re better at arguing.

8. Presumption can be a round winner in front of me if packaged correctly. If you are winning credible defense and they just aren’t really touching on it by saying “that’s defense so who cares?” and they don’t actively explain their scenarios then yes presumption is p cool. I do expect affs and negs to adequately extend their advantages/shells even if they weren’t addressed. So just keep that in mind.

9. I am not very strong at counterplan debates, so be weary. Doesn’t mean I can’t evaluate the usual ones like agent CPs, etc. But process CPs tend to go over my head. Either way, 95 percent of the time CPs only matter because of the net benefit that is rarely internal but rather a DA that can stand on its own. You should naturally be winning the DA for the CP to matter. But that statement probably proves my conception of CP debate is bad. I love PICs though!

10. I love cheese. So anybody that brings me cheese, or cheese flavored snacks automatically gets a 29 worst case from me. Better snacks increase it. Or a drink to pair it with increase it.

So now to answer questions people like to ask:

1. Can I run a K aff? Yes. I would say that 3 out of my 4 years were me running K affs exclusively minus maybe 4 parli rounds and having to run a policy in front of NFA judges who I know can’t evaluate it well. Run it well and try to contextualize it to the neg as much as possible. Don’t get lost in blocks or generalities.

2. Do I have to have a plan? Nah. I’m not KU and saying “no plan no wins no speaks”. You don’t have to do anything in front of me to curry favor other than debate in a way strongest to you.

3. What about performance? Go for it. I did performance for 2 years of my career and had a lot of success with it. I naturally view every speech act as a performance so it’s not a thing for me to be weary about re-evaluating spaces/poetry/music/silence/narrative/whatever right? The debate is always yours in front of me. I’m just here to determine the ballot.

4. Will you vote on framework? Yes. So far voted more for it than against it. I think framework debaters tend to focus too much on prepped blocks though. Be more organic and really engage with the specifics of the 1AC/1NC instead of just generalizing it to “they say anti-blackness” or whatever. You should also be prioritizing the internal links of your framework shells. Things like clash, switch side, preparation, resolutional stasis, etc. only matter if you contextualize it to the specifics of the 1AC. Like it’s not just good enough to tell me why balanced clash is good. You have to not only justify why your model of debate is good, but preferable to the affs model.

5. Will you vote on T? Yes. It’s how I won NFA. And I actually think T can be read against policy affs. Even if there is some ground/offense baked into their relation to the topic (sorry Lincoln Garrett, your take was kinda silly lol). Point is, topic is important yeah? You can debate it isn’t important. And you can win that debate. But by default, I tend to believe the topic matters in some fashion. T debaters have a horrible tendency to focus on top level though compared to internals. This mirrors the framework arguments I painted above since T and Framework are essentially the same thing (yes they are, interpretations are models for how the community should engage a word/phrase. Framework just makes more meta arguments about the generalities of debate). Talk about specifics, not generalities. Be predictive about what they justify and how that worsens debate. And why that matters. Just please explain stuff…even if you win the interp and violation debate doesn’t mean it’s an automatic vote.

6. What about the K? Yeah run it if you actually know how to explain your arguments and use it strategically. Too many times I get students in front of me who get jazzed saying capitalism is bad and get caught up trying to correctly historicize China or Cuba because they know factoids compared to focusing on the strategy and overall purpose of the debate. K’s were my bread and butter and naturally I can provide the best feedback for it. But that is double-edged---it means I demand more from you in context to how you deploy and debate it. Also, very important note. Please explain your methodology instead of just saying cool leftist things. And I mean it. Your alternative evidence should be pointing out an actual method/praxis/starting point. Your alternative text should be written with meaning where every word is necessary. Too often students don’t really know what the alternative specifically means and just say things they’ve heard in other K rounds like “epistemic disobedience” or “guerilla tactics” or “flipping the script” without actually relating that back to the alternative evidence/text proper. Alternatives are varied and vast for a reason. Real differences between historical materialism and critical pedagogy on the *methodological* level. Point is---please explain your alt. Explain it correctly. Utilize it efficiently so that it solves the aff and your K proper.

7. How about impact turns? Yeah but obvi don’t read racism or patriarchy good. Not a fan of Malthus. De-dev is my jam. Wipeout is cool too.

8. Will you vote on theory? Yes, but just like the T and Framework stuff you need to explain the internals and impact theory out effectively. I don’t have any pre-disposition to any theory position that makes a certain side preferable to me than others. For instance on condo I honestly couldn’t care less because I think both sides have good reasons and am not a 50 year old coach who believes condo makes or breaks good debate. It’s up for debate!! Debate is up for debate!! And you win it by winning the debate!! What I will say is that I’d rather see 1-3 offcases with development out of the 1NC compared to 6-10 with little development. I enjoy more in depth debate but again I don’t intervene in this situation and it’s not gonna be persuasive for you to just say “hey you said you like depth!”.

Any other questions just ask. Happy debating!!

Annie Goodson Blue Valley West

Last changed on Thu April 18, 2024 at 8:04 AM CDT

Put me on the e-mail chain - aegoodson@bluevalleyk12.org and annie.goodson@gmail.com

**I'll be honest, I'm writing my dissertation right now and have done less reading on this debate topic than any other year I've been coaching. Assume I'm unfamiliar with the specific literature you are reading.

Top Level:

I'm the head coach at Blue Valley West. I tend to value tech over truth in most instances, but I 100% believe it's your job to extend and explain warrants of args, and tell me what to do with those args within the context of the debate round. I expect plans to advocate for some sort of action, even if they don't present a formal policy action. I won't evaluate anything that happens outside of the debate round. This is an awesome activity that makes us better thinkers and people, and when we get caught up in the competition of it all and start being hateful to each other during the round (which I've 100% been guilty of myself) it bums me out and makes me not want to vote for you. Be mindful of who you are and how you affect the debate space for others--racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. will result in you losing the round and I won't feel bad about it.

Delivery:

Clarity is extremely important to me. Pause for a minute and read that last sentence again. Speed is only impressive if you are clear, and being incomprehensible is the same as clipping in my book. I'm generally fine with [clear] speed but need you to slow down on authors/tags. You need to speak slower in front of me than you do in front of a college kid. Slow down a few clicks in rebuttals, and slow down on analytics. The more technical your argument, the slower I need you to go. I won't evaluate anything that's not on the flow. Please signpost clearly and extend warrants, not just authors/dates. Good rebuttals need to explain to me how to fill out the ballot. I'm looking for strong overviews and arguments that tell a meaningful story. We often forget that debate, regardless of how fast we are speaking, is still a performative activity at its core. You need to tell a story in a compelling way--don't let speed get in the way of that. Going 9 off in the 1NC is almost always a bad call. I'd rather you just make a few good arguments then try to out-spread the other team with a lot of meh arguments. I think going a million-off in the 1NC is a bad trend in this activity and is often a bad-faith effort to not engage in a more substantive debate.

I default to competing-interps-good, but I've voted on reasonability in the past. Give me a case list and topical versions of the aff. If I'm being honest I definitely prefer DA/CP or K debates to T debates, but do what you enjoy the most and I will take it seriously and evaluate it to the best of my ability.

Performance-based:

These are weird for me because I don't have as nuanced an understanding of these as some other judges in our community, but also I vote for them a lot? I'm not the best judge on these args because they're not my expertise--help me by explaining what your performance does, why it should happen in a debate round, and why it can't happen elsewhere, or is less effective/safe elsewhere. I have the most fun when I'm watching kids do what they do best in debates, so do you. Know that if the other team can give me examples of how you can access your performance/topic *just as meaningfully* through topical action within the round, I find that pretty compelling.

CPs:

These need to be specific and include solvency advocates, and they need to be competitive. I'll defer to just not evaluating a CP if I feel like it's not appropriately competitive with the aff plan, unless the aff completely drops it. I think delay and consult CPs are cheating generally, but the aff still needs to answer them.

