Tabroom.com

Marist Scrimmage Series 1

2021 — Online, GA/US

Policy Paradigm List

All Paradigms: Show Hide

Nandana Avasarala Westminster

Kent Baker Renfroe Middle School None

JJ Barbour Decatur High School 8 rounds None

Alex Barnard Montgomery Bell Academy

Sohan Bellam Glenbrook North

Victoria Bryarly Calvary Day School None

sylvie Carnathan Decatur High School None

Matt Crenshaw Renfroe Middle School None

Gabriella D'Agaro Glenbrook North

Vivian Dawson Renfroe Middle School

Blake Deng Woodward Academy

Last changed on Sun January 14, 2024 at 12:31 PM EDT

Procedural Stuff

Call me Blake or BD instead of Judge, I don't like feeling old

Email chain: blako925@gmail.com

Please also add: jchsdebatedocs@gmail.com

Add both emails, title the chain Tournament Rd # Your Team vs. Other Team ex) Harvard Round 4 Johns Creek XY vs. Northview AM.

1AC should be sent at round start or if I'm late (sorry in advance), as soon as I walk in the room

If you go to the bathroom or fill your waterbottle before your own speech, I'll dock 1 speaker point

Stealing prep = heavily docked speaks. If you want to engage your partner in small talk, just speak normally so everyone knows you're not stealing prep, don't whisper. Eyes should not be wandering on your laptop and hands should not be typing/writing. You can be on your phone.

Clipping is auto-loss and I assign lowest possible speaks. Ethics violation claims = round stoppage, I will decide round on the spot using provided evidence of said violation

Topic Knowledge

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE.

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I debated in high school, didn’t debate in college, have never worked at any camp. I currently work an office job. Any and all acronyms should be explained to me. Specific solvency mechanisms should be explained to me. Tricky process CPs should be explained to me. Many K jargon words that I have heard such as ressentiment, fugitivity, or subjectivity should be explained to me.

Spreading

I WRITE SLOW AND MY HAND CRAMPS EASILY. PLEASE SLOW DOWN DURING REBUTTALS

My ears have become un-attuned to debate spreading. Please go 50% speed at the start of your speech before ramping up. I don’t care how fast or unclear you are on the body of cards b/c it is my belief that you will extend that body text in an intelligent manner later on. However, if you spread tags as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If you read analytics as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If I do not flow an argument, you’re not going to win on it. If you are in novice this probably doesn't apply to you.

While judges must do their best to flow debates and adjudicate in an objective matter that rewards the better debater, there is a certain level of debater responsibility to spread at a reasonable speed and clear manner. Judge adaptation is an inevitable skill debaters must learn.

In front of me, adaption should be spreading speed. If you are saying words faster than how fast I can move my pen, I will say SLOW DOWN. If you do not comply, it is your prerogative, and you can roll the dice on whether or not I will write your argument down. I get that your current speed may be OK with NDT finalists or coaches with 20+ years of experience, but I am not those people. Adapt or lose.

No Plan Text & Framework

I am OK with any affirmative whether it be policy, critical, or performance. The problem is that the 2AC often has huge case overviews that are sped through that do not explain to me very well what the aff harms are and how the advocacy statement (or whatever mechanism) solves them. Furthermore, here are some facts about my experience in framework:

I was the 1N in high school, so I never had to take framework other than reading the 1NC shell since my partner took in the 2NC and 2NR.
I can count the number of times I debated plan-less affs on one hand.
As of me updating this paradigm on 01/28/2023 I have judged roughly 15 framework rounds (maybe less).

All the above make framework functionally a coin toss for either side. My understanding of framework is predicated off of what standards you access and if the terminal impacts to those standards prove if your model of debate is better for the world. If you win impact turns against the neg FW interpretation, then you don't need a C/I, but you have to win that the debate is about potential ballot solvency or some other evaluation method. If the neg wins that the round is about proving a better model of debate, then an inherent lack of a C/I means I vote for the better interp no matter how terrible it is. The comparison in my mind is that a teacher asked to choose the better essay submitted by two students must choose Student A if Student B doesn't turn in anything no matter how terrible or offensive Student A's essay is.

Tech vs. Truth

I used to like arguments such as “F & G in federal government aren't capitalized T” or “Period at the end of the plan text or the sentence keeps going T” b/c I felt like these arguments were objectively true. As I continue to judge I think I have moved into a state where I will allow pretty much any argument no matter how much “truth” there is backing it especially since some truth arguments such as the aforementioned ones are pretty troll themselves. There is still my job to provide a safe space for the activity which means I am obligated to vote down morally offensive arguments such as racism good or sexism good. However, I am now more inclined to vote on things like “Warming isn’t real” or “The Earth is flat” with enough warrants. After all, who am I to say that status quo warming isn’t just attributable to heating and cooling cycles of the Earth, and that all satellite imagery of the Earth is faked and that strong gravitational pulls cause us to be redirected back onto flat Earth when we attempt to circle the “globe”. If these arguments are so terrible and untrue, then it really shouldn’t take much effort to disprove them.

Reading Evidence

I err on the side of intervening as little as possible, so I don’t read usually read evidence. Don't ask me for a doc or send me anything afterwards. The only time I ever look at ev is if I am prompted to do so during speech time.

This will reward teams that do the better technical debating on dropped/poorly answered scenarios even if they are substantiated by terrible evidence. So if you read a poorly written federalism DA that has no real uniqueness or even specific link to the aff, but is dropped and extended competently, yes, I will vote for without even glancing at your ev.

That being said, this will also reward teams that realize your ADV/DA/Whatever ev is terrible and point it out. If your T interp is from No Quals Alex, blog writer for ChristianMingle.com, and the other team points it out, you're probably not winning the bigger internal link to legal precision.

Case

I love case debate. Negatives who actually read all of the aff evidence in order to create a heavy case press with rehighlightings, indicts, CX applications, and well backed UQ/Link/Impact frontlines are always refreshing watch. Do this well in front of me and you will for sure be rewarded.

By the 2AR I should know what exactly the plan does and how it can solve the advantages. This obviously doesn't have to be a major component of the 1AR given time constraint, but I think there should at least some explanation in the 2AR. If I don't have at least some idea of what the plan text does and what it does to access the 1AC impacts, then I honestly have no problem voting on presumption that doing nothing is better than doing the aff.

Disads

Similar to above, I think that DA's have to be fully explained with uniqueness, link, and impact. Absent any of these things I will often have serious doubts regarding the cohesive stance that the DA is taking.

Topicality

Don't make debate meta-arguments like "Peninsula XY read this at Glenbrooks so obviously its core of the topic" or "every camp put out this aff so it's predictable". These types of arguments mean nothing to me since I don't know any teams, any camp activities, any tournaments, any coaches, performance of teams at X tournament, etc.

One small annoyance I have at teams that debate in front of me is that they don't debate T like a DA. You need to win what standards you access, how they link into your terminal impacts like education or fairness, and why your chosen impact outweighs the opposing teams.

Counterplan

I have no inherent bias against any counterplan. If a CP has a mechanism that is potentially abusive (international fiat, 50 state fiat, PICs bad) then I just see this as offense for the aff, not an inherent reason why the team or CP should immediately be voted down.

I heavily detest this new meta of "perm shotgunning" at the top of each CP in the 2AC. It is basically unflowable. See "Spreading" above. Do this and I will unironically give you a 28 maximum. Spread the perms between cards or other longer analytical arguments. That or actually include substance behind the perm such as an explanation of the function of the permutation, how it dodges the net benefit, if it has any additional NB, etc.

I think 2NR explanation of what exactly the CP does is important. A good 2N will explain why their CP accesses the internal links or solvency mechanisms of the 1AC, or if you don't, why the CP is able to access the advantages better than the original 1AC methods. Absent that I am highly skeptical of broad "CP solves 100% of case" claims and the aff should punish with specific solvency deficits.

A problem I have been seeing is that affirmatives will read solvency deficits against CP's but not impacting the solvency deficits vs. the net benefit. If the CP doesn't solve ADV 1 then you need to win that ADV 1 outweighs the net benefit.

Judge kick is not my default mindset, neg has say I have to judge kick and also justify why this is OK.

Kritiks

I don't know any K literature other than maybe some security or capitalism stuff. I feel a lot of K overviews include fancy schmancy words that mean nothing to me. If you're gonna go for a K with some nuance, then you're going to need to spend the effort explaining it to me like I am 10 years old.

Theory

If the neg reads more than 1 CP + 1 K you should consider pulling the trigger on conditionality.

I default to competing interpretations unless otherwise told.

Define dispositionality for me if this is going to be part of the interp.

Extra Points

To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.

Diego Duarte Glenbrook North

Last changed on Wed September 7, 2022 at 11:13 AM CDT

Name: Santiago (Diego) Duarte. Refer to me however you want, I really don't care.

Pronouns: He/him. Remember to ask your opponents.

Cancer sun, Scorpio Moon, Cancer rising

School: Glenbrook North (formerly), University of Oregon (not active debater)

Email: 224029@glenbrook225.org Please put me on the email chain without asking

If you read this paradigm, integrate the word "lasagna" into any speech once and I will give you +0.3 speaks

Experience: Debated for GBN on the Immigration topic and the Arms Sales topic. Judged debates on the Criminal Justice topic and the Water topic.

