Debate Philosophy:

I approach debates with a focus on flowing arguments and evaluating them based on the flow. While I prioritize technical arguments over truth, I do expect clear and logical communication from debaters. Clarity of thought and logic is paramount, and I value well-warranted arguments over-reliance on evidence alone.

I weigh the claims by whether they are supported by two kinds of reasoning:

11. Truth: Why the claim is true.

22. Impact: Why this claim is important in the debate.

"Claims" apply to both constructive arguments and rebuttals, as I will weigh them side by side in clashes on my flow later. Providing examples or research findings doesn't necessarily mean your claim is true; you have to explain which part of the example/research can be applied to the argument, to explain why that example is important to the debate as a whole.

Weighing Arguments:

Debaters should focus on weighing their arguments and demonstrating why their impacts outweigh those of their opponents. This includes considering scope, magnitude, timeframe, probability, or employing metaweighing techniques. I appreciate clear roadmaps and signposting throughout the round to aid in organization.

Topic Relevance:

I prefer debates to stay on topic and avoid off-topic or theoretical arguments aimed at disqualifying the other team. Definitions by the government/affirmative team are allowed, but abuse of this privilege will be penalized.

Argument Evaluation:

Warranted arguments are crucial for winning my ballot. Unsubstantiated claims are difficult to vote on, especially when effectively rebutted by the opposing side. It's essential to be charitable to opponents' arguments and engage with the best version of their claims rather than strawmanning them.

Public Forum-Specific:

In Public Forum debates, I prioritize logical reasoning over reliance on evidence cards. Debaters should focus on identifying weaknesses in their opponents' link chains rather than reading from prepared blocks. Clash should be evident by the rebuttal speeches, and second rebuttals should address all offense or risk concessions.

Evidence and Email Chains:

I do not typically review evidence or participate in email chains. Debaters must convince me of their arguments without relying on my review of evidence. However, if requested, I may assess evidence for accuracy.

Terry Choi

Experience: 4 years of debate experience in high school in mainly PF, some LD and BP.

Judging experience: on and off PF, impromptu, etc. during high school and my 5 year university life.

Quick TLDR:

-Spread at your own risk.

-No new arguments in summary and final focus, direct evidence to support existing arguments and rebuttals is A-OK.

-Off-time roadmaps at a reasonable length=OK

-Logic is important, logic with evidence is important-er, logic with evidence and nice impacts is important-est. Evidence alone without logic=big sad, don't do it. If you decide to do it, I will forget about it.

-Grace period: finish your last thought after time is up, but if you can end your speech just before/just as the time is up, that will get you a small bonus to speaker points :)

-Although I am in University and know fundamentals of economics and financial mathematics, pretend that I am a literate high-school education farmer who farms potatoes for a living-hence, explain concepts as concisely as possible, especially if the topic is niche.

If you have more questions, scroll down to the detailed version. Other than that, HLGF, lets have a good debate.

Detailed version (wall of text):

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Paradigms in PF:

Main ideas:

-Be polite and respectful. Do not bash opponents, keep your emotions in line. There will be consequences depending on severity.

-Be honest. Do not fabricate, manipulate or tamper with evidence. There will also be consequences according to tournament rules.

-Spread at your own risk: you may speak as quickly or slowly at your discretion, but being unclear or too fast that the judge cannot understand your arguments is not the judge's fault, it is yours. If I feel that the speed is too fast and your are too unclear, then I will take off points. This is a high school PF tournament, remember that and try to keep it at that level. If you spread like you are Eminem or a congress debater, I will mostly likely not completely know what you are saying and I may also scream incoherently.

-Time you take in requesting evidence will NOT come out of your or opponent's prep time, but reading opponents evidence will. That being said, if it takes too long to produce evidence, I will start running prep time and if none can be provided in time, it will be disqualified. Still, try to mention the fact that evidence was disqualified to your judge if the evidence was super important in the debate.