Assume I'm unfamiliar with the specific texts you're reading. You'll likely need to spend some more time explaining it to me than you would have to in front of another judge. One thing I like about this activity is that it gives kids a platform to discuss identity, and the K serves an important function there. Non-identity based theoretical arguments are typically harder for me to follow. K affs need to be prepared to articulate why the aff cannot/should not be topical--again, TVAs are really persuasive for me.

DAs:

Love these, even the generic ones. DAs need to tell a story--don't give me a weak link chain and make sure you're telling a cohesive story with the argument. I'll buy whatever impacts you want to throw out there.

Framework:

Make sure you're explaining specifically what the framework does to the debate round. If I vote on your framework, what does that gain us? What does your framework do for the debaters? What does it make you better at/understand more? Compare yours to your opponents' and explain why you win.

General Cranky Stuff:

1. A ton of you aren't flowing, or you're just flowing off the speech doc, which makes me really irritated and guts half the education of this activity. You should be listening. Your cross-x questions shouldn't be "Did you read XYZ?" It's equally frustrating when kids stand up to give a speech and just start mindlessly reading from blocks. Debate is more than just taking turns reading. I want to hear analysis and critical thinking throughout the round, and I want you to explain to me what you're reading (overviews, plz). I'll follow along in speech docs, and I'll read stuff again when you tell me take a closer look at it, but I'm not a computer with the magic debate algorithm--you need to explain to me what you're reading and tell me why it matters.

2. 1NCs, just label your off-case args in the doc. It wastes time and causes confusion down the line when you don't.

3. The point of speed is to get in more args/analysis in the time allotted. If you're stammering a ton and having to constantly re-start your sentences, then trying to go fast gains you nothing.....just......slow down.

4. You HAVE to slow down during rebuttals for me--other judges can follow analytics read at blistering speed. I am not one of those judges.

5. In my old age I have become extremely cranky about disclosure. Unless you're breaking new, you should disclose the aff and past 2NRs before the round.

**Clipping is cheating and if I catch you it's an auto-loss

**Trigger warnings are good and should happen whenever needed BEFORE the round starts. Don't run "death good" in front of me.

I use this scale for speaks:http://www.policydebate.net/points-scale.html

Anything else, just ask!

Nikola Helixon Blue Valley Southwest High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 5:34 AM EDT

Nikola Helixon

Assistant Coach @ BVSW

Chain: helixon.niko@gmail.com

"Using cross-ex as prep" is not a thing that exists. I will not let you do that.

I don't know as much about the economy as you do.

I am very close to just saying everyone needs to debate slow in front of me. Clarity and efficiency matter. I will not clear you. There are some debaters who can be both very fast and clear. You are probably not that debater.

I won't vote for arguments about a persons worth, or some drama between high school students. I don't think high school students should be coached to attack the quality of another person for the sake of winning a debate round and find it odd that an adult would insert themselves into the lives of high school kids in that way.
If you only read from your computers, don't look at your flows, have the debate scripted from the first speech, you will get bad speaks. We spend a lot of time getting to tournaments, prepping, sacrificing time doing other things we enjoy. If debate is just a block reading contest, we could save a lot more time not going to tournaments and just submitting speech documents.

Important

Probably fine for everything. Most used to Policy AFF v. K and K AFF v. FW debates.

I dislike overuse of buzzwords, monologues, jargon. I don't do anything related to debate over the summer. I don't really do research on the topic during the year either.
Overviews should not exist. Put your arguments on the flow.

I don't like to read evidence when making a decision. I will if I feel I need to. I don't want a card doc.

- Be clear: Slow down and be clear, debate is a communication and persuasion activity.

Ending rebuttals: should frame my decision. Have a view of the overall round and tell me why you win.

Prep

- I've noticed a sharp increase in the amount of time between when prep ends and when you start speaking. There's very little reasons why this should take more than a minute, especially since you just have to click a button to send the document out.

- "Marked copy" does not mean "remove the cards you didn't read." You do not have to do that, and you should not ask your opponents to do that.

T vs. Planless AFFs

-Affirmatives should probably be related to the topic.

-Fairness is an intrinsic good only if debate is also good. If debate is good, usually nothing matters more than fairness. This is why I think affs that are about debate are the most strategic - otherwise it's hard to win that you get to weigh your impacts in front of me since very few non-debate critical affirmatives operate on the same plane as fairness.

Fairness still makes most sense to me as an impact to T-USFG. Most negative clash explanations end up either 1. trying to solve affirmative offense which, oftentimes, ends up being a very defensive strategy or 2. trying to solve some topic education offense which is often an uphill battle against impact turns. I think the most strategic way to go for clash is explaining it as good in and of itself, but usually that explanation ends up resembling fairness. I'm open to hearing most all impacts though.

Subject formation is persuasive to me if it's about the activity as a whole. I don't think affs need to win subject formation to solve (I typically just vote aff if the aff is a good idea) but I do think they need to win subject formation to access a good amount of their offense. This makes switch side very persuasive to me.
Thresholds are weird for me, I find myself being pretty hard on affirmative teams to win these debates but at the same time the amount of 2NRs I've heard that are almost purely defense makes me want to rip my hair out. If you explain your argument the best you'll win.

Ks on the Negative

Links should be to something the AFF does. I don't think you need an alternative.

Alternatives based in a pure intellectual nature probably just lose to the perm in a world where the affirmative wins framework. Intellectual/epistemology based alternatives should probably lead to something tangible that the perm can't solve.

Counterplans

Competition - I'm a bit out of my depth when I hear teams trying to defend counterplans that only need to be textually competitive, so it's probably not a good idea to read these in front of me. If you do want to read them I need a great deal more explanation than you'd think, probably.

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mGleRitgQc)

Julie Hinckley Lansing HS None

Mick Johnson Lansing HS

Emma Kingston Blue Valley Northwest 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu October 29, 2020 at 9:32 AM CDT

BVNW '20

GWU '24

*currently helping out BVNW children

she/her

add me to the chain please: emmakingston12@gmail.com

I spent way too long trying to think of things for this and if it makes no sense to you please ask me questions before rounds and I'll answer.

Random Thoughts:

I won't vote on shit out of round.

Please do evidence comparison of some sort.

Spend the 20 secs to read the rehighlightings.

No risk is a thing.

Good analytics can beat trash evidence if you point it out.

Don't speak so fast you become mush mouth- I will clear you like 2-3 times before I just stop flowing.

I default to competing interpretations. I flow on paper, so your gonna have to slow these debates down a lil bit so I can write things down.

Please do impact calc in T debates!!!

Reasonability checks abuse is gonna need some explaining other than those three words coming out of your mouth for me to give it any weight.

T is not an RVI nor is it genocide.

People spread through T blocks like its a 1nr on a ptx da with 50 cards, if you do that, you will get lower speaks and I won't get all the words out of your mouth on the flow. Slow it down please.

Case:

Do what you do. I always tended to read affs in the middle of the topic- so this is probably where I'm most comfortable.

Call out bs internal link chains that 2as tend to get away with.

Please put something other than generic impact d on the case page.

Case turns can be fun and I've had my fair share of spark, dedev, and wipeout debates.

K Affs:

please no

I get prefs don't always get you your favorite judge in the back of the room and I won't drop you just because y'all aren't reading a plan, but if you have me in the back I will need more judge instruction on how to evaluate arguments.

The aff def needs to have some sort of tangible link to the topic for me to vote for it. A good counterinterp + turning neg offense can make a persuasive ballot.

I think I've realized that I have less trouble understanding high theory arguments and more get lost in how they interact in the debate space. Just take the extra step to explain things please.

Explain how the aff actually does something to move away in the squo in some way so I don't have to vote for presumption.

Please do not make your fairness arguments about another team's school, social location, or personal background.

I tend to lean on the side that fairness is an impact, granted I don't think its the strongest one but do with that what you will.

I will reward cool strats against planless affs- that being said I was def a FW/cap debater except for one time where Zaki gave me like 40 cps to read and that was p fun.