Former speaker position: 2N

Don't over-adapt to my paradigm. I'm willing to adjust to your styles. Debate how you want to debate and I'll try to keep up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The long version of this paradigm is, as advertised, LONG. It is also quite boring to anyone who is not me, and was written more as a self-indulgent essay than a helpful guide. You won't miss much if you only read the short version, and if you need more detailed information on my views on specific topics, make use of the command+F function.

Paradigm (Short version) :

As a judge of novices, my goal is to educate and provide an enjoyable debate experience. Your first year is meant to be a learning experience, not a stress-filled environment. I am willing to make reasonable accommodations within debates to fit this - please ask before the round if there's anything that would make the debate more comfortable for you.

Don't be rude to your competitors, don't read racist arguments, if you have tech issues let me know and I probably won't take off speaker points.

Read any kind of argument that's allowed by the tournament rules, check with me and your competitors if it's potentially a triggering argument. K affs suck for novice debate but if the tournament lets you do it then I'll judge them fairly.

Be nice in cross-ex, don't speak over each other, don't dominate your partner's cx time.

I consider myself centrist on the Tech vs. Truth question, but I'm probably leaning more towards truth being important than the average judge.

I'm fine with any speed personally, but be careful over zoom. If i tell you to slow down, I expect you to actually slow down.

0% risk exists and is actually fairly common

Ask me if you have any questions, at any time.

Paradigm (long version):

With regards to digital debate: I will not take speaker points off for technical issues, with the exception of problems which you could reasonably be expected to prepare for, or egregious and unverifiable ones. I will be lenient with prep time when it comes to tech issues - as novices, you can't be expected to be able to instantly format and send files and such.

Cross examination: I am okay with open cross examination - HOWEVER - if one partner is clearly dominating another and abusing the concept of open cross-ex, I will stop that immediately and deduct speaker points. You will not earn brownie points with me by being an "aggressive cross examiner." I would prefer polite and low-volume cross-ex. Things said in cross examination are binding, however of course you and your partner can ask me to strike something you just said from my record of the debate, as long as it's within the same CX or speech.

Tech vs. Truth: I think that the inherent believability of arguments does matter in debate. While it is a game, you should be bringing arguments that make at least a modicum of sense, and not rely on overwhelming speed or speaking ability to swamp your opponent. That being said - ultimately, I am judging a competition and the better debaters should almost always win.

Speaker points: I will likely award slightly higher than average speaker points. I believe that there's no real reason to hurt new debaters by assigning a low numerical value to their speaking skill, barring extreme circumstances.

Situations in which I will stop a debate: Any accusation of cheating of any kind is the end of the debate, with the winner depending on the truth of the accusation. Any accusation of harassment or bullying will also cause me to end the debate - in any of these scenarios I will notify tournament staff and we'll go from there. Extreme rudeness to your competitors will cause me to at least pause the debate, and maybe award you a loss depending on the situation.

ARGUMENT SECTION

I am generally okay with any kind of argument, as long as it fits within basic standards of human decency. Arguments which are truly inherently racist and read with bad intent will at the very least not be counted, and may result in me automatically submitting my ballot against the offending team. I think that arguments which have a significant chance of triggering debaters should be mentioned before you read them - things like Death Good for example, I will allow if it isn't a significant trigger for the other team. (this is a general point - novices really shouldn't be reading these arguments)

Topicality:

I don't understand topicality. You, novices, definitely don't understand topicality. The people who wrote your T blocks probably do, but that doesn't make hearing them any more interesting. I will not be happy if I have to judge a novice debate that comes down to the nuances of topicality. This is even more true at the start of the year.

If this does end up being important - I find negative ground to be an unpersuasive standard, although I'll vote on it if it's argued well. Legal and contextual precision is my personal preference for evaluating T in policy rounds.

Kritikal arguments: Go ahead and read K's, I'm relatively friendly to them. If it's a convoluted and unintuitive Kritik, I do expect you to slow down for the benefit of both me and your opponents. My personal political biases lean towards a lot of kritikal arguments. I will do my best not to let this affect my judging of these arguments, but I'll probably be happy to hear them.

Performative contradictions are real and I will vote on them. The threshold is high, but if it's blatant then don't be afraid to call it out. If you're reading Cap and an Econ DA, that's pretty weird and will make a lot of philosophical arguments much less compelling.

Counterplans: Go ahead, any kind. Counterplans are probably my favorite kind of argument, don't be afraid to go all in on the CP in the 2nr.

Theory:

I like theory. I think it's the most unique part of debate, that the rules are only norms unless you prove that they should be rules in the round. I am willing to vote on theoretical questions, and open to all kinds of arguments in this area.

My counterplan theory stance is pretty neutral. I am happy to vote on good aff theory against cheating counterplans - I view theory as a totally legitimate and skill-based form of debate. If the neg abuses conditionality, go for condo and if you're better at arguing it I'll vote for you. Conditionality can be a voting issue for me, if you make it one.

Disads: Most basic kind of neg argument. Read as many as you want. Can't think of any unusual takes I have for this section. Please don't read DAs that have racist premises, I won't like you.

Go ahead and read all the politics disads you can think of - they're a lot of the neg ground on this topic. Don't bother running one in front of me unless you understand the uniqueness inside and out though - these disads are won or lost in the uniqueness section most of the time.

Kritikal affirmatives: These are almost certainly bad for novice debate. If the tournament allows them and you genuinely out-debate your competitors with one, I'll vote for you, but it's a high bar to clear in front of me. Even though I'm personally sympathetic to the ideas behind them, they're not cool for novices.

Case: Case debates are my favorite kinds of debates. Offcase are fun, but the core of debate is meant to be around the plan. Negative teams: don't be afraid to spend huge amounts of time attacking the case. If their affirmative doesn't make sense, go all in on that. I'm perfectly happy to vote on presumption if their case doesn't exist by the final rebuttals. If their affirmative is really strong and does make sense, then trying to frame the debate towards focusing on offcase is a good idea. Affirmative teams: don't let them do that last part. Keep the debate focused on whether your aff is good or bad. Convince me that that's all that matters. You get a huge advantage in picking the focus of the debate, use it wisely.

HOT TAKES: I mentioned earlier that I'm happy to vote on presumption - this is a sort of complicated issue for me. On a debate mechanics level, I think the presumption argument is cool and not used enough by negative teams. On a personal/political level, I've never agreed with the fundamental idea that "if the aff doesn't prove that they're good, then assume change is bad because it's risky." I think this is a reactionary and conservative way to view argumentation and debate. I am open to affirmatives making this argument if they feel that presumption is a likely strategy. Despite all that, if the affirmative doesn't make this argument in the 1AR, I will go with the debate community standard and say presumption goes neg.

Again, don't over-adapt to what is written above. I am happy to do what you tell me to do on this issue unless the other team contests it.

My second hot take is with regards to permutations: I absolutely hate the way permutations are usually done. If you stand up for the 2AC against 3 or less conditional alternatives and say "perm do the cp perm do both" a few times, I will flow them, but these are not real arguments and if the negative says so I will agree with them. Explain your permutations. What do they mean, what does doing both look like? Do not force whichever neg debater is taking the counterplan to respond to all the possible variations of a 3 word permutation because you couldn't be bothered to make a real argument. I will however be more sympathetic to rapid-fire permutations against 4+ conditional worlds - the 2AC is already a time-intensive speech and I will extend some understanding because of that.

My third and final hot take is that the 1AR will get a ton of leeway in front of me when it comes to making new arguments. I think that the block usually overdevelops one-offs from the 1NC to the point of making effectively new arguments, and when that happens I'm totally cool with letting the 1AR shoot a half dozen new offensive arguments in their faces in return.

Jargon: I am not an active debater on this topic. I have a passable knowledge of the main arguments and ideas underlying them, but some jargon might be outside of my understanding. Please don't abbreviate words that you think there's a good chance I wouldn't know the shortened version of. Use your best judgment.

If there's anything you want to know that's not on this paradigm, just ask before the round. Have fun!

Ryan Estrin Montgomery Bell Academy

Sophie Fehl Decatur High School None

Eric Forslund Pace Academy

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 12:53 PM EDT

email: eforslund@gmail.com

Copied and Pasted from my judge philosophy wiki page.

Recent Bio:

Director of Debate at Pace Academy

15 years judging and coaching high school debate. First at Damien High School then at Greenhill. Generally only judge a handful of college rounds a year.

Zero rounds on the current college topic in 2020.

Coached at the University of Wyoming 2004-2005.

I have decided to incentivize reading strategies that involve talking about the specifics of the affirmative case. Too many high school teams find a terrible agent or process cp and use politics as a crutch. Too many high school teams pull out their old, generic, k's and read them regardless of the aff. As an incentive to get away from this practice I will give any 2N that goes for a case-only strategy an extra point. If this means someone who would have earned a 29 ends up with a 30, then so be it. I would rather encourage a proliferation of higher speaker points, then a proliferation of bad, generic arguments. If you have to ask what a case strategy involves, then you probably aren't going to read one. I'm not talking about reading some case defense and going for a disad, or a counterplan that solves most of the aff. I'm talking about making a majority of the debate a case debate -- and that case debate continuing into the 2NR.

