Hey everyone! I'm a senior at Midtown High School in Atlanta, GA, and have experience in both Policy and PF. I'm a pretty traditional judge and mainly want to see good persuasion and a direct clash with the other team's ideas throughout the round.

General Preferences

1. I'm generally Tech > Truth, but if something by the opposing team is dropped, you need to tell me that and explain why that matters for the round.
2. Signposting is hard, but please try your best to do it. I can understand pretty fast speaking, but don't spread.
3. Please time yourselves. I give some leniency on speeches but I won't flow past about 7 seconds after time.
4. Collapsing in the summary and FF is fine, but you need to briefly defend your argument if the other team runs a turn.
5. The second rebuttal speaker should frontline (defend against the opponent's attacks on their case in the first rebuttal). If the second rebuttal speaker does not frontline, then the opponent has to bring this up in the proceeding speech and explain its implications for the round.
6. Throughout the round, you should try to extend your warrants, especially in the summary speeches. It doesn't need to be long, but just enough so that I understand the basis behind your claim.
7. I don't flow crossfire but rather watch it to help me determine speaker points. If something important is said, I strongly encourage you to bring it up in your proceeding speech(es).
8. Weighing in summary and final focus is super important. At the end of the round, if I buy the links to both sides' impacts, I will generally look to which side weighed the impacts better to determine the winner. I like it when people weigh using the acronym MRT (Magnitude-Risk-Timeframe).
9. Be respectful to your opponents. Shake hands after.
10. Have fun!!

Parent Judge. Excited & ready! Notes about my judging style.

• I vote off of substance, not uniqueness.
• Flow judge: please signpost and give an off-time roadmap(for my sake).
• Details are a plus

Here are a few things I like to see in the debate:

1. PLEASE don't speak too fast. If you do, don't expect me to get all your arguments

2. Overall, be kind and have fun

Good luck, and may the best team win!

TL;DR

tech>truth, defense is not sticky

good w substance and theory, explain other prog well (tricks are ok)

I will end the round immediately if you are remotely offensive and give you L20s.

SUBSTANCE

If you don't send docs for case with cards, speaks are capped at 28.

How to win:

Win the weighing debate and win the argument that outweighs. Whatever argument is weighed best, I look there first. Without any weighing, I will vote on path of least resistance.

FL in 2nd rebuttal, New DAs/OVs in 2nd rebuttal are fine but will have a lower threshold for response in summary. +.5 speaks for sending doc.

Defense is not sticky. The more weighing, the merrier. Collapsing is usually good but you do you.

I enjoy very fast-paced debates. Unlike some judges, I don't at all believe PF has to be "accessible and slow." If you are in varsity/open and you have me as a judge, go super fast and I will probably like you as long as you send docs.

I presume the team that lost flip unless told otherwise,

PROGRESSIVE

Good with theory, default competing interps and no RVIs.

I have no bias when it comes to theory (I will not say "they read disclosure so auto up").

If you make me evaluate under reasonability, I will probably be sad, but it is what it is.

Any other arguments like K's, tricks, etc. are fair game but require more explanation. I'm familiar with basic K structure but don't really have much knowledge of the lit. Slow down on tags for K debate.

Hiding a trick in your speech is actually ok as long as it's in the speech doc.

Contact:

Email Cayman1@gmail.com if you have questions. If the questions are about a specific flow, please mention the round/flight/tournament.  Please don't try to reach me via any social media you find me on; I'm not likely to check them in a time-sensitive situation at a tournament.

Online Judging:

Unless tournament rules say otherwise or both teams are sending actual speech docs over SpeechDrop, everyone needs to be on the Email chain. I'll still read evidence sparingly unless asked to, but it's important that everyone is on the chain to verify what evidence gets sent when (and that it was sent to all participants instead of accidentally choosing 'reply' vs 'reply all'.) Because these rules and norms are relatively new and still in flux, I'm inclined by default to drop the card and not the team if one side can't fully/correctly comply with an evidence request.

I probably won't be looking at Campus/Cloud/Zoom very much during speeches. My ballot/comments, timer, flow, and any relevant evidence are already competing for screen space.

