my email address is:

Talmstedt@fjuhsd.org

Please include me on email evidence chains and case sharing.

For WSD, I will focus more on the Style aspect. WSD, I feel, is not a regular debate round, but a way to promote and share your ideas. If a team starts talking about why they won and not showing me, and the other team is showing me, I'll lean towards the other. If you're making me laugh, you are doing something right. I've judged tons of speech, PF, LD, and Policy, so I can handle anything ya got.

I am a head coach of a Speech and Debate Team. When it comes to PF & LD, I am lay judge but can understand tech-type jargon. I do not flow, but take shorthand notes. If you give me a verbal outline, I can track it.

These are do’s and Don’t for me judging your round:

• Please do not use ‘K’’s to win your round, or run anything progressive, as you probably won’t win.

• I appreciate off time road maps. Sign Posting is also very helpful for me to track your arguments

• I will defer to the tournament organizers as to disclosure at the end of the round. If there are no instructions, I will disclose at the end of the round

• A disrespectful team will most often lose the round

• Trigger warnings are appreciated, but must be followed if asked to

• I default to most lives affected/saved if no other framework is presented

• Please do not spread, I asked nicely.

• Make link chains as clear as possible, with clear warranting, especially when they are lengthy

• Evidence is important. Accurate evidence is even better. Valuable evidence is best. This means if your opponent is using faulty or poor evidence call them out on it. Thus, ask for evidence.

• As a lay judge, crossfire allows me to see the caliber of each team. Respectful, meaningful, and purposeful crossfire will help me decide the victor of the round.

• Post round questions are helpful for my growth as a judge, so please ask for reasoning. However, your obligation is to beat your opponent, not argue with the judge, so clarifying questions will be entertained, but attempts to change my mind will not.

I am new to LD debate, please don't spread.

my pronouns are they/them

I have minimal topic knowledge so whoever's argument makes the most sense and connects to their value best, wins.

• Recent UPenn College Grad

• 4 Year Public Forum Debater- State and National Level- I know and understand all of the jargon

• Looking for a weighing mechanism, framework and impact analysis

• Summary Speeches are Key

• I will be flowing so please signpost and do not drop arguments

• Ex. If your opponent does not touch on your argument I don’t need you to tell me because I will have it written down

• I will not be flowing CrossX for content, but it will impact your speaker points

• Dont waste time with evidence exchanges, if you want to share cases and cards do so as efficiently as possible

• I don’t generally allow off time roadmap- so if you need to roadmap then do so quickly at the beginning of your speech

• Be Polite!

I have started judging LD tournaments this year. I was a national debate champion in India, but relatively new to the US debate scene. I am primarily a parent who loves debating.

For me, it is important to understand the argument. So if I am unable to understand your argument due to speed reading, I will not ignore that part n my evaluation.

Ultimately, I see my role as to judge who won the debate. To arrive at that decision, I use three criteria:

- Clear and compelling case. Use of right evidence to substantiate the case.

- Ability to defend the position addressing the specifics of opponents rebuttal

- Ability to think on feet and poke holes at the opponent’s evidence

I will keep time but will not manage it for debaters. When time is complete, I will allow thoughts to be finished but do not factor in communication past time limits into my decision.

I will keep time but will not manage it for debaters. When time is complete, I will allow thoughts to be finished but do not factor in communication past time limits into my decision.

Speaker Points - I would like to score between 25-30. I do absolute scores i.e. your score is not in comparison with other debaters.

Kritiks – I will go with Krtiik as long as I can follow it. The burden is on you to make a coherent argument.

Philosophy-I'm good with philosophy and can follow it.

Flow- I flow rounds. I do take notes. Flowing your arguments with good rebuttals counts for me.

Attitude- Bullying an opponent isn’t acceptable. Debate is about ideas. If you make it personal at any time, you would have lost the argument.

I use he/him/his pronouns :)

Public Forum:

I am a sophomore at the University of Oregon double majoring in economics and political science. I did public forum and extemp all four years in high school and competed on the national circuit.