You'll notice "specificity good" throughout my philosophy. I will give higher points to those teams that engage in more specific strategies, then those that go for more generic ones. This doesnt mean that I hate the k -- on the contrary, I wouldn't mind hearing a debate on a k, but it needs to be ABOUT THE AFF. The genero security k doesnt apply to the South Korean Prostitutes aff, the Cap k doesnt apply to the South Korea Off-Shore Balancing aff - and you arent likely to convince me otherwise. But if you have an argument ABOUT the affirmative --especially a specific k that has yet to be read, then you will be rewarded if I am judging you.

I have judged high-level college and high school debates for the last 14 years. That should answer a few questions that you are thinking about asking: yes, speed is fine, no, lack of clarity is not. Yes, reading the k is ok, no, reading a bunch of junk that doesn't apply to the topic, and failing to explain why it does is not.

The single most important piece of information I can give you about me as a judge is that I cut a lot of cards -- you should ALWAYS appeal to my interest in the literature and to protect the integrity of that literature. Specific is ALWAYS better than generic, and smart strategies that are well researched should ALWAYS win out over generic, lazy arguments. Even if you dont win debates where you execute specifics, you will be rewarded.

Although my tendencies in general are much more to the right than the rest of the community, I have voted on the k many times since I started judging, and am generally willing to listen to whatever argument the debaters want to make. Having said that, there are a few caveats:

1. I don't read a lot of critical literature; so using a lot of terms or references that only someone who reads a lot of critical literature would understand isn’t going to get you very far. If I don’t understand your arguments, chances are pretty good you aren’t going to win the debate, no matter how persuasive you sound. This goes for the aff too explain your argument, don’t assume I know what you are talking about.

2. You are much better off reading critical arguments on the negative then on the affirmative. I tend to believe that the affirmative has to defend a position that is at least somewhat predictable, and relates to the topic in a way that makes sense. If they don’t, I am very sympathetic to topicality and framework-type arguments. This doesn’t mean you can’t win a debate with a non-traditional affirmative in front of me, but it does mean that it is going to be much harder, and that you are going to have to take topicality and framework arguments seriously. To me, predictability and fairness are more important than stretching the boundaries of debate, and the topic. If your affirmative defends a predictable interpretation of the topic, you are welcome to read any critical arguments you want to defend that interpretation, with the above stipulations.

3. I would much rather watch a disad/counterplan/case debate than some other alternative.

In general, I love a good politics debate - but - specific counterplans and case arguments are THE BEST strategies. I like to hear new innovative disads, but I have read enough of the literature on this year’s topic that I would be able to follow any deep debate on any of the big generic disads as well.

As far as theory goes, I probably defer negative a bit more in theory debates than affirmative. That probably has to do with the fact that I like very well thought-out negative strategies that utilize PICS and specific disads and case arguments. As such, I would much rather see an affirmative team impact turn the net benefits to a counterplan then to go for theory (although I realize this is not always possible). I really believe that the boundaries of the topic are formed in T debates at the beginning of the year, therefore I am much less willing to vote on a topicality argument against one of the mainstream affirmatives later on in the year than I am at the first few tournaments. I’m not going to outline all of the affs that I think are mainstream, but chances are pretty good if there are more than a few teams across the country reading the affirmative, I’m probably going to err aff in a close T debate.

One last thing, if you really want to get high points in front of me, a deep warming debate is the way to go. I would be willing to wager that I have dug further into the warming literature than just about anybody in the country, and I love to hear warming debates. I realize by this point most teams have very specific strategies to most of the affirmatives on the topic, but if you are wondering what advantage to read, or whether or not to delve into the warming debate on the negative, it would be very rewarding to do so in front of me -- at the very least you will get some feedback that will help you in future debates.

Ok, I lied, one more thing. Ultimately I believe that debate is a game. I believe that debaters should have fun while debating. I realize that certain debates get heated, however do your best not to be mean to your partner, and to the other team. There are very few things I hate more than judging a debate where the teams are jerks to each other. Finally, although I understand the strategic value to impact turning the alternative to kritiks and disads (and would encourage it in most instances), there are a few arguments I am unwilling to listen to those include: sexism good, racism good, genocide good, and rape good. If you are considering reading one of those arguments, don’t. You are just going to piss me off.

Christopher Fry Glenbrook North

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 5:59 PM CDT

42fryguy@gmail.com

I debated at KU and Blue Valley Southwest, I am currently coaching at Glenbrook North

FW

I am heavily persuaded by arguments about why the affirmative should read a topical plan. One of the main reasons for this is that I am persuaded by a lot of framing arguments which nullify aff offense. The best way to deal with these things is to more directly impact turn common impacts like procedural fairness. Counter interpretations can be useful, but the goal of establishing a new model sometimes exacerbates core neg offense (limits).

I'm not great for the K. In most instances this is because I believe the alternative solves the links to the aff or can't solve it's own impacts. This can be resolved by narrowing the scope of the K or strengthening the link explanation (too often negative teams do not explain the links in the context of the permutation). The simpler solution to this is a robust framework press.

I really enjoy good T debates. Fairness is the best (and maybe the only) impact. Education is very easily turned by fairness. Evidence quality is important, but only in so far as it improves the predictability/reduces the arbitrariness of the interpretation.

CPs are fun. I generally think that the negative doing non-plan action with the USfg is justified. Everything else is up for debate, but well developed aff arguments are dangerous on other questions.

I generally think conditionality is good. I think the best example of my hesitation with conditionality is multi-plank counter plans which combine later in the debate to become something else entirely.

If in cross x you say the status quo is always an option I will kick the counter plan if no further argumentation is made (you can also obviously just say conditional and clarify that judge kick is an option). If you say conditional and then tell me to kick in the 2NR and there is a 2AR press on the question I will be very uncomfortable and try to resolve the debate some other way. To resolve this, the 2AC should make an argument about judge kick.

Nishita Ghanate Woodward Academy

Last changed on Wed March 20, 2024 at 9:28 PM EDT

Woodward Academy '20

University of Virginia '24

Email chain: ghanate.nishita@gmail.com

People who taught me how to debate and their paradigms:

Bill Batterman: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?judge_person_id=10298

Maggie Berthiaume: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?judge_person_id=1265

Meta Comments

1. Respect your opponents. Don't do silly things or make fun of your opponents.

2. The document that you send out should be the exact same document that you are reading from your computer. Not only will you be depriving me the opportunity to read along with you, but you will also be giving me the impression that your arguments are bad enough that if your opponents knew what you were saying they would win.

3. I care the most about clash and nuanced arguments. The best debates are ones with aff-specific strategies that show off what both teams know about the topic. I am not impressed by winning debates on State CPs that fiat out of everything or affirmatives without a solvency advocate with contrived advantages. Engage the literature.

4. I read evidence at the end of a round. It doesn't make or break my decision, but I definitely would lean more to the side of being a "truth over tech" judge.

5. You can win absolute defense in front of me. It's hard but not impossible especially if your opponent reads cards that clearly conclude in the opposite direction or leave out an internal link.

Critiques

If the point of your kritik is to say words that your opponents won't understand, I will not understand what you are saying either. Avoid jargon. Try to explain your arguments more. I am familiar with the most common critiques (capitalism, anti-Blackness, settler colonialism, militarism, feminism, abolition).

I think aff-specific kritiks or generic kritiks with aff-specific links can be an amazing strategy especially if it's a core of the topic kritik (IE the abolition K on the CJR topic). However, I think too many "K teams" get away with reading silly links, links of omissions, serial policy failure, the fiat double bind, or any other K trick you can name. The best K debates are the ones that actually pinpoint something that the aff has done or something in their plan that is in fact bad. I'm not saying that all links should be to the plan, but I am saying that all links should be grounded in the 1AC. If the goal of your kritik is to clash with the aff from a new angle (IE reform vs transformative justice), you're on the right track.

Topicality

For not trying to be topical teams:

I think that teams should read a plan text especially in sub-varsity levels. Debate isn't a forum designed to provide a survival strategy or create a community of resistance. It is inherently a competitive space. Teams that do choose to read a non-topical aff should be prepared to defend every part of the 1AC through the end of the 2AR. CX is binding and I will hold you to what you say regardless of what you say in later speeches.

For teams with a plan text:

I enjoy T debates with concise impacts that actually attempt to exclude affs that shouldn't be a part of the topic. For this reason, T-Substantial is extremely persuasive to me given how well it limited the immigration and arms sales topic. As such, giving me a case list of not only what you include but also what you exclude is going to be extremely persuasive. But, I'm probably not going to vote on an interpretation that excludes a core of the topic aff.

'Planicality' is a non-starter for me. It's silly to think that adding the word substantial (or any other words in the resolution) all of a sudden makes your plan topical. It encourages poorly written plan texts that are incredibly vague so the aff can spike out of DAs while also doing all kinds of things that have no relation to the topic. It also poses an unfair burden on the neg as they now not only have to defend T to limit the scope of the plan, but also win substance as well.

Theory

I generally believe that the only voter is conditionality(No, {insert letter here}SPEC is not a voter), but I can be persuaded that some other theory violation is a voter especially if the theory violation is egregious.