Since automated flips are time-sensitive and inflexible, if you have any questions for me that may influence how you flip, I'll try to get into the virtual competition room early with time to spare. If you're in the room and don't see me there, Email me. Normally, I try to avoid answering questions about specific hypotheticals where one team can hear me and the other can't, but I'll make an exception under this ruleset if one team needs to know before their coin flip timer expires and then I'll make an effort to fill the other team in as similarly as I can before the round starts. Also before the round starts, I'll verbally confirm who won the flip and which choice each side made, in case it becomes relevant to mid-round arguments.

However fast y'all think you can go without sacrificing clarity is modified by both your microphone and your opponents' speakers. I'll let you know if you're unclear to me; if your opponents are unclear to you, either clarify in cross or err on the side of asking for more evidence from the last speech.

If you're waiting for a card to start prep, please don't mute yourselves until prep starts. Prep starts when the requested cards (if any) arrive in the Email chain (or when debaters are obviously prepping) and stops when someone from the prepping team un-mutes and says to stop prep. If your opponents gave you the wrong card, I'll reset prep to where it was when you started, but if you just want to ask for more cards, please do so all at once rather than constantly trying to pause and un-pause prep.

Should you feel compelled to run a theory argument, please make sure that the interpretation and standards take the current online format into account.

If y'all want to ask your opponents clarifying questions during your own prep time, you're welcome to do so, but it's up to them whether to answer.

Cross can get especially messy when feedback and dueling microphones are involved. Please be mindful of the technical issues that talking over each other can cause and interrupt sparingly.

Background:

• Policy and LD since 1998
• Parli and PF since 2002
• WSDC and WUDC since 2009
• Big Questions since it became a non-meme event*
• Coach for Howard County, MD teams (Atholton, Centennial, Marriotts Ridge, Mt Hebron, Oakland Mills, River Hill, etc.) 2007-2020
• Capitol Debate camps & travel team from 2008-2013
• James Logan Forensics Institute from 2012-2013
• SNFI Public Forum 2010-2019
• Bethesda Chevy Chase 2019-2022

J-V, NCFLs, NJFL, Round Robins, etc.:

• If I'm judging you in a format where you don't get prefs or strikes and judge assignments are random, it's more my job to adapt to you than your job to adapt to me. Issues with stylistic choices or execution are more likely to find their way into the ballot comments than into the speaker points.
• Do what you do best; don't second-guess yourselves and do what you think I want to hear if it's not what you're good at.
• Don't take your norms for granted. If you and your opponent have different ideas of what debate should be or how it should be evaluated, tell me why the way that you do it is superior, the same way you would with any other argument.
• If you have a panel, do what you have to do to win the panel. If the easiest way to win is to pick up the two lay parent-judges sitting on either side of me and doodling on their ballots while trying to look attentive, so be it. I won't hold panel adaptation against teams. Making me feel engaged and useful is not why you're here.
• Some leagues ban disclosure. Some leagues ban verbal feedback. Those rules are bad for education and bad for debate. If you have questions about your round, find me after the round and we'll talk about what happened.

Evidence:

• I don't like calling for cards. If I do, it's either because of a factual/ethical dispute between teams about what the author actually says, because the round had a total absence of weighing outside of the quoted impact cards, or for educational reasons that aren't going to affect my RFD. How teams spin the cards matters, as does how well teams seem to know their cards.
• I assume ignorance over malfeasance. If you think the other team is being unethical, be able to prove it. Otherwise, correct/educate them by going after the evidence or citation instead of the people.
• Smart analytics beat un-smart cards every time.
• If you haven't read the article or chapter or study that your evidence is quoting, you probably shouldn't be using that evidence yet. When I'm evaluating impacts, it does you no favors to add a second sub-level of probability where I have to wonder "But do they know that the evidence actually says that? If so, did they make X argument on purpose?"
• Saying the word "Extend" is not extending evidence. You're extending arguments, not authors, which means there should be some explanation and some development. Repetition is not argumentation.
• If you're using digital evidence, it's your responsibility to be able to show the other team. It is not your opponents' responsibility to own laptops or to bring you a flash drive. I'm fine with teams using Email to share evidence - with the notable caveat that if I catch you using internet access to do anything outside tournament rules, your coach and the tab room are both going to hear about it. "Can I Email this so I don't risk getting viruses on my USB?" is a reasonable question most of the time. "Can I get on Messenger so my assistant coaches can type up theory extensions for me?" is NOT an acceptable interpretation of that question.
• Prep stops when you stop working with the evidence: either when the flash drive leaves the computer or when you send the Email and stop typing or when you stand up with the evidence in hand.