Go for a terminal impact in the 2nr against a k aff please- a lot of people forget to do this and make the 2ar a lot easier than it should.

Good case debate in the 2nr vs a K aff can mitigate a lot of offense in my brain, especially if the 2nr is fw.

Debate is probs a game, but whether or not that game spills up is a debate to be had.

Also arguments like debate bad are just not smart and there is better offense in fw debates to use.

rev v rev debates will confuse my tiny brain and I tend to think that there are better strats if you have me in the back.

Ks:

I'm not the best for these debates, I will get basic Ks like security, cap, abolition, etc. but anything high theory and your gonna start to lose me.

The aff almost always gets to weigh the case- so winning a clear link to the plan and indicting their model of FW is probs a good idea if you want my ballot.

Not the biggest fan of large overviews that are longer than like 1-1.5 minutes, try to go in 2ac line-by-line order.

Also, k tricks/k buzzwords will basically get you nowhere unless it goes dropped.

CPs:

fun

I am all for "cheating" CPs. Process, conditions, consult. I love them all. Hot take?: states and parole cps were legit.

I don't really love 2nc cp amendments- I tend to think that 10 secs before a round thinking about wording would solve a lot of this.

CPs in the 1nc where you kick like 20 planks in the block aren't my favorite- but you do you.

DAs:

also fun

I love a good ptx da- especially well-developed ones.

Teams tend to do a lot of turns case analysis for like 10 secs at the top of the flow and then never specify how it implicates the debate in any way, if your gonna turn the case- explain it!! Good turns case analysis, however, can make a close debate turn in your favor.

Offense on DAs makes things fun.

Please kick out of things cleanly so you don't lose yourself a debate on a dropped/poorly answered turn.

I stg all of soph and junior year I went for tax reform and farm bill- so clear internal link chains and nuanced link args will get you far.

Theory:

Condo is probably good- although I do tend to think there is a distinction to be made between like 1 and 9 worlds- however where that brightline is, I'm not quite sure.

^I'm 1-1 in how I vote in condo debates as of now. So I guess if going for condo is the only way out you have in the 2ar go for it.

I'm probably unlikely to reject a team for a lot of theory args other than condo- but I will reject a CP/DA if you debate it well.

Closing Thoughts:

Debate is a pretty damn cool place. That being said please don't say toxic shit in round, I will probably drop you and definitely drop your speaks. ie being racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc. ain't cool and I will call you out on it. Also please don't be an ass in cross-ex, that's also not cool. Some people that have influenced my debate career include TEllis, David Kingston, Arvind Shankar, and most of the bvnw squad in general- so if that tells you anything there it is. Also thanks to Lex Barrett, Zaki Mansoor, and Will Soper for making senior year p cool (they probs have influenced my debate thoughts in more ways than id care to admit tbh). Also, Shaurir wanted to be in this for giving me answers to Ks during the season, so thanks ig.

Brett Krambeer Lawrence HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 13, 2023 at 4:46 AM CDT

Put me on the email chain brett.krambeer@gmail.com

four years in high school at Hutchinson High School (KS)

two years in college at The University of North Texas

Currently debating at Emporia Sate University (Stingers Down!)

Assistant coach for Lawrence High School (KS) for two years

Current assistant coach for Emporia High School (KS)

This happens more often than anyone wants to admit: If anyone in the room has made an offensive comment of a severe degree I will automatically vote against you. If an argument is not made in the debate about the comment, I will still vote against you if I subjectively decide it warrants that response. Your speaks will suffer regardless. I will only stop the debate if I am asked to by a debater, if I am I will.

Other than that, have fun and be nice to each other. You should do what you do, I'll adapt to you. I am comfortable with most everything. With that being said, I wish people did a better job of starting off slower, give me a sec to adjust to your voice by starting off at like 85% speed or so.. Especially if you're starting off with a theory or T argument.

An argument is a claim and a warrant. You need to win an argument AND a reason why that argument means I should vote for you. Don't just throw a bunch of cards at me, it makes me sad. I think the most important speeches are the rebuttals, write my ballot for me.. I like to be lazy, tell me what I'm voting on and why. I don't like reading evidence after a debate, I won't unless I have to or am told to.

I tend to be swayed by well-explained turns case arguments. Tell me how different flows and arguments interact with each other. I wish more people read impact turns.

Making choices is good.. I wont judge kick an alt or CP unless I am told to.

Specific arguments

Kritiks: I am most likely to vote for a K with a specific link and a well explained alternative (Do not assume I understand your alternative) and how it solves the aff/affs impacts. Furthermore, I think impact framing arguments are also very important and needs to be clearly extrapolated because I will use that to frame the rest of the debate.

Planless Aff’s: You do you, I have less experience with this style of affirmative. Yes, I will vote on impact turns to T.

Arden Larsen Shawnee Mission South High School 4 rounds

Josh Leffler Hire 6 rounds

Last changed on Wed January 31, 2024 at 1:11 PM CDT

Josh Leffler

Greenhill '20, Yale '25

Please put me on the email chain (and feel free to email me if you have any questions): jsl.joshleffler@gmail.com

Updated February 2022. I've judged relatively few rounds on the water topic, so please over-explain arguments and don't assume I'm familiar with community consensus.

Top-Level

Tech over truth, except for discriminatory or factually inaccurate arguments.

The two things that matter most to me (and affect my speaker points the most) are good organization and clear judge instruction.

I have much more experience with and am a better judge for policy args than critical args, but I will certainly evaluate and vote for either.

I generally won't read evidence unless I'm instructed to or I'm unable to resolve a question solely based on the debating.

I'm not a big fan of strategies that rely on your opponent missing a blippy argument to win (but like I said, tech over truth).

Online debate note: if you see me constantly looking to the side during your speech, don't worry - I am paying attention! I have a second screen off to the side on which I will be flowing.

Above all else, please be kind and respectful to everyone else in the room.

K Affs and Framework

I’m not great for K affs, though my voting record in these debates is somewhat split. I tend to be more convinced by affs that impact turn framework than those that try to counter-define specific words, etc.

If you’re neg and going for framework, I don’t tend to think of fairness as a terminal impact (which is not to say it can’t be one with some explanation, but in general I think clash-based impacts are a lot more persuasive). I think a well-constructed TVA can go a really long way in these debates.

Policy Affs

I agree with what everyone else says about framing contentions: they should be as specific to the 1AC as possible and are not a substitute for debating the substance of the disads.

I am almost always more persuaded by internal link defense than impact defense.

Topicality

Good T debating is good internal link debating. "Precision/education/predictability/etc. outweighs!" means very little without a robust explanation of why the other team's interpretation is highly imprecise/uneducational/unpredictable/etc.

Like I said above, I haven't judged a lot of debates on the water topic, so I don't really know what the community consensus is or have any preconceived notions about various interps.

Kritiks

In general, you shouldn’t assume that I am familiar with your argument. I need to be able to understand an argument before I can explain to the other team why they lost.

In these debates, I usually end up most confused by the alt, so if you're neg, you should probably do more explanation of the alt than you think is necessary. If you're not going for the alt, you still need to clearly explain what it means to vote neg.

Counterplans and Theory

Having been both a 2A and a 2N, I don't have a lot of strong biases about theory.

Conditionality is probably good, but kicking planks from counterplans that have tons of planks probably isn't. Condo is probably the only reason to reject the team.

I won't judge-kick by default.

Having a specific solvency advocate makes most counterplans legitimate, but not having a solvency advocate doesn't automatically make a counterplan illegitimate.

Disadvantages

Impact calculus (even the simple magnitude/probability/timeframe stuff) plays a role in my decision more often that you might think.

I’m a bit of a politics nerd and I love politics debates. Savvy analysis or explanation of political dynamics will likely impress me.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me (jsl.joshleffler@gmail.com)!