Hiding ASPEC (not putting it on a separate flow) is a great way to lose speaker points for both negative debaters. Calling out your opponents and making hidden ASPEC an RVI is a great way to add to your speaker points.

Impact debating matters just as much in theory debates as it does in any other debate. If you don't have an impact and articulate why it matters more than your opponent's, I will likely not vote for you.

I will not judge kick unless the neg explicitly asks me to and the aff doesn't provide a theoretical reason not to. Keep in mind that if the neg has "dropped" the aff's advantages, a judge kick only benefits the aff.

Counterplans that compete off of certainty or immediacy are likely not competitive. Permutations, even perm: do the counterplan, do not have to be topical, as in they only have to meet definitions of the words in the plan. Similarly, I don't think Agent CPs are competitive unless the aff has specified their agent or read an advantage to their agent.

Disclaimer

While these are my general opinions of debate, I am by no means a norm setter or emotionally attached to them. I can always be persuaded by what happens in a debate round.

Andrew Gollner Woodward Academy

Last changed on Sat January 6, 2024 at 9:30 AM EDT

If you're running an email chain, please add me: Andrewgollner@gmail.com

he/him

About me: I debated one year of PF and three years of policy at Sequoyah High, and I debated three year of college policy at the University of Georgia. I was a 2N that generally runs policy offcase positions but, especially earlier in my debate career, I ran many critical positions. I'll try to be expressive during the round so that you can discern how I am receiving your arguments.

Judge Preferences: On a personal level, please be kind to your opponents. I dislike it when a team is unnecessarily rude or unsportsmanlike. I am completely willing to discuss my decision about a round in between rounds, so please ask me if you want me to clarify my decision or would like advice. You can email me any questions you have.

FOR PF/LD:

I am primarily a policy judge. This means

I am more comfortable with a faster pace. While I don't like the idea of spreading in PF and LD I can handle a faster pace.

2. I am decently technical. If an argument is dropped point it out, make sure I can draw a clean line through your speeches.

3. I am less used to theory backgrounds in your form of debate, slow down and explain these.

4. Ask me any specific questions you have.

FOR POLICY:

I recognize that my role is to serve as a neutral arbiter without predispositions towards certain arguments, but as this goal is elusive the following are my gut reactions to positions. I strive to ensure that any position (within reason, obviously not obscene or offensive) is a possible path to victory in front of myself.

CP: I love a well written CP which is tailored to your opponent's solvency advocate and that can be clearly explained and is substantiated by credible evidence. If your CP is supported by 1AC solvency evidence, I will be very impressed. Generic CPs are fine, I've read a ton of them, but the more you can at least explain your CP in the context of the affirmative's advantages the more likely you are to solve for their impact scenarios.

DA: Make sure to give a quick overview of the story during the neg block to clarify the intricacies of your position. If, instead of vaguely tagline making a turns case arg like "climate turns econ, resource shortages", you either read and later extend a piece of evidence or spend 10 to 15 seconds analytically creating a story of how climate change exasperates resource shortages and causes mass migrations which strain nation's financial systems, then I will lend far more risk to the disadvantage turning the case. Obviously the same goes for Aff turns the DA. I will also weigh smart analytical arguments on the disad if the negative fails to contest it properly. I'm also very persuaded when teams contest the warrants of their opponents evidence or point out flaws within their opponents evidence, whether it's a hidden contradiction or an unqualified author.

T: I've rarely gone for topicality but I have become increasingly cognizant of incidents in which I likely should have. My gut reaction is that competing interpretations can be a race to the bottom, but I have personally seen many affirmatives which stray far enough from the topic to warrant a debate centered over the resolution in that instance.

K: I used to run Ks pretty frequently in high school but I run them far less frequently now. I'm likely not deep in your literature base so be sure to explain your position and your link story clearly.

FW: My gut feeling is that debate is a game and that it should be fair, but I have seen many rounds where the affirmative team has done an excellent job of comparing the pedagogy of both models and won that their model is key for X type of education or accessibility there of. However, I am persuaded that a TVA only needs to provide reasonable inroads to the affirmatives research without necessarily having to actually solve for all of the affirmative. I do find the response that negs would only read DAs and ignore/"outweigh" the case to be effective - try to add some nuance to this question of why negs would or wouldn't still need to grapple with the case.

Non-traditional Aff: I've always run affs with USFG plan texts, but that doesn't mean that these positions are non-starters. I will be much more receptive to your affirmative if it is intricately tied to the topic area, even if it does refuse to engage the resolution itself for whichever reasons you provide.

Theory: I generally think 2 condo is good, more than that and things start to get a bit iffy.

Most importantly, please be kind to your opponents and have a good time.

Cate Green Woodward Academy None

Sophia Hurst Pace Academy

Ryan Kang Glenbrook North

Will Kochel Decatur High School

Last changed on Tue April 2, 2024 at 9:55 PM EDT

Decatur High School 2023

Macalester 2027

Please add both to the email chain: wmkdebate@gmail.com , debatedecatur@gmail.com

"Don't be annoying or rude. Do line by line. Flow."

Who is this person

Hey y'all, I'm Will. I've been every speaker position extensively at some point, and I've debated in the Atlanta Urban Debate League, the local Georgia circuit, to the national circuit, and am debating in college for Macalester. I qualed twice to the TOC with 9 total bids, and made it to elims.

If you care about these things, I was the bottom speaker of Isidore Newman 2020

I've judged a dozen or so rounds (in policy) over the summer so far for the Emory and UTD camps, and I have done a lot of research (mostly focused on basic income), so I have an alright understanding of the topic, but still would appreciate unpacking of anything especially complicated.

I do my best to come in as a blank slate (with a few exceptions, see below) and try to minimize intervention as much as possible, unless I have to in order to make a decision. Tech >> Truth.

***For LD, see below, but policy stuff probably applies too.***

Things you shouldn't do when I'm in the back:

Generally, I believe that debate should be up to the debaters, but these are some exceptions I'd rather not adjudicate.

Arguments out of the round (pref sheets, ad homs, etc). It isn't that those arguments don't matter, but as an outsider, I do not feel comfortable getting involved. If there is a serious ethical issue (from out of round) and you think someone should lose the debate because of it, let's stop the round and bring it to tab.

Read Death/Suicide good. Do it and get a 26 and an L regardless of content. Wipeout/spark are distinct for me, and I will evaluate those debates even if I'm not happy about it.

Hide ASPEC/similar procedurals. If you do it, speaks will drop and I will probably be very lenient to the 1AR on new answers or cross applications, especially if it was barely a blip at the end of a T shell.

What do you think about Ks?

Read them. Or don’t. I have mostly stuck to the policy side, but I’m not ideologically opposed to K debate, I just have less experience so make sure to unpack your arguments and do judge instruction. Especially true for K aff v not framework/cap, the only planless AFF I've read is when Sam forgot to put in the plan text in the 1AC in quarters. I’ll evaluate whatever debate you throw at me. Everything here are just my preferences, I am happy to vote for all sorts of critical arguments.

Random views on Ks — all of these can be overcome by better debating

- I generally care about perfcon more than other judges, less as a theoretical objection, but more in the way that if you can exploit double turns with opponents scholarship/arguments, that can be persuasive to me.

- I default to consequentialism (not necessarily util, but I'll start there if neither team offers an alternative framing) You can win with other ethical frameworks of course, but I would recommend spending some extra time there, and presenting a clear alternative method for how I should evaluate impacts (or just win the concequences of their plan/research/scholarship/worldview etc. are bad).

- I'd rather AFFs that do not defend a topical plan have a clear advocacy, and preferably be an exportable method outside of the debate round (fiat is a political method, not just governmental action!). It's not a requirement, but without it presumption becomes more persuasive to me. When AFFs get shifty, that's when I start leaning more NEG on framework.

- If your strategy is built around confusing the opponents until the 2NR, you'll probably confuse me too. If I don't catch K tricks before the 2NR, I won't vote on them.

- For T-USFG, I've mostly approached this debate from the negative. I think the TVA can be very important, and I'd recommend that the AFF do considerable work here if the NEG has a solid TVA (same for switch side debate), but these arguments are not requirements. That being said, I think that K AFFs with a plan are critically underused which can make the threshold to responding to a good TVA higher.

- Fairness as a terminal impact should have a substantial impact and internal link work to make it as offensively oriented as possible. I enjoy clash and dogmatism impacts, and creative framework arguments are always appreciated.

- Slow down on framework (no matter what side you're on) to make sure I have a clear flow. Moving too quickly on theory can hurt you.

T v Policy

I am probably a better judge on average for reasonability, but the AFF's interp needs to actually be reasonable

For the NEG, limits is best (even better if they're precise and predictable), but I can be persuaded by ground too. Impact calc is super important.

Precision coming before limits is intuitive to me, but must be won.

CPs

Love a good CP debate, the more case specific the better, but generics are fine too. I'm skeptical of CPs with artificial NBs that lacks specific solvency and spillover evidence. Sometimes these net benefits are so bad, analytics are more than enough to take them out, and creative perms are welcome. Specific evidence to the AFF makes these a much better sell for me.

Perm do both is underrated.

There is nothing on God's Green Earth that will ever give you the ability to 2NC CP out of straight turned DAs. Don't be a coward. I'll listen to a theory debate on other 2NC CPs, NEG leaning on 2NC CPs out of add ons.