Speed:

• I care more about clarity than speed. If I can't understand you, I'll let you know.
• If you can't understand your opponents, let them know in CX/CF/Prep. Deliberately maintaining an incomprehensible speed to stop your opponents from refuting arguments they can't comprehend is probably not a winning strategy especially in Parli and PF, where speech documents and wikis don't check.
• Quality > quantity. "Spreading" isn't some arbitrary brightline of WPM; it's when you're talking faster than you can think. Doesn't matter which event. Don't get discouraged just because your opponents are faster than you.

Event-specific stuff:

• CX:
• Check the judge philosophies Wiki.
• If your strategy relies on preffing only judges like me and then telling other teams they can't read their arguments in front of the judges that you've preffed, then please rethink your strategy.
• I've coached and run a wide variety of arguments. One of the easiest ways to lose my ballot is to be dogmatic and assume that because I've coached it, I like it, or that I think it's intrinsically true. If you have guessed an argument that I actually enjoy running and/or believe in, that still doesn't mean you'll be held to a lower standard on it.
• With the (hopefully obvious) exception of status theory, I'd prefer to be able to reject the argument instead of the team. You probably want to hedge your bets by telling me how the round changes if the argument is(n't) rejected.
• Kick your own arguments; don't leave it up to me to decide what should or shouldn't be kicked unless you're actually ok with either option.
• L-D:
• The majority of L-D I've judged in recent years has been fairly traditional/local; it's probably the event I judge least at bid tournaments on the national circuit, so it's probably best to treat me as a recovering policy judge.
• I try not to intervene on theory. If you're winning it, I'll vote for it, even if doing so makes me feel dirty, as long as it's warranted/impacted/developed like any other winnable argument. That said, my theory norms have been largely calibrated by the arguments' CX analogues., so if you think there's something L-D specific I should be aware of (no 2NC's role in disclosure, the absence of a second CX when determining whether answers are binding/whether clarifications are sufficient, the difference between neg block and NR in creating side bias, etc.) be explicit about it.
• In-round discourse probably comes before theory, T/FW probably come before other theory.
• I'm not convinced there's such a thing as a "pre-standard" argument. An argument might operate on a higher level of standards than anything else currently in the round, or on a mutually conceded standard, but it still needs to be fully developed.
• PF:
• I strongly prefer for the second-speaking team to adapt their definitions/burdens in their initial speech and frontline in 2RB to create clash. I won't auto-drop you for using the 2RB the same as you would have the 1RB, but you're not doing your partner's 2SM any favors.
• Deliberate concessions early in the round can get you a long way. Just know and explain where and why they're strategic.
• Cite authors when possible. The university your author went to / was published by / taught at / is not your author. The way to get around a dearth of source diversity is to find more sources, not to find as many different ways as possible to cite the same source.
• Teams that start weighing in RB typically have an easier time getting my ballot than teams that just spit out a bunch of constructive arguments and wait for reductive speeches to weigh anything.
• CF should be focused on asking actual questions, not repeating speeches or fitting in arguments you didn't have time for. "Do you agree", "Isn't it true that", "How would you respond to", and "Are you aware" are rarely ingredients of genuine questions. Good CFs will clarify and focus the round by finding where common ground exists and where clash matters.  If you think something in CF matters, mention it in your team's next speech.  If you or your partner have no intention of referencing something in your next speech, 