Zaki Mansoor Blue Valley Northwest 6 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 8, 2024 at 12:43 PM CDT

Blue Valley Northwest '20

KU '24

Coached @ Blue Valley Northwest

Debated @ KU

zmancity101@gmail.com

alot of my debate opinions come from my friends arvind shankar, william soper, lex barrett, and zakariya ahmed

I care a lot more about the flow and technical execution than whatever style of arguments you make. You should read what you feel most comfortable with rather than catering your debating to me. I read primarly K arguments in highschool and read policy arguments in college. I lean alot more policy nowadays. I don’t know anything about the topic so I’ll spend time reading through the cards a bit longer.

The name of this activity is policy debate. As such to win you must debate about policies. I think DA's and CP's can debate about policies just as much as a good K with specific links can, so dont be deterred from reading what you are good at. However, arguments that are completely extraneous to the topic should not be read, whether thats the aff or the neg. I prefer in-depth case debates, with author indicts, and good evidence comparision rather than long drawn out overviews that avoid clash.

Heres some old stuff from when I was judging more often that might help but its been a pretty long time lol:

Policy v Policy: 4(Aff) - 3(Neg) - I enjoy these debates the most. I have voted on T a couple of times and am persuaded by limits arguments even if the interp was somewhat arbitrary. I have never voted on presumption or considered risk to be zero absent arguments resolved by fiat. I have voted on theory but absolutely did not enjoy it, and solely did it because it was not responded to. Framing contentions are best when they are not just dumped with random cards, rather ones that are specficic to the aff. Big stick affs are substantially better than soft left in these debates. It would be beneficial for you to read complete arguments. I am sympathetic to 2A's shrugging off incomplete 2 card DA's and 1 card K's. If the DA is bad it prob needs a CP. Nonetheless, I see the strategic benefit of trying to flood the 2AC. Teams need to read more adv CP’s to test internals. Process CP debates are fun if both teams understand what’s going on. Most high schoolers don’t so it’s not fun.

Policy v K: 1 (Aff) - 2 (Neg) - When I voted aff it was because the permutation solved the links and had multiple net benefits. Not saying multiple net benefits are necessary however they help outweigh any residual links of the K. When I voted neg, the neg had won a larger theory of power to explain how the world operated, and won framework offense. That being said I was very persuaded by aff arguments defending their specific method of discourse through carded evidence. Teams that read specific K's to the actual componenets of the 1AC will be rewarded, and in those debates Aff's doubling down and defending their reps as good with external impacts instead of wasting time with fwk will also be rewarded. In scenarios where it’s a fiat K, aff teams should not have trouble winning framework. A lot of teams end up having trouble answering fwk because the neg throws around complicated words and then the block and 2NR say aff dropped “offense”. Most of the time it is not actual offense but recognizing this is the tough part. When in doubt frame it through fairness, plan focus good, clash, education etc. That encompasses a lot.

Planless v K: 0 (Aff) - 1 (Neg) - The negative won by creating clear competition and having a broader explanation of how the aff's violence operates with a clear external impact and materially explained alternative. Aff's should be able to sidestep alot of links with strong explanations of the permutation and their theory of power in general in order to win.

Planless v T: 4 (Aff) - 3 (Neg) - The affirmative won by generating impact turns based off the 1AC but also playing defense to alot of the negatives topicality claims. Another round the affirmative counter defined the words of the rez and had sufficient offense based around thier defs. I told the negative that they failed to explain why the affirmative's interpreation specifically is unlimting and lacked offense intrinsic to thier model of debate. It is tough for me to see a legitimate aff interp that solves the negs offense but its not impossible. Good responses to "debate has competitve incentives" and real answers to fairness should be priortized sufficiently by the aff because those on face value are very convincing to me. The more I watch and judge these debates the more I realize the strategic utility of fairness a lot more than clash. And the impact turns to fairness are substantially worse than the impact turns to clash so going for fairness in front of me is most likely better.

Speaker Points

-i decide speaker points

-be funny and youll get extra points

-be cringey and youll lose extra points

Jesse Marden Hire 3 rounds

Nate Martin Hire 2 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 12:05 PM CDT

Lansing High School Class of 2017

University of Kansas Class of 2021

email: natmart23@gmail.com

tldr: do what you do best.

**Topicality vs. Plan

Competing interps makes the most sense to me. I have never seen a compelling 2AR on reasonability, but if you've got it be my guest.

Reasonability is a way to determine the sufficiency of the aff’s counter-interp; not whether or not the aff is “reasonably topical”

I’m very persuaded by contextualized interactions between different standards. Without this component it's often difficult to determine when one standard outweighs another.

**T-USFG

I have historically been compelled by the arguments in support of limiting affirmatives to defend topical action. What topical action is is obviously up for debate. I am way less persuaded by criticisms of the topic that are not coupled with an alternative explanation for how this activity functions.

I think that fairness is an impact when warranted. I think that debaters sometimes are lacking in their explanation of why that is the case, however.

In the limited experience that I have had as a judge in these debates, I am always left wishing that the debaters on either side engaged more with the nuances of their opponents' arguments, rather than merely reiterating their own insistently.

**CP

Enjoy them and don't have a ton of novel ideas regarding them. I think that competition and theory are both derived from the mandate of counterplan action (opposed to effect) so tailor your explanation as succinctly around that action as possible. As such, if your counterplan relies on a minute distinction to the plan make sure that your explanation centers around that difference otherwise I become more sympathetic to affirmative competition arguments.

Theory arguments, unless otherwise stated, result in rejecting the argument. The exception to this rule is condo. For me, numerical limits on condo have never made a ton of sense. I think for most teams' impacts the difference between 8 and 2 is sort of miniscule and without a succinct explanation of why your number is a necessary limit, of which I have heard none, I find aff arguments criticizing the arbitrary nature of your ceiling compelling.

Don't love international fiat.

**DA

I’m a fan. I think that I find turns case arguments to be more impactful than a lot of judges. I also find the logical conclusion of a lot of thumpers to be more impactful than a lot of judges.

**K

I enjoy judging good K debates. I do think that in these debates, distinctions between offense and defense matters quite a bit to me. I think that framework is hugely important for both sides in these debates but, similarly to my frustrations in T-USFG debates, too often teams just throw their interp at one another without debating the merits of their opponent's. I think that alt explanation is super important, and have seen a lot of debates where neither side explains the alt at all and I'm not just going to default assume that it solves if I cannot explain the reasons that it does using arguments that you have forwarded.

Ryan McFarland Blue Valley Southwest High School 2 rounds

Last changed on Wed January 3, 2024 at 7:07 AM CDT

Ryan McFarland
Debated at KCKCC and Wichita State

Two years of coaching at Wichita State, 3 years at Hutchinson High School in Kansas, two years at Kapaun Mt. Carmel, now at Blue Valley Southwest.

email chain: remcfarland043@gmail.com , bvswdebatedocs@gmail.com

Stop reading; debate. Reading blocks is not debating. You will not get higher than a 28.3 from me if you cant look away from your computer and make an argument.

I've seen deeper debates in slow rounds than I've seen in "fast" rounds the last couple years. "Deep" does not mean quantity of arguments, but quality and explanation of arguments.

Talk about the affirmative. I've judged so many debates the last couple years where the affirmative is not considered after the 1AC. Impact defense doesn’t count. I don't remember the last time my decision included anything about impact defense that wasn't dropped.

I am not a fan of process counterplans. I’m not auto-vote against them, but I think they’ve produced a lazy style of debating. I don’t understand why we keep coming up with more convoluted ways to make non-competitive counterplans competitive instead of just admitting they aren’t competitive and moving on with our lives.

I'm not good for the K. I spent most of my time debating going for these arguments, have coached multiple teams to go for them, so I think I understand them well. I've been trying to decide if it's about the quality of the debating, or just the argument, but I think I just find these arguments less and less persuasive. Maybe its just the links made on this topic, but it's hard for me to believe that giving people money, or a job, doesn't materially make peoples lives better which outweighs whatever the impact to the link you're going for. I don't think I'm an auto-vote aff, but I haven't voted for a K on this topic yet.