DAs

Try or die framing is persuasive to me (both from the AFF and the NEG) when both teams have extinction/large magnitude impacts. Most impacts aren't existential imo (even w/o impact defense), but its your job to point that out.

Do impact calc

Turns case matters a lot more to me the lower it is on the link chain.

I love DA/Case debates when done well, especially with creative DAs

If you are going to tag a card "extinction", it better have a warrant

Theory

Better for condo bad than the average person from my generation, but I vote on the flow and protect the 2NR with my life. The number of condo is less important to me and inround abuse isn't required, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. Offense, offense, offense.

Non Condo theory: Probably not a reason to reject the team unless it is warranted out well in the 2AC. I'll evaluate all of them technically, and I think AFF teams should go for theory more often (or competition). I'm generally skeptical of consult and international fiat CPs (or CPs that only function on certainty and immediacy in general tbh). The NEG can win them, but you better have a good defense. I also think alts that fiat mindset shifts or large international movements are theoretically suspect. I'm more 50/50 on others.

***LD**

I do not have much experience judging, coaching, or debating in LD, so I am less up on the community norms. The more the debate is like policy, the more comfortable I will feel with my decisions, but don't over adapt. I will flow whatever debate you give me, just err on the side of caution.

For the fossil fuel extraction topic, I'm excited to judge debates on this. I've debated on multiple environmental topics and have ran arguments in this topic area, so I have some knowledge, but it may be slightly out-dated and I haven't done any research on it recently. I did research over the summer for policy for the econ topic, so I have experience there as well.

LARP — Probably the debates I should be prefed the most for

Fwk vs K — Throw it at me, I'm down to vote for either side. Slow down a bit.

K — I can handle K debate, but I've been on the opposite sides in most K debates I've been in. The more they're structured like they are run in policy, the better. I have at least some level of knowledge in non-high theory lit bases, but err on the side of caution when explaining things.

Phil — I don't have much experience or background, so make everything super clear

Tricks — I'm probably not your judge

Theory — I have a pretty high burden for non-condo theory as a reason to reject the team. It's not impossible to get me, but it's going to be more of an uphill battle (unless completely dropped). RVIs aren't it. See my policy paradigm for more details.

Given the time disparities in LD, I am probably a bit better for condo bad (especially if it’s excessive) than I am in policy, but I haven’t seen these debates play out yet in this context.

William Koechel Renfroe Middle School

Last changed on Tue April 2, 2024 at 9:55 PM EDT

Decatur High School 2023

Macalester 2027

Please add both to the email chain: wmkdebate@gmail.com , debatedecatur@gmail.com

"Don't be annoying or rude. Do line by line. Flow."

Who is this person

If you care about these things, I was the bottom speaker of Isidore Newman 2020

I do my best to come in as a blank slate (with a few exceptions, see below) and try to minimize intervention as much as possible, unless I have to in order to make a decision. Tech >> Truth.

***For LD, see below, but policy stuff probably applies too.***

Things you shouldn't do when I'm in the back:

Generally, I believe that debate should be up to the debaters, but these are some exceptions I'd rather not adjudicate.

Read Death/Suicide good. Do it and get a 26 and an L regardless of content. Wipeout/spark are distinct for me, and I will evaluate those debates even if I'm not happy about it.

What do you think about Ks?

Random views on Ks — all of these can be overcome by better debating

- If your strategy is built around confusing the opponents until the 2NR, you'll probably confuse me too. If I don't catch K tricks before the 2NR, I won't vote on them.

- Slow down on framework (no matter what side you're on) to make sure I have a clear flow. Moving too quickly on theory can hurt you.

T v Policy

I am probably a better judge on average for reasonability, but the AFF's interp needs to actually be reasonable

For the NEG, limits is best (even better if they're precise and predictable), but I can be persuaded by ground too. Impact calc is super important.

Precision coming before limits is intuitive to me, but must be won.

CPs

Perm do both is underrated.

DAs

Do impact calc

Turns case matters a lot more to me the lower it is on the link chain.

I love DA/Case debates when done well, especially with creative DAs

If you are going to tag a card "extinction", it better have a warrant

Theory

***LD**

LARP — Probably the debates I should be prefed the most for

Fwk vs K — Throw it at me, I'm down to vote for either side. Slow down a bit.

Phil — I don't have much experience or background, so make everything super clear

Tricks — I'm probably not your judge

Given the time disparities in LD, I am probably a bit better for condo bad (especially if it’s excessive) than I am in policy, but I haven’t seen these debates play out yet in this context.

Ryan Lim Glenbrook North

Aaron Marks Renfroe Middle School None

Beth McMahon Decatur High School

Last changed on Mon April 8, 2024 at 2:31 PM EDT

Atlanta Urban Debate League (UDL). Decatur, Ga. Currently I teach AP Lang and direct a small AUDL program without a ton of institutional support but in a previous life I coached mostly policy on the national circuit. In fact, I've been around long enough to see the activity go from notecards in ox boxes to xeroxed briefs to some computerized debates to having everything online. I prefer to flow on paper because that's how I learned back in the dark ages.

You can put me on the E mail chain: mcmahon.beth@gmail.com.

For UDL tournaments:

I am an old school policy coach and do not love the K (even though my teams do run it) because teams just read their blocks and don't evaluate the round. That said, if you run the K, awesome -- be ready to debate the line by line and go for something other than framework. See my note below about having an advocacy of some sort.

For the Barkley Forum: If you are in speech events, know that my background is in policy. If you are a policy debater, know that I haven't judged a lot of varsity debates this year so watch the topic specific acronyms. From what I've seen it will be fine but just wanted you to be aware.

Old stuff:

Current Urban Debate League coach (Atlanta/AUDL) but a long time ago (when we carried tubs, no one had a cell phone, and the K was still kinda new) I used to coach and judge on the national circuit. I took a sabbatical from coaching (had kids, came back, things have changed, no more tubs). I still flow on paper and probably always will. FYI -- I have not judged national circuit varsity debates consistently since 2008 when I worked at a now-defunct national circuit program that had some money for travel. I've been told I'm more tech over truth and although I enjoy listening to K debates I don't have a K background (my national circuit experience has all been old school policy so like DA plus case plus CP). If you are a K team I expect some sort of ADVOCACY not just a bunch of block reading and a framework dump. If you don't have a plan you still need to advocate FOR something. Theory dumps are very frustrating to me because I don't know how to evaluate the round.

Crystalizing the round in rebuttals is an important skill - especially in front of a judge like me that did not spend 8 weeks at camp nor has read all of the lit. Or maybe any of the lit. You absolutely will be more familiar with your evidence than I will so please don't expect that kind of deep dive into the post round discussion. There was a point in my life when I could have those discussions, but I'm not there anymore. I am however more likely to buy your case attacks or a topicality argument so there's that.

Notes for IE/LD -- I judge more policy debate than LD/IE/PF/Congress but at some point this year have judged all of the above. I tend to be more tech over truth with LD and am looking for some sort of impact analysis of the values presented. My policy team does not run the K and debates more traditionally -- one of the most underutilized strategies in LD is to debate the other team's case.

Cory Mosser Renfroe Middle School None

Luke Nelson Glenbrook North

John Overend Westminster

Hazel Patty Decatur High School

Last changed on Wed September 15, 2021 at 11:37 AM EDT

DHS Debater (2025)

Put me on the email chain hazeldebate@gmail.com

I'll vote on anything as long as it's argued well. Obviously, saying anything offensive or hurtful will result in an automatic loss and very low speaks.

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

Don't spread faster than you're able to. If I can't understand what you're saying the other team definitely can't. I won't flow your args if I don't know what they are.

Time yourself. This will make your speeches more efficient.

PLEASE EXPLAIN ARGUMENTS. Not only do I love me some good explanations, but I can't rly vote for you w/o knowing that you understand (at least some of) what you're saying.

Please give me some analytics. It makes me sad when we don't get out of the packet.

Please please please give me warrants with your extensions.

Explain why dropping stuff matters. I'm not gonna vote for you if you just say that the opponent dropped your argument. Good job, you were flowing. Please tell me why that matters in the context of the debate.

I don't usually look at cards, but if the round was super close or heavy on card/author reliability I will look them over after.

Give me some nice impact args! Especially in later rebuttals. These will basically determine the ballot (along with if your analytics explained your position). Lots of love if you give me an impact turn.

For Ks, please clarify framing args, and EXPLAIN YOUR LINK. If you're going for the K you need to understand the K. Do not assume I have any idea what your K is saying, because I probably don't.

For theory, please explain your fairness impact. I don't normally think fairness is a valid argument. That being said, I will vote on it if it is clearly explained. For Topicality, please explain your interp. I want you to tell me why I should be voting for you.

For CPs, please give me a net benefit or smth. I want more than just straight-up solving better.

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

For speaker points give me some clash. Please flow. Line by line is literal fire. This will really help your speaks.

Get your ego straight. No one wants a mean round. Confidence is good, but if you're rude your speaker points will be rly bad.

Explain stuff. Don't assume that I know all the arguments you're running like the back of my hand. Showing me a more in-depth knowledge of your evidence will make me happy, and boost your speaks.

Nice and innocent humor is greatly appreciated. Debate rounds have been known to get a little dry...