• SM cannot go line-by-line in most rounds. There's literally not enough time. There are more and less technical ways of looking at the big picture, but you do need to look at the big picture.  My standards for SM coverage (especially 2SM) have increased since the speech length increased 50%, so spending the extra time on comparing warrants and weighing is probably better than re-ligitating the rebuttal
• GCF is a hard place to win the round but an easy place to lose the round. Make sure that you and your partner are presenting a unified front; make sure that you're investing time in places that deserve it, make sure that if you're trying to introduce something new-ish here that you tie it into what's already happened this round.
• FF shouldn't be a notable departure from SM. Offense matters, especially if you're speaking first.
• Parliamentary:
• Naming arguments is not the same as making arguments. I can't easily vote on something that you haven't demonstrated intellectual ownership of.
• My threshold for beating arguments is inversely proportional to the silliness of the argument.
• "but [authority figure] says X" is not an argument. Especially in an event where you can't directly quote said person. I don't want to know whether Paul Krugman says the economy is recovering. I don't want to know whether Nietzsche says suffering is valuable. I want to know why they are right. Your warrants are your own responsibility.
• Intelligently asking and taking POIs is a big factor in speaker points.
• Most rounds come down to how well the PMR answers the Opp block. If the Opp block was much better done than the MG, there might be no PMR that could answer well enough, but that's rare. Parli seems to have much more potential for teams that are behind to come back than most other events.
• I'm generally tech > truth. In Parli, however, depending on how common knowledge the topic is and whether internet prep is allowed, a little more truth can beat a lot more tech. Don't be afraid to stake the round on a question of fact if you're sure it's actually a question of fact.
• I should not have to say this, but given the current state of HS Parli, if I am confident a team is lying and I already intend to drop them for it, I may double-check the relevant fact online just to make 100% sure. This is not me "accessing the internet on behalf of" the team I'm voting for; this is me going the extra mile for the team that I was already intending to vote against anyway. Suggesting that the losing team should be given a win because I gave them a second chance before I signed my ballot is asinine.
• If you have a collection of 2 or 3 Ks that you read against every opponent, I don't think that aligns with the intention of the format, but I can certainly be convinced that fidelity to that intent is overrated. That said, you should make an extra effort to engage with your opponents and show how your criticism creates clash rather than sidesteps clash.
• Limited-Prep
• Extemp - Source diversity matters. I will look ev up online if it sounds sketchy. I do care that you give a direct answer to the actual question you drew, but not every question is written in a way that deserves a definite yes or no answer: if you don't, your speech should still contain elements of nuance and advocacy beyond "...well, yes and no" and should show me why all the simple answers would have been wrong.
• Impromptu - I don't have a strong preference for one structure over another, but some prompts lend themselves more to certain structures. Not everything needs to be forced into a 3x1 or a 2x2 if it doesn't fit the procrustean bill. Recycled anecdotes and tropes are somewhat inevitable, but canned speeches defeat the purpose of the event.
• Interp/Platforms/Congress
• How did you end up with me as a judge? I'm so sorry. You're probably sorry too. Someone probably desperately needed a judge to stop the tournament from running grossly overtime, and all the other potential volunteers either ran faster or hid better than I did. We'll both make it through this somehow. It'll be a learning experience.