I actively listen to but do not flow cross; so if you want me to vote on an issue raised in cross, bring it up again in one of your speeches. I love impact calculus, clash, sign-posting, extending arguments and a balanced combination of logical reasoning with statistical evidence. I am a tabula rasa judge, meaning that I will generally treat what is said in the round as gospel (the only exceptions are when someone says something overtly racist/sexist/homophobic/etc., in which case they will be voted down immediately). If your opponent says something factually incorrect, point it out AND explain why it's false. Moreover, I generally will not call for evidence at the culmination of the round unless you ask me to, so if you think your opponent is misconstruing or lacking evidence, please tell me to call for it. If you are going to run a weighing mechanism, make sure to explain how you are winning under the framework in your final focus. I'm a sucker for clear and enumerated voters that explain 1) what point you're winning 2) why you're winning this point 3) why it matters that you're winning this point (impact calc./framework).

Kindness is key. Be good people and do good things. Let me know if you have any questions! Good luck and thank you for debating!

I’ve been coaching debate of all varieties for over 20 years now. I love this activity, and believe it teaches some important and useful skills.

What you want to know:

1. Speed is fine. Be clear.

2. Disclosure is preferable at circuit tournaments (I’m less concerned about it locally).

3. Progressive arguments, in general, are good by me. Some caveats:

A. I generally prefer to vote on substantive issues over procedural ones. My threshold for theory is fairly strict, and the abuse has to be pretty clear.
B. Tricks aren’t cute. They’re intellectually dishonest bad faith arguments that I think are bad for debate. Run them if you must, but I’m generally disinclined to reward them.
C. Kritiks based on identity arguments (fem rage/trans rage/etc.) are relevant and important, but if you do not identify with the positionality upon which the kritik is based, and are running the argument for its strategic value, you are doing a really bad thing by co-opting a discourse to which you have no right or claim, and commodifying it for wins. Do better.

4. Good impact analysis is important to me, explain clearly why you should win. Tell me the story you want me to believe.

5. Don’t tell lies. Bad debate math counts as lies. I’m happy to evaluate all arguments, but lies are not arguments. There isn’t room in this activity for intellectual dishonesty.

6. Have fun, be kind and generous and charitable. This is a really rewarding game, even when you take an L. Enjoy it, and help others enjoy it too.

Edit for 2024: This applies largely to high school LD debate. I believe these things in general for all debate, but ask me if you have questions about specifics at a tournament. Thank you!

I am what you would call "old school". I will entertain a progressive debate, but I much prefer a straight-up classic debate with value and criteria.

For all debate formats- Run whatever you want, but for the love of all that's good and right, please, please respond to what your opponent runs, explain your clash analysis, and give me a weighing mechanism.

AND...

LD- Not only should V/VC be defined, I'd like to know your rationale why they are superior over other V/VC you could have chosen. ALSO, have clarity on how the VC gets you to the V. And of course, contrast how your V is superior. In the event your opponent has the same V, and/or tries to claim your advantages through his/her V, clarity of comparison analysis, and reinforcement, are pretty darn important. All too often I'm seeing debaters essentially referring to an opponents position, as if that somehow provides clash. I need analysis of opponents arguments to give me a reason to flow to your side.

CX- I like on-case arguments, T is fine. Not huge fan of Theory when all you know is how to read the canned script of your Theory argument w/o understanding or being able to explain your own argument, same goes for K.

PF/Parli- Comparative Impacts! Logical pace w/o spread- breathe and just explain ideas and clash.

Parent judge. Very limited experience. Please speak at a reasonable speed (do not spread).

I look forward to judging your debate.

I am not a debater myself, but I do enjoy discourse and active discussion. In particular, here are several areas that I will react to well, and several that I will not.

Likes:

- Signposting

- Clash

- Statistics

- Willingness to take a side and argue a POV that may not be the popular or "en vogue" perspective

Dislikes:

- Running theory - stick to the issue that you were given, don't try to create theory around it

- Debate jargon

- Being disrespectful to me or your opponents

Good luck!