Feel free to ask me any questions before or during the round. :)

Hazel Patty Renfroe Middle School None

Rose Pelham Woodward Academy

Last changed on Sat January 6, 2024 at 4:53 AM EDT

Last edited on 5/27/23 to rewrite the sections on experience, Statement on Racism, and K Affirmatives.

Pronouns: she/they

Experience: I have spent my entire life in the debate community one way or another. That said, I spent five years debating middle school/high school, took a break from debating in undergrad, then came back to judge and coach for a variety of schools.

Statement on Racism (& other Prejudices) in Debate

Debate should encourage students to see themselves as agents capable of acting to create a better world. We will not achieve this vision for our activity so long as we pretend it is in a realm separate from reality. Judges have an ethical obligation to oppose prejudice in round including but by no means limited to: racism, queerphobia, antisemitism, sexism, Islamophobia, ableism, and classism, among others. Debate, as an activity, has its fair share of structural inequities. We, as coaches and judges, need to address these and be congnizant of them in our decisions.

General Philosophy

I see the role of the judge as that of an educator concerned primarily with what teams learn from the experience. Therefore, the most important aspect of being a judge, to me, is to provide good constructive criticism to teams about their arguments and performance, and to promote the educational qualities of debate. When teams are using prep time, I am usually writing speech by speech feedback for my ballots––which I very much hope teams and their judges will read. As a judge, I want you to come out of the round, win or lose, feeling like you learned something worthwhile.

As an educator concerned with what can be learned from the round, I think the quality of arguments are much more important than their quantity, and whenever possible prefer to reward well researched and articulated arguments more than arguments will few warrants that might be read in the hopes of their being dropped. I prefer to decide rounds based upon the meaning of the arguments presented and their clash rather than by concession.

I flow the round based on what I hear, preferring not to use speech documents. For this reason, clarity is more important than speed. For an argument to exist in the round, it needs to be spoken intelligibly. Rounds that are slower typically offer better quality arguments and fewer mistakes.

Argument Specific preferences:

Plan-less critical affirmatives: I am happy to judge and vote on them. K affs are a useful tool for contesting the norms of debate, including those which are the most problematic in the activity. Over time, I have changed my threshold on their topicality. These days, my position is that so long as they are clearly related to the topic, I am happy to consider them topical. When aff teams argue critical affirmatives, I strongly prefer there be a specific solvency mechanism for their interpretation of the role of the ballot. For negative teams arguing against K affs, I have a strong preference for specific case answers. Given that K affs are a fixture of debate and are generally available to find on open evidence and the caselist wiki, prepping to specifically answer them should be possible. While I am unlikely to vote in favor of arguments that would outright eliminate K affs in debate, counter kritiks are a strategy I am amenable to.

Kritiks: At its most fundamental level, a kritik is a critical argument that examines the consequences of the assumptions made in another argument. I love well run kritiks, but for me to decide in favor of a kritik it needs a specific link to the assumptions in the 1AC and a clearly articulated alternative that involves a specific action (as opposed to a vague alt). Experience informs me that K's with generic links and vague alternatives make for bad debate.

Framework: Lately this term seems to have become a synonym for a kind of impact calculus that instead of focusing on magnitude, risk, and time-frame attempts to convince me to discard all impacts but those of the team running this argument. Framework, as I understand it, is a synonym to theory and is about what the rules of debate should be. Why should it be a rule of debate that we should only consider one type of impact? It seems all impacts in debate have already boiled themselves down to extinction.

Topicality: Please slow down so that I can hear all your arguments and flow all their warrants. The quality of your T arguments is much more important to me––especially if you argue about the precedent the round sets––than how many stock voters you can read. I may prefer teams that offer a clear argument on topicality to those that rely on spreading, however tactically advantages the quickly read arguments may be.

Counter plans: The burden of demonstrating solvency is on the negative, especially with PICs. PICs are probably bad for debate. Most of the time they are just a proposal to do the plan but in a more ridiculous way that would likely never happen. So if you are going to run a PIC, make sure to argue that changing whatever aspect of the plan your PIC hinges on is realistically feasible and reasonably advantageous. Otherwise, I will do everything I can to avoid deciding the round on them.

Conditionality: I have no problem with the negative making a couple conditional arguments. That said, I think relying on a large number of conditional arguments to skew the aff typically backfires with the neg being unable to devote enough time to create a strong argument. So, I typically decide conditionality debates with a large number of conditional arguments in favor of the aff, not because they make debate too hard for the aff, but because they make debating well hard for everyone in the round.

For rookie/novice debaters:

If you're reading this, then you're already a step ahead and thinking about the skills you will need to be building for JV and varsity debate. What I want to see most in rookie/novice debates is that teams are flowing and clearly responding to each other.

Catherine Peng Glenbrook North

Thomas Sharp Renfroe Middle School

Last changed on Tue September 15, 2020 at 6:46 AM EDT

I believe debate is primarily an educational activity to learn about the intricacies of policy matters on the current topic. Second, it is an intellectual game with real-world content as the basis. Third, it is a communication contest. I will vote in a way that upholds these priorities. Debaters impress me most who have a command of knowledge of the current topic, are astute at strategy in-round, and who communicate effectively.

As an old-timer policy debater who took a long break from debate and returned fairly recently, I can still flow (may be a bit rusty, so please focus on clarity over speed) and value clash on the flow where debaters think critically about the arguments of their opponents and evaluate them for me in light of their own arguments. I prefer a solid amount of in-round critical thinking based on the flow vs. overly relying on reading pre-prepared blocks. I also am impressed with debaters who HAVE a lot of pre-prepared blocks for specific arguments and who know the topic and their positions well enough to be prepared for most of what comes their way.

I am old-school with my preferences for arguments (DAs vs. case advantages, really thorough case debate, CPs, Topicality, etc.). I enjoy hearing clear explanations of impact scenarios and am a sucker for excellent storytelling in comparing policy outcomes in the 2NR/2AR. I vote frequently on which team more effectively explains the comparative benefit of the plan vs. the status quo/CP given all the arguments in the round, especially if the flow backs up the story. Your story should also make sense in the real world outside the debate round.

I need careful explanations for highly theoretical arguments. Feel free to run kritiks or performative arguments, but know that you are in an area that is less familiar and comfortable for me and it is your job to clarify how these arguments work and why I should vote on them. If I don't understand it, I won't vote on it. I will not vote in a way that rejects the personhood or identity of anyone in the round.

I will listen to any argument you introduce; however, morally repugnant arguments are not persuasive to me and I may vote against you on face for running them, even without being challenged by your opponents. We are discussing real-world life-or-death issues. Communicate in a way that regards the seriousness of the topic and treats all human beings, including those in the room and those discussed in your evidence, with respect.

Brenan Stearns Decatur High School None

Maggie Stearns Decatur High School

Last changed on Mon January 29, 2024 at 9:07 AM EDT

Maggie Stearns---Decatur '24

She/her

maggiedebate@gmail.com

2A/2N/1N/1A :)

Won round 2 at the GFCA Novice Practice Tournament #1 on September 12th, 2020 which in my honsest opinion is more important than the TOC and NDT combined.

I'm was raised as traditional policy debater by force but this year almost all of my neg rounds are 8 mins of cap in the 2nc or another K.

Im fine with google docs just pls pls make sure that it wont block me when i try to view it.

I will give you horrible speaks if your mean to anyone in the round or are straight up condesending and mean and horrible and ugh just make me angry. I dont put up with that.

I will vote for a K aff. I will vote for a policy aff. Ive ran both. I like both (well K>policy) but you do you.

Don't:

-Hide condo or aspec because i wont evaluate it. In fact, dont run aspec because i think its a bad arg. If i dont flow condo, you didnt run it.

-Be mean

-Yell at the other team

-Racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist, etc, etc.

-Take stuff from open ev and run it without reading it.

-Run 10 off against a team that clearly doesn't know what their doing (don't be a jerk. If there's a clear difference between the two teams' skill levels, don't make the other team cry, just be a nice person.)

-call an ethics violation unless u actually want me to stop the round, but don't feel afraid to call something out when u see it.

-Make me do the work for you

Do:

-SEND OUT YOUR ANALYTICS!!!

-Line by line!

-Flow!!!!

-Be nice

-Be organized

-Be clear

-Be funny.

-Show your style of debate.

-Make jokes

-be nice (again)

Ks:

I'm fine with them. I run them i guess. Im fammilar with halberstam and some queer lit, but if it takes me 30 minutes after the round just to go through your ev to piece together what you were saying than I'm prob not gonna vote 4 u. Sorry. Cough. cough...Will Canaday...

Also not a fan of psycoanalysis or other really high theory Ks that are just very blugh.

Don't just complicated words just to sound smart. Unless the word is key to the lit base or explaining your args, then just use the basic version. Please. If its very necessary then explain it. I don't have the time to know all of the k lit.

T:If you run a good T-violation I would be willing to vote on it. but you have to go for it properly.

At no point could you convince me that people are going to quit because someone ran a K aff.

Fairness is literally impossible in this community bffr.

Clash and Education>

CPs: Sure. Just make sure it actually solves plz

DAs: I literally hate DAs with horrible link chains or that are just straight up stupid or dont link. A pretty good no link/there link chains are horrible arg on the aff will persuade me you just have to tell me.