If you decide to go for the K, I care about link contextualization much more than most judges. The more you talk about the aff, the better your chances of winning. I dislike the move to never extend an alternative, but I understand the strategic choice to go for framework + link you lose type strategies.

An affirmative winning capitalism, hegemony, revisionism true/good, etc. is a defense of the affirmatives research and negative teams will have a hard time convincing me otherwise.

I think K affirmatives, most times, don't make complete arguments. They often sacrifice solvency for framework preempts. I understand the decision, but I would probably feel better about voting for an affirmative that doesn't defend the topic if it did something.

Zero risk is real. Read things other than impact defense. Cross-ex is important for creating your strategy and should be utilized in speeches. Don’t be scared to go for theory.I will not vote on something that happened outside of a debate, or an argument that requires me to make a judgement about a high school kid's character.

Don't clip. Clarity issues that make it impossible to follow in the doc is considered clipping.

Heer Mehta Blue Valley West 3 rounds

Last changed on Sat January 13, 2024 at 1:52 AM CDT

Heer Mehta

Blue Valley West '20

heermehta001@gmail.com

TLDR

- This is my third year judging, but am still a pretty new judge. I don't really keep up with the topic/lit, so keep that in mind. I am probably a better judge for policy debate. For kritik-oriented debates, I need a lot of explanation.

- tech over truth

- indicting authors and evidence is important and you will be rewarded for that

- an argument = claim, warrant, impact

- It's okay to be competitive, but don't be a jerk. You'll lose speaker points.

- I am fine with speed, but please be clear and make sure you slow down a little bit for important arguments because you want to emphasize those.

- As you get later into the debate, the fewer cards you read the better (unless you're the 1ar and you need to). I do not like seeing laptops in the 2ar/2nr. Line by line!!

- Impact calc is very important at the top. Judge instruction is very important to me. I don't want to do the work for you - tell me why I should vote for you. I am not a big fan of judge intervention, so if you want to emphasize an argument or indict the other team's cards, please do not expect me to do that for you.

- not a fan of 10 off in the 1nc

Case - I appreciate a good case debate. For the aff, I think a lot of debaters can forget to use their 1ac cards to answer things on different flows - use them.

Disads - read them.

Counterplans - I like advantage CPs, but I'm probably not a good judge for consult/PICs/process counterplans. Conditionality is probably good, but I can be persuaded otherwise. Please read a solvency advocate.

Topicality - yes competing interps. By the end of the debate, you should only be going for one standard. I see topicality as a disad, so both teams should explain why the other team's interp is worse for debate. Frame your arguments in the context of the topic - don't just read generic T blocks.

Kritiks - I went for generic neolib and arm sales kritiks my junior and senior year, so I am not well-versed in the K lit. I will listen to it if you wanna go for it, just make sure you clearly articulate things and emphasize important arguments. A lot of debaters will rely on fancy jargon to sidestep a real explanation of what the kritik actually is. It is more valuable in my eyes for you to be able to apply the argument. For these debates, judge instruction is extremely important. Long overviews at the top should be shortened and replaced by line by line throughout the flow - it's easier to follow and more organized. On the other hand, I think link/FW arguments are convincing by the aff. Make sure you're explaining why the kritik is not just the status quo and how the aff makes it worse. Fiat is illusory doesn't make sense to me.

Framework - affs need to have some link to the topic. I like fairness impacts, but I can be persuaded with topic education.

Theory - make you sure you have an impact to your theory arg.

Lena Mose Hire 4 rounds

Last changed on Mon December 6, 2021 at 5:31 PM CDT

NSDA qualifier - Just wanted to clarify for the NSDA qualifier this weekend that this is the first tournament of the season I will be judging. I am good with speed, but I do not recommend you go your fastest. With that being said, make sure you contextualize any kritiks as I have not judged a round on this topic.

emporia high school 2015-2019

ku 23

they/them

yes add me to your email chain: itslenamose@gmail.com

about me

i did policy debate for all four years of high school and a semester of college debate at KU. i ran mostly policy arguments in high school but i spent most of my time running Ks and K affs my last year and a half in debate.

high school experience = two time DCI qualifier, 5A two speak policy debate finalist, and two time NCFL qualifier in LD.

yes spread. yes be clear.

prep doesn't end until the speech doc is sent.

top level

i will listen to most of what you have to say. here's what i think is super important/things people mess up a lot:

1. win your aff -- case is super important and if you win it, then you can win a lot of other stuff on the flow (like case o/w and using the aff as an impact filter)

2. engage with arguments and understand your arguments -- shadow extending cards/making claims with no warrants does not persuade me. clash is good.

3. good cx -- a lot of people don't have goal oriented cross examinations anymore and it's pretty sad. cross ex is a speech. you can get a lot from cx, and when you do you should point those things out in your speeches.

4. impact calc -- do impact calc. often times debaters don't do good enough impact calc and it becomes difficult for me to judge debates. probability, magnitude, and timeframe are important things and you should talk about them. doing impact calc is what will help you write out the ballot for me.

i default to competing interps unless convinced otherwise. i will vote on T and i enjoy t debates. limits is probably the only convincing impact to T. obviously warrant out fairness and education claims, but if you don't talk about limits in your 2nr it will be easier for me to vote aff.

theory

theory debates are pretty cool. i'm familiar with condo debates. if you wanna go for it, go for it. please go slow on theory though, spreading at top speed on theory will become frustrating for me.

disads

love a good disad debate ngl. if you can give me a good story and do some good line by line AND win impact calc, then you have a good shot with most DAs. i tend to be a fan of ptx.

i like K debates. these are probably some of my favorite debates to judge. as long as you can explain your K and it isn't some death good args then i can evaluate it.

i am most familiar with queer theory, cap, set col, and identity based kritiks

perm debates on the K are fun and good overviews are also fun.

i also like good alts. alts that are specific and well explained will def boost speaks but i can also evaluate a debate where you kick the alt and go for the link.

i like creative CPs and just any CP that tests the aff well. CPs are good and should be competitive. please understand your perms.

Lexi Oatman Blue Valley Southwest High School 6 rounds

Kwudjwa Osei Hire 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu February 8, 2024 at 4:55 PM EDT

Email: ema3osei@gmail.com

Pronouns: They/Them

Debated at University of Pittsburgh

I think about debate strategically primarily. Bad strategy => bad decision-making => bad comparison => bad debate. Lack of argument comparison also generally means more of a focus on skill than arguments which makes for less substantive feedback which has a negative feedback loop on the quality of judging experienced by debaters and the growth of teams themselves in my view. Substance is cool even when the substance is literally just about the meta-game.

I like judging different things, there are many different styles and many get overlooked or forgotten, so do your thing and do it well. I have a higher threshold for how you answer presumption in rounds without a plan and will filter a lot of the debate through solvency.

I'm typically more interested in a K that has offense either about the consequences of the plan or the consequences of the process but if you can win your overarching thesis claim outweighs plan/method focus, then go for it. The whole point of a K is to disagree with the assumptions of the affirmative so I don't understand the turn to agree with the affirmative's assumptions about how it should be evaluated vis-a-vis their various interps.

If you have a K that fundamentally disagrees with the epistemic starting point of the affirmative, then the latter part of the prior statement probably applies more than the former two even if you do have an embedded impact turn to the affirmative considering you likely have epistemic disagreements on starting points that inform what counts as an impact turn and also how to evaluate it comparative to other arguments on the level of uniqueness.

I don't have any specific feelings about framework as long as you're doing impact comparison. Regardless of whether you are winning a procedural or a terminal impact, it doesn’t really mean you auto win unless you have effectively zero’d/excluded all the opposing team’s offense, so offensive applications of impacts matter, if only from a strategic point of view.