[last updated 3-16-2024]

Hi my name is Tanya, I competed in NPDA for three years at DVC and in NFA - LD at WKU for two years. I finished top 8 at NFA nats and was second place speaker at the Grand Prix national championship. I graduated in 2023, I'm assistant coaching debate at DVC now.

Add me to the email chain: tanyaprabhakar1@gmail.com (although I would prefer you use speechdrop to an email chain). Its really easy, you just make a room on speechdrop.net and everyone can upload their docs. You can still save your opponents' cases like this and it's way faster.

!!! IF YOU'RE IN PF SKIP DOWN TO THE PF SECTION AT THE BOTTOM PLEASE

How do you feel about speed?

On carded stuff/analytics in the doc I have a higher threshold for speed, if its not in the doc slow down on analytics that aren't in the doc.. You don't need to guess, I will slow you if you're too fast for me. I won't drop you or get mad at you for being too fast but I also won't pretend to have stuff written down that I don't have written down.

I'll vote on speed bad in novice and JV. If your opponent slows you on something not in the doc you should probably slow.

Disclosure

I am pro aff (wiki) disclosure. I am willing to vote on aff disclosure theory if it is not responded to properly. I also expect people to share docs in round, even if you aren't spreading.

Substance

I really don't buy consult or delay counter-plans. You can read them, just know the perm solves for me 99.99% of the time.

Disad and counter plan debate is cool, I enjoy watching it. I like a good advantage counter plan.

K

I like and will vote on Ks, but I won't pretend to understand an alt I don't get.

To vote aff I need you to win: offense against the alt OR a perm

To vote neg I need: the aff to not win that stuff

Also, make sure that there are clear, ideally carded, links to the aff. I probably won't vote on just a no link, but it's a pretty good justification for the perm, which I will vote on. Links of omission are generally a no go for me, unless you have a well warranted (ideally carded) explanation for why not considering X in policy making is uniquely bad.

Can I read non T affs?

Yeah that's fine, as long as it has a topic specific link. As a default T FW comes before the aff, especially in parli.

T

I like T. You can read T and not go for it. You can read multiple Ts. I don't care. I don't need proven abuse, but there does need to be some clear impact on the round/debate in general (ie link to fairness and education).

Theory/Procedurals -

I don't mind theory debate, and I don't need proven abuse. Again, default competing interps. You also have to win that kicking the arg doesn't resolve the offense. I think theory is frivolous based on the interp, not the amount of theory read (for example, time cube theory is frivolous even if its the only theory you read, but reading, like, diclosure and A spec and speed together isn't necessarily frivolous.

I don't vote on RVIs. Make sure your standards link back to your interpretation. Have fun and be yourself.

PF Only:

1 - I have the expectation that both debaters are on the same page about what kind of debate they'll be having. If you want to be really fast and really technical that's fine, as long as your opponent is okay with that. I will vote on speed bad.

2 - Evidence sharing: If I don't have your evidence, I cannot evaluate it, and if you don't have each other's evidence I can't trust you and your opponent to evaluate it. And at that point it's going to come down to drops and analytics. The easy way to resolve this is to send your docs to each other. If I don't have your evidence my cap for your speaks is gonna be a lot lower than it would be if I did, because for all I know you made everything.

3 - Progressive/technical debate: I understand that I would be considered a tech judge in most PF pools. However, I have few stipulations around tech in PF: Firstly, PF is a lay event. The norms on the circuit mean that most debaters have no idea how to respond to theory or the K and will lose even to awful theory or Ks because they don't know how to respond. You can still read these args, just know I will be much more likely to intervene if I think the argument is badly executed than I would be in LD or Policy, even if it is conceded/poorly responded to by the other team, simply because I think there's no educational value to bad technical debate in a lay event, and I don't want to incentivize that.

Secondly, a lot of technical args just don't translate well to PF, largely because of the lack of plan texts. T doesn't work, and neither does a significant amount of (the most compelling) theory. The lack of plan also means you can't have a counterplan or alt. Without alts the k loses all uniqueness and no longer functions. I'm not saying that you can't read any technical arguments but you also can't just read old LD or Policy backfiles as-is and expect me to vote on them.