Extra: If its a really (really) bad round I'm just going to choose based off of vibes. Take that as you will. You have been warned.

If you slander Max Van Kruijsen or Will Kochel then you will get way better speaks :)

Catherine Tang Glenbrook North

Jon Tarquinio Montgomery Bell Academy

Alessio Toniolo Marist School 8 rounds

Last changed on Wed November 10, 2021 at 11:13 AM EDT

Email:

alessiotoniolo25@marist.com

Background:

Policy debater at Marist School. Former public forum debater.

Idiosyncrasies:

Please do not ask loaded questions in cx/crossfire (I might be judging pf). For example,

is killing people bad (in reference to taking one's plan or bringing a topic down on a more substantive level).

If you respond with a loaded question like this and the questioning period is already not serious, I will give

you extra speak points.

I like spreading, but I will disregard any arguments if you are speaking at a pitch above 20,000 hertz and clipping

(you know who you are).

At the barebones, do not completely change how you debate, but regard decent debating etiquette.

Policy:

T: Prefer interpretations that do not just take the meaning down to literal words, but actually relate to what

the topic/case is inferring. I like topicality with good arguments, substantial evidence, and very good standards. I like

it when you strategically go for topicality in the 2nr (as long as you sufficiently use it).

CP: Explain how it relates to case, and how the net benefits link. Please explain how the counterplan works in the

judiciary system.

DAs: Prefer disadvantages if you can link them as a net benefit to the cp.

Case: I like quantifiable and real impacts.

Case add-ons: Do not expect me to vote on them. Generally, use them as a way to burden the negative's time.

K: As long as the aff can provide great answers as to why the K would not work, I can heavily weigh. In most cases, if

the K is radical and the aff hits on this, I will prefer aff. Excellent perm arguments that are very detailed really impress

me.

General: I prefer strategy over the actual quality (in most cases). For example, if you have a meaningful no link or link

turn say on an advantage and the aff does not respond to this, I will automatically disregard that advantage, because it

does not link. Answers need to make sense. Do not repeat your original argument if the other team directly responded

to it. Debate well, and go by your own standards not mine. I am not picky.

Aff-ks: I will automatically vote negative. Sorry but not sorry.

Public forum:

Debate how you debate. Do not be racist.

Ishita Vaish Northview High School

Last changed on Sat February 10, 2024 at 3:44 AM EDT

EMAIL: ishitakvaish@gmail.com

Good luck debating! Remember to relax and enjoy the tournament. Debate can be stressful and cause anxiety, so don’t forget it is an education and enjoyable activity. I have debated throughout high school in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas. I am a traditional debater. 2nd year at Georgia Tech - Go Jackets!

Framework: This is so important - it needs to be extended in every speech because it ultimately tells me how to evaluate the impacts in this round.

Contention-Level Preferences: I will vote for Kritiks, topicality, and counter plans. However, I have a strong evidence standard and expect to see well cut evidence in round if you plan to read any of these. I may also call to see cards at the end of a round to evaluate the round.

Cross-Ex: I do not listen during cross or voted based on cross. If something comes up in cross-ex that you want on my flow, you need to bring it up during the speech. Cross-Ex is your time to ask each other, but be polite or I will dock speaker points.

Speed/Spreading: Do not spread. If I cannot understand you, then I won’t have everything on my flow due to the lack of clarity in your speech. Clarity always trumps speed.

Stand while making speeches. You can sit or stand during cross. Do not speak rudely to me or to your opponents - it will affect speaker points.

Policy:

I have judged both LD and Public Forum before, but I am relatively new to judging policy. Please talk clearly and avoid spreading if possible. When you send out speech docs, they should match your speech. If you cut a card half way through, feel free to say "cut card" and move on to the next. I will not flow cross-ex, so if there is anything important said in cross-ex, then take the time to point it out in the following speech. Finally, if I cannot understand you, I will yell clear, type in the chat, raise my hand, etc. If I still cannot understand, I will stop flowing and judge the round based on what I flowed. Please time yourself. My timer will be the final say, but having your own timer is highly suggested to help pace yourself. Please give a road map before every speech. If you have any questions, please let me know!

Max Van Kruijssen Decatur High School

Last changed on Mon January 22, 2024 at 5:45 AM EDT

Now: Student at Radboud University

Former: decent high school debater

he/they

The only thing that really matters to me is that both sides are fostering a good debate space, so that means be conscientious of how what you are doing effects (affects??? this is my achilles heel) the other team. Also, I have no tolerance for any racism, homophobia, misogyny, ableism etc and as soon as I see that the offender is getting a 25 and their team is losing.

I have some thoughts about debate:

I appreciate the quality of debate arguments. I am still tech over truth, but the quality of cards and the work that needs to be done to sell a story is how an argument you are technically ahead becomes an argument I can vote for.

I think that teams should try harder to adapt to the debate they are in. For most people, it is easier and therefore preferable to rely on the blocks a more experienced debater or coach wrote, but these people often get lost as soon as things deviate from what they were expecting. Instead, teams should make a bigger effort to begin with on preparing themselves for the round, and carry that into round by thinking more on their feet and adapting what they already have more. Teams that know what all of their cards say are much more likely to use what they have in more effective ways. I will heavily reward teams that make it very clear in round that they are building their own strategies.

I think that kritikal affs need to be mindful before they read them in front of me. In dozens of rounds I have been in before, the guiding principal for K teams is to run away from substantive engagement with the arguments the opponents make. I agree on principal with the ideas that many K affs have regarding issues in the debate space, with the resolution, etc, but I also know that many teams literally read the same blocks every round and it is especially frustrating to watch when the negative chooses a different approach and the aff stands up and goes for the same perm block or same exclusion DA as always. With that being said, K teams that are brave enough to stand up and clash with the neg's arguments and go for unique, round specific offense have absolutely no problems in front of me.

Similarly, I think K teams that take the cheap route on the neg are facing an uphill battle. Any strategy reliant on technical concessions or the other team not understanding your arguments shouldn't be winning debate rounds, and the closer a strategy is to that model, the more upset I will be that I am judging it. This is also saying that hidden aspec will make me very very sad (and will earn you a nice 27 in novice!).

I don't want to reserve all of my problems for K debaters though. I think that policy affs with dubious internal link chains should immediately put me down their prefs, because they fail the "quality argument" test. If you explained your aff to your Social Studies teacher, they need to be able to understand why your aff solves your impacts, and if you don't think they can, don't go for that impact in front of me.

I think that T vs policy can be strategic, but is often misunderstood and underestimated by both sides. It needs to be treated more like other parts of the debate, with clear, round specific impact calc and clear debating on the differences between models and the precise burdens for voting either aff or neg.

I am under no circumstances voting for death good or like ben shapiro nonsense.

Bring up former city schools of decatur superintendent David Dude and you’ll get way more speaks.

Whit Whitmore Pace Academy

Last changed on Thu January 4, 2024 at 3:39 AM EDT

add me to the email chain: whit211@gmail.com

Do not utter the phrase "plan text in a vacuum" or any other clever euphemism for it. It's not an argument, I won't vote on it, and you'll lose speaker points for advancing it. You should defend your plan, and I should be able to tell what the plan does by reading it.

Inserting things into the debate isn't a thing. If you want me to evaluate evidence, you should read it in the debate.

Cross-ex time is cross-ex time, not prep time. Ask questions or use your prep time, unless the tournament has an official "alt use" time rule.

You should debate line by line. That means case arguments should be responded to in the 1NC order and off case arguments should be responded to in the 2AC order. I continue to grow frustrated with teams that do not flow. If I suspect you are not flowing (I visibly see you not doing it; you answer arguments that were not made in the previous speech but were in the speech doc; you answer arguments in speech doc order instead of speech order), you will receive no higher than a 28. This includes teams that like to "group" the 2ac into sections and just read blocks in the 2NC/1NR. Also, read cards. I don't want to hear a block with no cards. This is a research activity.

Debate the round in a manner that you would like and defend it. I consistently vote for arguments that I don’t agree with and positions that I don’t necessarily think are good for debate. I have some pretty deeply held beliefs about debate, but I’m not so conceited that I think I have it all figured out. I still try to be as objective as possible in deciding rounds. All that being said, the following can be used to determine what I will most likely be persuaded by in close calls:

If I had my druthers, every 2nr would be a counterplan/disad or disad/case.

In the battle between truth and tech, I think I fall slightly on side of truth. That doesn’t mean that you can go around dropping arguments and then point out some fatal flaw in their logic in the 2AR. It does mean that some arguments are so poor as to necessitate only one response, and, as long as we are on the same page about what that argument is, it is ok if the explanation of that argument is shallow for most of the debate. True arguments aren’t always supported by evidence, but it certainly helps.

I think research is the most important aspect of debate. I make an effort to reward teams that work hard and do quality research on the topic, and arguments about preserving and improving topic specific education carry a lot of weight with me. However, it is not enough to read a wreck of good cards and tell me to read them. Teams that have actually worked hard tend to not only read quality evidence, but also execute and explain the arguments in the evidence well. I think there is an under-highlighting epidemic in debates, but I am willing to give debaters who know their evidence well enough to reference unhighlighted portions in the debate some leeway when comparing evidence after the round.