Everything else is pretty round-by-round, please pic out of things, use theory intelligently and capitalize on mistakes and cross-examination early. Things may be unfair but unfairness can be justified or argued to not be unfair if a team lacks core justifications against competing claims to uniqueness/barriers to effective implementation. Same reason the neg gets to exclude the entire aff from evaluation if they win the procedural comes before aff offense.

Always keep in mind that just because you're right doesn't change the fact that you're still a debater doing debate. Every round is different and every debater debates/interprets arguments differently, so don’t switch up. Popular opinion (in debate) rarely matches reality anyway.

Please think about what is your strongest argument instead of ones that are superfluous, waste time, are unfamiliar to you, or otherwise have no strategic value. I try to give good speaks, but rarely super high. I prefer debates with fewer sheets. Don’t spread faster than is comprehensible and prioritize clarity. Make it make sense.

A dropped argument is not a true argument, though it may be persuasive. Micro-aggressions exist but so do mistakes. Your standard for how to engage them is likely biased and/or strategic. The easiest way to engage is to be a less than terrible person. If you have to worry about that you have more personal work to do.

Anyways, see ya~

Allyson Regehr Lansing HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Fri May 28, 2021 at 11:30 AM CDT

For CFL PFD kiddos: First of all, congratulations on making it to CFL 2021! I hope you all enjoy the experience, and I'm sorry that we can't be doing this in person. Thank you for adapting to digital debate. My regular laptop died on me right before this tournament, so if I look like I'm having issues with tech I probably am, just keep moving on with the round as long as I'm still connected to the room. Listening and flowing your arguments will come before me fighting with the old brick I'm trying to judge off of. Next, I will always prioritize good clash in the round. This means the clarity and explanation of both your arguments and the sources you are citing matter to me, a lot. If that means slowing down the round to delve deeper into a really good argument, and skipping that last contention, so be it. The rounds are short anyways, so lets have in depth conversation about your topic(s), not a wide breadth of coverage on the resolution. Please be nice to each other, to the judges, and to yourself. No matter how lost in the round you get, keep pushing through it. Most of all, have fun! For some of you this will be your last nationals, some of you your first, but either way it should be a good experience. If you feel like it you can read through my regular season policy paradigm below.

TLDR: Policy maker, I won't vote against my own self interest, please put me on the email chain, and give good clash and good impact calc (and see bottom bolded section)

Graduated from Buhler High School in 2018. I competed in debate and forensics for all four years. I qualified to nationals (a mix of NSDA and CFL) 5 times: oration once, public forum four times. I judge semi-regularly (I try to pick up as many rounds as I can in a season, sometimes that's more than others). I've judged something like 10-12 tournaments this season thus far.

I tend to vote Policy Maker with a heavy emphasis on stock issues. However, if the role of the ballot is defined in round I will respect that.

I will be flowing. I will deal with speed in rounds but I would prefer lay speed. I just ask that if you are going to speed, make it worth it. The flow will be my utmost priority in judging the round (this includes role of the ballot arguments), so please don’t drop the flow. If you have an email chain I would love to be on it to follow along. allysonregehr@gmail.com

I will not vote against my self-interest. If your impact hurts me or my community it's a no go.

Explain your arguments and why they are important. Good debate stems from you being able to hold your ground and explain why what your saying both makes sense and is important.

Most of all debate is meant to be educational. If I feel like you are taking away from the educational factor of debate I will vote you down. There is no place to be rude, belittle, or demeaning in any way to your opponents, your judges, your teammates, etc in this round today.

Cyan Ridge Shawnee Mission South High School 5 rounds

Haylee Rose Shawnee Mission South High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Sat May 27, 2023 at 4:41 AM CDT

About me/ Preference things-

I debated at Lawrence High School for 4 years and debated in college at the University of Kansas. I have been an assistant debate coach for Shawnee Mission South High School for 4 years.

** Please add me to the email chain rose.haylee2000@gmail.com

I evaluate LD traditionally with emphasis on the V and VC level. However, it is important that you are winning some offense both on the V and VC as well as the contention level debate. Winning top level offense on the V and VC and and describing how that effects the contention level debate is the easiest way to win my ballot.

TL:DR

As for how I evaluate debates, I cannot say that I have a bunch of things that I am for or against so I will just go down the list.

Make arguments to the best of your ability but please just be a good human. As far as how many rounds I have judged I did not judge or teach at a camp this summer so I am a little behind.

T- I debated and went for T quite often in debates but I won't vote for it unless its 5 min in the 2NR and you gotta have a case list and reason why your interpretation is good, what does the aff's model of debate mean for the debate community?

Theory- its fine, be persuasive and tell me why the aff/negs justification for reading a particular argument/set of arguments is bad. I can/will vote for abuse on condo or other theory but getting there may be hard, I think condo is good and it needs to be excessive abuse. Continuing on theory, you as the person reading theory need to be able to prove why their interp is bad and why that hurts you in the round, not just the debate community writ large.

DA's- I enjoy them a lot, you will need to explain each individual part of the DA debate and its implications for the argument overall I won't extend cards when you say "extend my link".

CP's- I like Cp's that are competitive. I also am a firm believer that the CP must have a NB that is not we solve better than the aff. Not a huge fan of "cheating" counterplans but you gotta do what you gotta do to win.

K's- I read and went for the cap k, I am not a K hack or know all of the things that you are talking about. I really enjoy k debates but I will need you to explain things to me and why they matter/ what you win because of each individual part of the K debate. I like techy K debates.

READ ME:

I really enjoy this activity but there are some things about it that I am not too fond of,

1. Charging the Mound, it makes me uncomfortable and probably also makes your opponents uncomfortable as well. If you have questions or do not understand my decision please ask or email me but you are not going to convince me I made the wrong decision, and if you do why does that matter my ballot is already submitted. Let's have a productive conversation about debate

2. Personal attacks at your opponent, there is a line between being sassy and making others feel bad about themselves.

3. Sexist, Ablest, Transphobic, Racist (and other isms) language and behaviors, please be good human.

4. Stealing prep, it's just a pet peeve of mine

Feel free to ask me questions about my judging paradigm before the round starts, and email me if you have any remaining questions after the debate is over. I will always be more than happy to help you all get better at this activity!

Arvind Shankar Blue Valley Northwest 6 rounds None

Kaleb Shukeat Hire 6 rounds

Ryan Matthew Snow Hire 4 rounds

William Strickland Lansing HS 1 rounds

Last changed on Thu December 3, 2020 at 9:17 AM CDT

Experience:

I debated for 3 years at Lansing High School (Education, Immigration, Arms Sales). I do not have college debate experience.

This tournament (CFL) is my first experience judging the 2020-21 topic.

t/l:

pronouns: he/him

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

If you have any questions about the debate after it happens, you can email me at the above.

I'm flowing on paper - slow down for tags and make sure the content of cards is at a pace where it's not complete gibberish.

i am a STRONG believer that: just because you read a card doesn't mean your opponent's analytics can't beat it

i should never hear only "they didn't have ev so we win x argument". If you're saying this, it means they made an argument and your response is "we have ev and they don't". What this translates to on paper is an extension of your tag with no warrants. I want to be able to flow your warrants.

i don't want to hear new arguments in the 2nr or 2ar. i'll flow them just in case i'm wrong in the moment about hearing them earlier, but that doesn't mean i'll listen to them.

presumption goes neg UNLESS the neg is running a counterplan without a judge kick argument

as for types of arguments:

I was a 2a for nearly all my debates - 1nr was typically a disad or t, so I'm most experienced with those

Theory:

i won't discourage any specific type of theory because I don't have any solid, in-depth thoughts on it at the moment

disclosure is good.

know that, as i said above, i was a 2a the large majority of debates. I have gone for condo 0 times in 3 years. That said, neg teams, don't get excessive.

competing interpretations > reasonability

depth > breadth

limits control ground

fairness is an i/l to education. if you're not trying to win fairness, you'll have a very hard time telling me educational debates not related to the topic o/w fair AND educational debates related to the topic.

i like predictability. having the most predictable interp is strong in front of me

i've been told that people now think not having voters in the 1nc is cool. i think it is. put voters in the 1nc.