-Your arguments should have a premise, evidence, reasoning/link and impacts. Although I believe PF is a more evidence centered debate than other debating styles such as LD, if a team rebuts your evidence with reasoning and you do not defend your evidence with reasoning/reasoning with evidence, they may win the argument. Evidence alone does not win you arguments.

-Framework (including defining key definitions) is totally fine, but prepare to justify your definitions or framework using reasoning and evidence. If your opponents points out that they may be unjustified/abusive and you do not defend it/fail to defend it, I will not accept your framework. Conversely, if I believe your framework is abusive/unjustified but your opponents do not point it out, I will accept the framework as the opponents apparently had no issue with it. Just don't revolve all your rounds on the framework war, no judge wants to see that.

-Do not bring up new arguments in Summary or Final Focus speeches; I will disregard it, even if your opponents do not point it out. Extending existing arguments are totally fine. New evidence is fine in both summary or final, but only if it supports your existing arguments or rebuttals directly. If I do not see the evidence as direct enough, I throw it out.

-No Kritiks please, nor things such as plans.

-"Grace Time": end your line of thought, and stop. If you go too over the time limit, I will start deducting points.

-I do allow offtime roadmaps. However, if it is too long or excessive/exploitive, I will start cutting points.

-In crossfires, I will allow you to answer the question even if the time is up; no asking new questions when time is up though.

-Content warnings: if you are going to talk about some really graphic content (example: detailed stories of rape, murder, genocide, lobotomy, etc) then give a content warning to everyone before you begin your speech. A good rule of thumb is that if it isn't something you should speak in front of a sheltered elementary schooler, it probably requires a content warning. Better safe than sorry.

-IF OFFLINE TOURNEY: Turn on airplane mode, but I will allow you to turn it off if you need to reference a card requested in the debate. No evidence searching is allowed during debates. Keep in mind this rule can change based on tourney/state rules.

-IF ONLINE TOURNEY: tournament regulations come first before what I am about to state, but also I would like everyone to turn on their cameras and mute their mics when they are not speaking. Try to debate in a quiet place without a lot of people, if there is a person who is next to you once in a while it looks pretty suspicious. Also, no evidence searching online in the middle of tourney- evidence you have should be in paper, and if it is obvious you are searching up crap online while people are debating I will make a note of that.

-I will also be reading important evidence after the debate, so assume that the opponents' evidence are not fabricated during the debate even if they are really powerful or sound farfetched. For good measure, if you are sketchy about a certain piece of evidence that they used, let me know after I disclose the winner. If the evidence is found to be fabricated, I will ensure that action is taken, your tourney standings rectified and the fabricators of evidence punished to the fullest extent.

Those are my main PF paradigms. Have fun! :)

My background: I am a former CEDA debater (1987-89) and CEDA coach (1990-93) from East Tennessee State University. Upon my retirement in August 2021 I've judged numerous at numerous debate tournaments for PF, LD, IDPA, Parli, and Big Questions (mostly PF and LD). (FYI, when I participated in CEDA it was quasi-policy, not true policy like it is today.)

Speed: I can keep up with a quick-ish speed - enunciation is very important! Pre round I can do a "speed test" and let you know what I think of a participant's speech speed if anyone wants to. I was never a super speed debater and didn’t encourage my students to speed.

Theory: I am familiar with topicality and if other theory is introduced, I could probably understand it. (I also used to run hasty generalization but not sure if that’s still a thing or not.) Theory is best used when it’s pertinent to a round, not added for filler and needs to be well developed if I am expected to vote on it. If you are debating topicality on the neg you need to provide a counter definition and why I should prefer it to the aff.