I think the affirmative should have a plan. I think the plan should be topical. I think topicality is a voting issue. I think teams that make a choice to not be topical are actively attempting to exclude the negative team from the debate (not the other way around). If you are not going to read a plan or be topical, you are more likely to persuade me that what you are doing is ‘ok’ if you at least attempt to relate to or talk about the topic. Being a close parallel (advocating something that would result in something similar to the resolution) is much better than being tangentially related or directly opposed to the resolution. I don’t think negative teams go for framework enough. Fairness is an impact, not a internal link. Procedural fairness is a thing and the only real impact to framework. If you go for "policy debate is key to skills and education," you are likely to lose. Winning that procedural fairness outweighs is not a given. You still need to defend against the other team's skills, education and exclusion arguments.

I don’t think making a permutation is ever a reason to reject the affirmative. I don’t believe the affirmative should be allowed to sever any part of the plan, but I believe the affirmative is only responsible for the mandates of the plan. Other extraneous questions, like immediacy and certainty, can be assumed only in the absence of a counterplan that manipulates the answers to those questions. I think there are limited instances when intrinsicness perms can be justified. This usually happens when the perm is technically intrinsic, but is in the same spirit as an action the CP takes This obviously has implications for whether or not I feel some counterplans are ultimately competitive.

Because I think topic literature should drive debates (see above), I feel that both plans and counterplans should have solvency advocates. There is some gray area about what constitutes a solvency advocate, but I don’t think it is an arbitrary issue. Two cards about some obscure aspect of the plan that might not be the most desirable does not a pic make. Also, it doesn’t sit well with me when negative teams manipulate the unlimited power of negative fiat to get around literature based arguments against their counterplan (i.e. – there is a healthy debate about federal uniformity vs state innovation that you should engage if you are reading the states cp). Because I see this action as comparable to an affirmative intrinsicness answer, I am more likely to give the affirmative leeway on those arguments if the negative has a counterplan that fiats out of the best responses.

My personal belief is probably slightly affirmative on many theory questions, but I don’t think I have voted affirmative on a (non-dropped) theory argument in years. Most affirmatives are awful at debating theory. Conditionality is conditionality is conditionality. If you have won that conditionality is good, there is no need make some arbitrary interpretation that what you did in the 1NC is the upper limit of what should be allowed. On a related note, I think affirmatives that make interpretations like ‘one conditional cp is ok’ have not staked out a very strategic position in the debate and have instead ceded their best offense. Appeals to reciprocity make a lot sense to me. ‘Argument, not team’ makes sense for most theory arguments that are unrelated to the disposition of a counterplan or kritik, but I can be persuaded that time investment required for an affirmative team to win theory necessitates that it be a voting issue.

Critical teams that make arguments that are grounded in and specific to the topic are more successful in front of me than those that do not. It is even better if your arguments are highly specific to the affirmative in question. I enjoy it when you paint a picture for me with stories about why the plans harms wouldn’t actually happen or why the plan wouldn’t solve. I like to see critical teams make link arguments based on claims or evidence read by the affirmative. These link arguments don’t always have to be made with evidence, but it is beneficial if you can tie the specific analytical link to an evidence based claim. I think alternative solvency is usually the weakest aspect of the kritik. Affirmatives would be well served to spend cross-x and speech time addressing this issue. ‘Our authors have degrees/work at a think tank’ is not a response to an epistemological indict of your affirmative. Intelligent, well-articulated analytic arguments are often the most persuasive answers to a kritik. 'Fiat' isn't a link. If your only links are 'you read a plan' or 'you use the state,' or if your block consistently has zero cards (or so few that find yourself regularly sending out the 2nc in the body rather than speech doc) then you shouldn't be preffing me.

LD Specific Business:

I am primarily a policy coach with very little LD experience. Have a little patience with me when it comes to LD specific jargon or arguments. It would behoove you to do a little more explanation than you would give to a seasoned adjudicator in the back of the room. I will most likely judge LD rounds in the same way I judge policy rounds. Hopefully my policy philosophy below will give you some insight into how I view debate. I have little tolerance and a high threshold for voting on unwarranted theory arguments. I'm not likely to care that they dropped your 'g' subpoint, if it wasn't very good. RVI's aren't a thing, and I won't vote on them.

Sam Wombough Woodward Academy

Last changed on Sat January 27, 2024 at 9:43 AM EDT

Email: womboughsam36@gmail.com

UGA Law '27

Georgia Tech '23 (History and Sociology)

Woodward Academy ’20

Topic Knowledge: I have judged a lot of debates and worked at ENDI this past summer.

Last Substantively Updated: 1/7/24

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Short Version + Novices (est. 45 sec. to read)

"Debate like an adult. Show me the evidence. Attend to the details. Don't dodge, clash. Great research and informed comparisons win debates." — Bill Batterman

Flow.

Be nice.

Be clear.

Have fun!

Time yourselves.

It’s probably not a voting issue.

If you read a plan, defend and clarify it.

Do not request a marked copy in lieu of flowing.

Be an evidenced, well-reasoned critic, not a cynic.

If you stop prep and then re-start prep, take off 10 seconds of prep.

If you don't have your video on in online debate, I will struggle to stay engaged.

An argument must be complete and comprehensible before there is a burden to answer it.

Focus on depth in argument. It's more engaging and is the only reliable way to beat good teams.

Write my ballot for me at the top of your late rebuttals, without using any debate jargon or hyperbole.

"Marking a card" means actually clearly marking that card on your computer (e.g. multiple Enter key pushes).

If you advocate something, at some point in the debate, you need to explain the tangible results of your advocacy without relying on any debate or philosophy jargon.

There has been a significant decline in the quality of speaking since online debate started because debaters became less familiar with speaking directly to the judge and because judges gave more leeway to the absence of clarity due to the computer instrument. Judges should never have to rely on reading along with the speech document in order to flow tags/analytics. If you have no intonation nor emphasis during tags/analytics/rebuttals, you are a bad speaker.

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More Stuff (est. 1:30 min. to read)

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Debate

I really enjoy debate. Debate is the most rewarding activity I have ever done. But debate didn't always feel rewarding while I was doing it. Accordingly, I hope that everybody prioritizes having fun, and then learning and improving.

From Johnnie Stupek's paradigm: "I encourage debaters to adopt speaking practices that make the debate easier for me to flow including: structured line-by-line, clarity when communicating plan or counterplan texts, emphasizing important lines in the body of your evidence, and descriptively labelling off-case positions in the 1NC."

Purging your speech documents of analytics and then rocking through them will be just as likely to "trick" me into not flowing an argument as it will be your opponents.

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Case

I will vote on absolute defense.

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Critiques

Explain; don’t confuse.

It is anti-black for debaters that are not black (team) to present afropessimist arguments. This practice exists because of the anti-blackness or cowardice of some non-black educators in debate. Frank Wilderson III claims that he "grieves over" debate's appropriation of his work (“Staying Ready for Black Study: A Conversation”).

Postmodernism— Debaters often mischaracterize ornamental absolutism in philosophical writings as almost-theological dogmatisms about how the world operates. This is anti-modern, not postmodern. <— I don't know if that paragraph makes any sense.

I've seen a few debates exclusively about personal identity that were extremely distressful for both sides. I think it's really weird when a high school student prompts a rejoinder from their peers to a pure affirmation of their identity. Please don't make me adjudicate it.

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Non-Topical Debates

"No" to aff conditionality. Defend your aff and comparatively weigh offense.

Please stop referencing college debate rounds that you only know about thirdhand.

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Theory

The more conditional advocacies there are in the 1NC, the worse the debate usually is.

I am sympathetic to affirmative complaints about process counterplans and agent counterplans that do nearly all of the affirmative. These counterplans, with the States-multi-plank CP in mind, tend to stagnate negative topic innovation and have single-handedly ruined some topics (Education).

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Extra

I almost always defer to technical debating, but in close debates:

I am a degrowth hack. T: Substantial against a quantifiably small aff is fun.

I am easily convinced that Bostrom-esque "extinction first" is incoherent and can justify repulsive ideologies.

I strongly believe that China is not militarily revisionist. I think Sinophobic scholarship is festering in debate.

With respect to "Catastrophe Good" arguments, "we must die to destroy a particle accelerator that will consume the universe" is less convincing to me than a nihilism or misanthropy argument. I value accurate science.

Lastly, don't purposefully try to fluster the judge if you want quality post-round answers.

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Cheating

In the instance that a team accuses the other of clipping, I will follow the NDCA clipping guidelines (2).

Strawmanning is an ethics violation as per the NSDA guidelines.

(1) https://the3nr.com/2014/08/20/how-to-never-clip-cards-a-guide-for-debaters/

(2) https://static.squarespace.com/static/53416a18e4b0aa2aaadf85e4/t/53665f81e4b03af4b79e088f/1399218049326/clipping.pdf

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More References

https://the3nr.com/2009/11/03/judging-methodologies-how-do-judges-reach-their-decisions/

https://the3nr.com/2016/04/15/an-updated-speaker-point-scale-based-on-2015-2016-results/ (I inflate this).

https://new.debateus.org/to-consult-or-not-to-consult-on-the-theoretical-legitimacy-of-the-consultation-counterplan/