DAs:

specific link > generic link

impact calc: have it, please. as much as i wish i could, i can't give you thresholds at which magnitude o/w probability or probability o/w timeframe. this is up to you to decide. i don't know if this is a thing that happens still, but winning the yes nuclear war vs their no nuclear war evidence does not mean you get a 100% chance of probability. If you're on the opposite side of this situation, i'd love to hear something about how link chains reduce probability.

CPs:

i dislike topical counterplans

i default to sufficiency framing

i don't know how you can have any other reasonable approach than this, but feel free to enlighten me

Ks/K affs:

I have minimal experience running Ks, so you probably don't want to run one in front of me. If you want or have to, I'm most experienced with cap/neolib.

I'm heavily inclined towards the affirmative having a plan, and it will probably be easier to win this in front of me on average than another judge.

Caroline Tuohey Shawnee Mission South High School 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu December 3, 2020 at 6:27 AM CDT

Add me to the email chain :) tuoheydebate@gmail.com

I don't like asking for pronouns in rounds. It could force someone to out themselves to their partner and just lead to uncomfortable situations in general. That being said, I don't assume pronouns, I will simply address you by your name and/or your speaker position.

Experience:

- 3 years debating at Shawnee Mission South

- 2 years on varsity

- 2019-2020 DCI

Unfortunately, I do not do college debate at KU (engineering major tings) and I do not have experience debating on this topic. HOWEVER, I consider myself very informed on prison reform and criminal justice as it is an interest of mine. When running Ks on this topic, be sure that you are explaining it well. Don't assume I have heard all the usual args on this topic, but I do have enough background knowledge where I will be able to decipher what is true.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will listen to everything, but I definitely have preferences for how I like debates to fold out. I will NOT vote purely based on personal biases or preferences, but it is always good to adapt to your judge.

Yes, open cross-ex is good.

Speed: Any speed is fine, as long as you are not slurring your words. I will not hesitate to clear you if I can't understand. If you spread badly, don't spread. If you spread, slow down for tags and authors.

T: I'm not a huge topicality debater, but topicality is all about competing interps. Make sure you are answering and extending all the parts! If you spread, don't forget to slow down for theory and T, it makes it really hard to flow.

Disads: No preferences, I like them. I especially like when the disads turn case.

CPs: Your CP has to solve what it says it solves. Articulate what the world of the perm looks like and why that is good/bad. I really like counterplans, be clever! If you can use some of their evidence as a solvency advocate, that's amazing.

Ks: I like Ks. I wouldn't recommend running Ks your novice year, but if you can do it well, go for it. I'm most familiar with Neolib, Fem, and Security Ks. I am not familiar with psychoanalytical Ks, be careful. Make sure you win a link and an impact! I don't think the alt always needs to solve, I'm completely fine if you kick out of it (just watch out for condo, otherwise this makes for a fun debate). Framework is also important to a K and you should communicate how I should be evaluating the round, otherwise I will likely default to my own K opinions. Make sure you understand the literature of the K, don't run a K just to be edgy. I likely won't vote on an arg I think you are explaining wrong or just completely don't understand.

Theory: I'm a big fan of theory. I don't think theory is a reason to reject the team, just reject the arg. You can go for any theory, just make sure you articulate it well. Don't make your theory blocks whiny.

Miscellaneous:

- Be nice! I will call you out if you are rude during cross-ex or speeches and you will lose speaker points. Help keep debate a safe space. If you are disrespectful (laughing during other's speeches, saying problematic/offensive things, or making cross-ex threatening) I will not hesitate to tell your coach!

- Stealing prep will also dock you speaker points, as well as taking wayyyy too long to flash docs. I understand the occasional computer issue, but we should not be waiting 5 minutes for one doc.

- love that line-by-line! this is something that should be present throughout the entire debate. Gimme dat clash.

- please don't shadow extend your args. If you say "extend our case" or "extend this author", I will not be doing all that work for you. Extend the warrants.

- I think cross-ex is the easiest way to tell if someone is a good or bad debater. Be confident, you know your stuff!

- don't be a tight-wad. Debate should be fun! I love joking around and getting to know people.

- death is always bad

All in all, I think debate is a great way to showcase cleverness. Have fun with it, but do not be rude.

Allison Winker Blue Valley West 5 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 14, 2022 at 9:45 AM CDT

About me: I debated for 4 years at Mill Valley (2014-18) and I am now an assistant coach at Blue Valley West. I'm currently in my first year of OT school if that matters to anyone.

Please add me to the email chain: allisonwinker@gmail.com

Top level:

*Pre-KSHSAA state update:* I have not judged a lot of debates on the water topic, but I would say I am pretty familiar with the core of the topic from coaching.

I will evaluate anything you read to the very best of my ability. I try my best to leave any biases at the door and make a fair decision no matter what. However, my background and most experience is in policy-oriented arguments and therefore I will be best judging those debates.

Tech > truth, but warrants of arguments should still always be extended and explained. Evidence quality is still important to me, but I won't make arguments for you based on the ev that weren't made in the round.

Please tell me how to evaluate arguments in rebuttals so that I am not left to figure it out myself. I always try to intervene as little as possible when making my decisions and only vote on arguments based on what was said in the round. I try not to read evidence when writing my RFD unless it was an extremely important card to the outcome of the round and/or I can't resolve the debate without reading it. If you want me to read a piece of evidence, tell me that in the 2NR/2AR.

Please be kind. Debate is hard; there's no reason to make it even harder for others.

Kritiks/K affs/FW

I don't have a lot of background knowledge in critical literature and therefore I will require more explanation of these arguments than some other judges. If I can't reasonably explain an argument myself or explain to a team in an RFD, I won't vote for it. This does not mean that I need to have a super high understanding of the literature or argument, but that you spent enough time on it in the debate for me to feel comfortable voting on it.

Literature I am more familiar with: security, neolib/cap, set col. Assume that I am unfamiliar with anything else. Please slow down on tags and analytics (especially important things like perms) and don't use buzzwords. Good line-by-line and impact comparison is very important to me in making my decision. Long overviews are not a good idea.

Ks on the neg: Explain clearly what the alt does and how it solves for the impacts you're claiming. I often find myself confused as to what I am voting for at the end of the round, so a robust explanation of the alternative will help you immensely. I don't think that links of omission are links and links that are very specific to the plan are most persuasive. I will let the affirmative weigh the case unless I'm given a convincing reason not to do so.

Framework vs. K affs:

I think that affirmatives should probably defend a plan, and if not, they should be grounded in the resolution in some way. I am usually pretty persuaded by the TVA if it's done well, so the aff needs to explain why the TVA can't access the same impacts as they can. Neg teams need actually engage the aff and do impact explanation and comparison vs. reading blocks without ever contextualizing it to the aff.

I am increasingly starting to think that fairness isn't a terminal impact but rather an internal link, but I can be persuaded otherwise. I think a lot of neg teams don't really explain why these impacts matter, they just say 'key to fairness,' 'key to clash,' etc. but miss the explanation of the implications of those impacts.

I am not a good judge for a K v. K debate.

Counterplans

The more aff-specific, the better. I will reward you/give more leeway on creative counterplans and ones with recut 1AC ev. They need to be competitive and should probably have a solvency advocate - if it doesn't have one I'll have a much lower threshold for voting aff on solvency deficits. I default to judge kick unless I am told otherwise.

Even though I think condo is generally good, I think it's definitely underutilized by aff teams, especially when neg teams read 3+ advocacies, kick planks, etc. I would say I generally lean neg-ish on most counterplan theory arguments if debated equally.

Topicality

I am not a fan of T on the water topic. I get sometimes it's the most strategic option, but just know it might be more of an uphill battle with me than other arguments would be.

Make the flow clean, explain your impacts, and be clear on what your interp includes and excludes and why that is a good thing. Case lists are a good idea on both sides.