The rounds: Racism/sexism etc. will not be tolerated. Rudeness isn’t appreciated either. I do not interject my own thoughts/opinions/judgements to make a decision, I only look at what is provided in the round itself. Re: criteria, I want to hear what the debaters bring forward and not have to come up with my own criteria to judge the round. My default criteria is cost/benefit analysis. I reserve the right to call in evidence. (Once I won a round that came down to a call for evidence, so, it can be important!) As far as overall judging, I always liked what my coach used to say – “write the ballot for me”. Debaters need to point out impacts and make solid, logical arguments. I appreciate good weighing but I will weigh the arguments that carried through to the end of the round more heavily than arguments that are not. Let me know what is important to vote on in your round and why. Sign posting/numbering arguments is appreciated and is VERY important to me; let me know where you plan to go at the top of your speech and also refer back to your roadmap as you go along.

Cross Examination: a good CX that advances the round is always valued. If someone asks a question, please don’t interrupt the debater answering the question. I don’t like to see a cross ex dominated by one side.

In most rounds I will keep back up speaking time and prep time.

I hope to see enjoyable and educational rounds. You will learn so many valuable skills being a debater! Good luck to all participants!

Quantifiable Impacts and please don't make statements in question form in Cross-X.

Give me voters in your final focus.

Hello! I'm Peri (she/her) and I debated for Mount Vernon HS in Washington doing LD for 3 years in high school. I am also a part-time, de-facto assistant coach for the Mount Vernon team, and I'm starting my own at the school I currently teach at-- I've never really left the debate community, so I know a bit of the norms and I know what's going on. I have my Bachelor's in International Studies focused on Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East and North Africa, and my Master's in International Relations (meaning I know more about the Middle East than the average person) Here is my email if you need it... periannakb@gmail.com

Congress:

A huge pet peeve of mine is 3...2..1 and my time starts on my first word. I wont start your timer until you start speaking. I promise.

Substance > Style

Don't rehash, bring up new points prevalent to the debate. I love to see refutation particularly after the first two speeches. Please, lets move on if we are just going to say the same thing over and over.

Every time you speak in a session, it gives me more reasons to rank you at the end of the round. Fight to give those speeches and use questions! Don't let any of that direct questioning time go to waste!!!

LD:

A huge pet peeve of mine is 3...2..1 and my time starts on my first word. I wont start your timer until you start speaking. I promise.

I did traditional LD in high school. I am a traditional LD judge. You can run some arguments but disguise them as more traditional and focus on that style to keep me a happy judge. Take that into account. Don't spread I won't understand. Explain your arguments clearly and you'll be fine. No Meta-Ethics or trix.

Side note: Please make sure you are educated on the 2024 Jan/Feb LD topic... I don't want to hear arguments that are factually untrue, and I'm excited for well-informed debates that get into the depths of this subject! I've written articles on this topic that you could use as a card-- I know it well.

PF:

A huge pet peeve of mine is 3...2..1 and my time starts on my first word. I wont start your timer until you start speaking. I promise.

I'm judging more and more pufo these days. I like clear, well organized constructives. Don't just read everything one note. I appreciate that public forum is supposed to be different than LD and Policy. Keep it that way.

Random framework arguments about the intent of the topic aren't going to work for me. If things change in the status quo, you need to be prepared to discuss them.

My paradigm in judging would be I'm okay with any style in debating and do not have a specific preference in this part, I believe that every manner is still worth to be appreciated as long as the speech is still comprehensive.

However, I see debating as an critical thinking prowess. I appreciate debaters that put front logical flow/structural flow in order to espouse their points, as opposed to simply dump data and statistic to support such points.

So things like Likelihood/Exclusivity of Harm/Benefits for example, is a line of logic I'd deeply appreciate.

In judging a debate, I weigh the claims by whether it supported by two kinds of reasoning: 1. why the claim is true, and 2. why this claim is important in the debate. "Claims" applies to both constructive arguments and rebuttals, as I will weigh them side by side in clashes in my flow later. Also, providing examples or research findings doesn't necessarily means your claim is true; you have to explain which part of the example/research that can be applied to the argument, to explain why that example important to the debate as a whole.

Policy

I'm okay with anything as long as you know what youre talking about

Run an untopical aff, run a plan, advocacy or no advocacy, run a k do whatever you want as long as you know what youre running and are prepared to win on theory/t. Make sure you can explain it to me bc im not gonna vote on something i dont understand and also dont assume I know your authors.