I default to competing interps. I'm generally not a big fan of reasonability and think it's usually a waste of time unless you give convincing reasons as to why I should vote on it.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Good luck and have fun!

Marcus Woodcock Lansing HS 6 rounds

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 4:05 AM EDT

I'd like to be added to the email chain mwoodcock692@gmail.com

(he/him)

email chain >> speech drop

Experience:

Debating:

I debated at Lansing High School for 4 years

Debated two years at KU (alliances and antitrust)

Coaching:

Lansing (2020-2022)

Shawnee Mission South (current) :)

Top Level -

1. Tech over truth, the only scenario in which I may look towards truth rather than tech is as a means to break a tie in portions of debates that are extremely difficult to resolve (i.e. lack of clash)

2. Don’t let anything said in this paradigm discourage you from reading/going for any argument, the best debates are ones where people have devoted ample time in researching the argumentative positions they read. I enjoy debate and will put my best effort into my decision because of the ample work that debaters put into the activity should be seen and rewarded as such, which I believe requires judges to do the same.

3. If any arguments that are homophobic, racist, and etc. are presented you will lose the debate and be rewarded the least amount of speaks as possible. This also includes any other way that you may make the debate space less safe for people.

4. Taking CX as prep will be rewarded with lower speaks.

5. JUDGE INSTRUCTION! If you think that a portion of the debate should be the deciding factor, then tell me why that is and how I should evaluate it. The more judge instruction that you do, then the more happy you are to be with the decision I give.

Topicality -

I default to competing interpretations, if you believe I should evaluate this differently, then tell me to do so. Some big things that matter to me here is that I think both teams should have a robust explanation of what they think the topic should look like. I find limits to be more compelling than a loss of ground as internal links to the impacts that you are going for.

Impact comparison is still important here, like why does fairness outweigh education or the impacts that your opponents are going for. If the debate takes the course where both teams are going for fairness, then this should be done at the internal link level, but regardless there needs to be more impact comparison in topicality.

I think that I am pretty relaxed with my biases as to what aff's are topical and I like to think that I reward teams who invest research into these arguments and think that teams who read aff's that are perceived to be regarded as topical to the community should be punished for lazy debating on whether their aff is topical or not.

Critical Affs –

I prefer aff's have some relationship with the topic, I also want you to tell me what and how this relationship is established. I feel pretty comfortable adjudicating these debates but also believe that the more judge instruction you give me, the happier you will be. I also think that the more offense that you generate on the fw page, then the better position you put yourself in. I think if you are reading a version of an anti-cap lit based aff, then generating this offense can be more difficult, but not impossible. The ones that I have seen on this topic feel pretty defensive on fw and I think you should invest time into creating this offense.

For the neg --- I believe there is a trend where teams are choosing to read definitions that stop at Ericson, and/or some sort of evidence that is similar to it. I don't think this puts you in a position to win your limits offense and my threshold for aff defense and offense is increasingly more compelling. So, if this is your strategy, then you need to invest time into creating a vision of the topic that is actually limiting.

The 2nr should have some discussion of case, or tell me how fw interacts with the case page and give me ample judge instruction on why it should come first. Reading positions other than just framework are more enjoyable debate to watch, but fw debates can be equally as interesting as long as there is time devoted to it and your strategy.

Disads -

Not much to say here...

I think there has been a trend towards reading the least number of cards as possible, while there may be SOME cases where those cards make all the arguments needed, I will be sympathetic to new 1ar arguments should they be extended into the block.

Link specificity and spin are what I look for and reward if it is being done. Obviously, the more specific the link the better, but good spin can go a long way.

I like and reward aff strategies that straight turn disads and/or other offense generating strategies.

Counterplans –

Counterplans can make for interesting debates. I tend to side with the neg on pics and agent counterplans. I think other competition questions are typically decided on whichever team has invested more time in their strategy revolving around competition. Furthermore, I am more than happy and comfortable in adjudicating these debates, again judge instruction is important here.

With theory debates I think I am most compelled to reject the team only in context with condo but can be persuaded with other theory arguments if you are able to impact them out well enough. I enjoy watching aff teams double-down on condo and I don’t think there is a certain number of off that makes me more/less likely to vote on the argument, just win your interpretation if this is what the debate boils down to.

Kritiks –

The more specific of a link I think the better (this goes very any argument though) whether or not this is a link to the plan or the aff's performance, link spin can also go a long way. Pulling lines from evidence and contextualizing them to your link analysis is good. I do not think there must be an alternative in order to win the debate, just make sure you are wining other arguments that justify you doing this (i.e. framework). With these debates telling me what and why x matters are very important in framing my ballot.

With permutations I think the neg has to do more than just say, “all links are disads to the perm,” make sure to explain how they operate as such, and if you are going for the perm being intrinsic and/or severance make sure to explain why and tie an impact to it. On the flip side, I think that aff teams need to do a better job at answering each individual piece of offense to win a permutation (i.e. each link, disad, or solvency question) with a net benefit.

Case -

Don’t neglect case, it never hurts to extend some sort of defense or offense no matter how miniscule it may be. I think neg teams going for k’s sometimes get away with not going to the case page, if this happens make sure to use your aff.

I don’t understand the use of framing pages. They are often things that don’t matter if the neg just wins the disad or kritik that they are going for. I think the best examples of framing pages were affs written on the immigration topic and have since not seen one that was inherently offensive rather than defensive. The same goes for pre-empts. This is not to say don’t have a fed key warrant, but rather don’t just read a bunch of thumper cards or random pieces of impact defense. In this instance you should just read another advantage.

Brett Zimmerman Hire 2 rounds

Last changed on Fri December 4, 2020 at 8:41 AM CDT

Debated 4 years at Lansing High School on the National Circuit

Email: brettzimm4@gmail.com (please put me on the email chain)

Firstly:

I was mostly a policy debater in high school and that is what I am most comfortable with. However, I do have some limited experience reading kritiks, on the aff and neg, so read what you need to read to win the debate. Tech over Truth.

Topicality:

I think topicality is really under utilized and gets a bad name sometimes because generic interpretations can feel disingenuous. That being said I don't have a problem with generic interps, but perhaps the threshold for the neg to win that part of the debate is lower if they read a contextual interp.

Limits over ground

I think debating impacts is super important in T debates and in order to win the argument you should explain to me what your impact looks like and why it outweighs, in a very thorough way.

Disads:

Disad debates are great. Do what you want here.

A specific link goes a long way.

I think straight turns are cool.

Counterplans:

Read whatever kind of counterplan you want to read, process counterplans, PICs, etc. you just have to win the theory debate.

Condo debates are fun and I encourage the aff to start them if they think its justified.

Kritiks:

Specific links over generic ones

The aff gets to weigh their impacts

I have experience with a few kritiks and I've read some books, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I know what I'm talking about when it comes to kritiks. Explain the link, impact, and alt in detail and if you think I might be confused, more explanation on any part of the flow is always good.

Case:

Neg teams should use it, like really use it, you could even garner some offense off of it if you're feeling up to it. Just don't ignore it, especially in the rebuttals.

K affs:

I read one for a while my senior year and it was great, but obviously all k affs are different so I need you to explain how the k interacts with the resolution. I understand that K debate is meant to be complex in some ways but at the end of the day if I can't understand your argument it's really hard for me to vote for it.

I think garnering offense off what the neg reads is very persuasive and smart.

v K affs:

FW: This is a strategy I am very familiar with, but it is important for you to contextualize the argument you go for on the fw page to the aff so that I know what voting negative looks like. I think that contextualization starts in the 1NC.

Kritiks: Read them if you want, they're a good way to test the aff and get some offense on the flows.

CPs: I've always found these to be a stretch and very incompatible with the aff. You should read one if you have it, just know that you'll have to do a lot of work.

"Learn lots, have fun." - Sean Duff

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KCKSNCFL

2020 — Overland Park, KS/US

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