If you go for T or Theory you have to explain how it actually hurts you in the world of debate- don't just read a shell/shadow extend it. I want you to do a line by line on your standards and voters or I won't vote for it. Also if you read disclosure theory that's an isntant loss and no speaks. Sorry you're rich boohoo.

If you're gonna run a BS CP like a PIC or a consult you best have a DA and not just an INB.

Dont go for multiple world advocacies in the 2nr. pick one- you can run multiple advocacies throughout the round- but only go for one

If u go for theory, that better be the only thing u go for or i wont vote on it

LD/Pufo

more impacts based and please do weighing the last speech- i will defer to FW

Run whatever cases you want just signpost well and extend them clearly.

ellisonroycroft@gmail.com

Hey I'm Kathy!

junior at mercer island hs, 5x TOC bid, currently ranked #11 nationally for LD

email: shao.kathy.2@gmail.com

novice LD:

I mainly debate LD and know janfeb and march/april topic lit

General things that are cool to do:

- Signpost where you're refuting

- make sure to extend your voters!!!!!! ie if you want to go for and win on an argument, briefly mention and explain what it is in your speeches

- if you're reading different fws, engage them or collapse

- Weigh! your! voters!! especially explain why they matter more than your opp's

- time yourselves and if it goes off try to speedy it up bc we can hear when your timer goes

overall I'm pretty much good to evaluate anything so debate what you want!

*note for novice- if you wanna run progressive args or spread or whatever, feel free to go for it but please research the position first make sure your opponent is fine with it!

pf

generally the same as the LD paradigm minus stuff about fw, etc

also engage your warrants w your opponents, especially if you're running the same arguments!

tech>truth

larp , t --- 1

tricks --- 2

k, phil, k-affs --- 3

email: harrison.tangyt@gmail.com

fine with spreading, slow on tags

In Public Forum Debate, I will prioritize the students' capability in creating further analysis in regards to the facts and materials that they deliver during their speeches. Giving away facts is cool but letting people know the step-by-step process as to how the facts are materialized is even cooler. Rebuttals and responses are better to not be one-liner or "they say-we say" debate, a deeper reason to prove why your opponents are wrong will be more credited. I expect a debate where students are able to cite factual and scientific resources such as journals and papers which has gone through scientific methods and researches rather than newspaper or website, although I wouldn't penalize you just because you cite them because they may also provide important facts and information. The team that wins, would be a team that can provide more tangible examples and facts that may be impactful to us in the future.

about:

im new to judging (but ive done debate for a while dont worry) AND im indecisive so like be patient w me

add me to the email chain if there is one: evidawei@gmail.com

i strongly strongly dislike racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. people

i strongly strongly dislike people who make snarky comments and mean faces

i strongly strongly dislike people who enjoy introducing themselves before the speech - just start

i <3 analogies

speeches and args (pufo):

i dont flow cx so bring up bad cx answers in ur next speech

dont go more than 10 sec ot

dont concede arguments

dont just extend evidence names cause i wont know what ur talking about

dont run theories, ks, or cps its pufo man

dont copy your partners speech verbatim in ur next speech

pretty please with a cherry on top weigh & impact calc

if u dont frontline that is a red flag

speed:

be loud be clear enunciate and not TOO fast

speaks:

me personally i dislike judges who give low speaks bc it hurts my feelings so i give high-ish speaks

bonus points-

+0.5 speaks if u have cool socks or cool shoes

+0.5 speaks if u correctly tell me which is better: apple juice or orange juice

I am okay with speed but don't go too fast

I weigh on the arguments that are strong and get cleanly extended

I won't weigh on some shady arguments without good evidence backing them up

Please state your taglines for each contention clearly.

I don't flow crossfire, so make sure you mention all your points/ideas during your speeches

I'll give extra points if u shut down your opponents but not in a bad/rude way