I am a parent judge aligned with Regis High School in New York City. I have been judging debate for several years at some of the larger regional tournaments, states, and local tournaments, judging mainly Public Forum, rounded out with a BQ qualifier and BQ nationals. Parliamentary Debate is a new format for me.

I work in finance. I'm familiar with basic debate jargon (turn, extend, etc.) but I'm certainly not a very 'debatey' judge. For PF, off time roadmaps are welcome. Please be sure everything you say is understandable. Speed is okay but you must be clear. If I can't follow you it will be harder for me to understand connections between your contentions, warrants, and impacts or challenges to your opponent's arguments.

When time runs out, please finish your thought and stop speaking.

I will vote off the flow.

About Me:

Debater at Midtown High School in Ga. Experience in Both PF and Policy

• Time Yourself (I give some leniency on speeches and CX, but I'll stop flowing after about 10 secs past time)
• Weigh Impacts
• Extend Arguments if you want the judge to vote on them (Collapsing args in FF is ok)
• Have Fun

I realize this is a pretty bare bones paradigm (mostly because my approach to judging is fluid). I'll run you through some more detailed prefs before rounds. If you have any questions after the round, feel free to ask!

I am a parent judge. Please limit debate jargon; would seek a reasonable rate of speech and see lots of value in providing a road map. Be concise.

Former PF debater, but have been out of the circuit for a few years. Look to Jeff Miller's paradigm for more specifics on how I view rounds.

For policy, not big into k's unless they are extremely compelling.

I am a 4rd-year debater at Midtown High School and I have only judged and competed in Public Forum.

my email is jthuray@gmail.com if you have any questions after the round.....

I don't have any set rules but I do have some preferences:

1) Do not bring up any new arguments from summary onwards (new evidence, responses do not apply)

2) Although I do not flow crossfire I appreciate having lively discussions take place during it

Hi, my name is Abby Hyken and I’m a varsity debater for the Midtown HS debate team. I've competed in Public Forum for 4 years.

Preferences for PF:

• I like comparative weighing, so tell me what to vote off of. Put your impacts side by side and show me why yours are more significant.
• I can understand pretty fast speaking, but make sure you don't sacrifice clarity for speed.
• I won't flow cross, so if something important comes up make sure to mention it in your next speech.
• Time yourself, but don’t abuse this. I will still be paying attention.
• Excessively calling for cards is one of the most obnoxious things that can happen in a debate round. Call for a card if you really want it, but don't use it as an excuse to steal prep time.
• If your opponents drop something, bring it up, but only if they truly dropped it. I don’t like when teams fib about dropping arguments.
• I don’t really like or understand theory, but I still consider myself a tech>truth judge when it comes to traditional PF tech.

All other events:

• Never judged any other event before, so treat me as you would a lay judge.
• That being said, I obviously understand argumentation more than a parent judge, but I most likely won't be very familiar with your topic.

Seven lakes High School '21 | University of Texas at Dallas '24

contact: pkasibhatla4@gmail.com

Debate experience:

I mainly participated in PF debate throughout high school at both local and national tournaments

PF:

- I am a standard flow judge who evaluates tech over truth.

- Okay with any arguments along as they are not offensive, racist, homophobic, etc.

- I am fine with speed as long as everyone in the round can clearly hear the arguments. I do not like spreading.

- Evidence: Paraphrasing is fine as long as you don't blatantly misconstrued the evidence. When providing paraphrased evidence please give the specific line that you reference. Evidence ethics are important, call your opponents out for any misconstrued evidence, false claims or any lies.

- Speaker points: Speaker points are awarded based on strategy and obviously how well you speak. As mentioned above, I will dock both speaker points and drop you if you have bad evidence ethics. Moreover, i'll give bonus speaker points if the round is entertaining and respectful. Being rude and loud will only decrease your speaker points so don't do that

- Give a roadmap of the speech beforehand and signpost throughout the speech.

- To extend an argument you must extend the contention name, the name of the cards and more importantly what the card says. You can't just tell me to extend 'x card' without telling me why the card is important to both your argument and the round. Speaking of extensions, the round should flow from your constructive to the final focus. The second rebuttal should respond to all offensive arguments or I consider them as drops. First summary must extend arguments and defense if it's responded to in second rebuttal. I will more than likely be voting on both the cleanest argument.

- Weighing is great, the more you weigh throughout the round the easier it is for me to vote. Please start weighing during rebuttals. New weighing after second summary is too late and I will not evaluate that.

- Any arguments or concessions during Cross must be brought up in speeches.

- If you read a framework, read warrants. The Framework debate must include weighing.

- Final focus should have the same arguments as summary

Email me if you have any questions!

If you don't know what anything means please ask me before the round.

My email is varkmark0@gmail.com please add me to the email chain.

Tech > Truth UNLESS you say something racist, homophobic, sexist etc. If you do, you will be dropped.

If you have tech issues, a disability, etc feel free to email me for accommodations.

Please don't spread (I can handle speed but spreadings a no no), if you choose to do so, well that's on you.

I do not know how to evaluate K's or Theory. If you want to run them anyways, you've been warned.

Please signpost.

Have interactive weighing.

I'll buy a warranted analytic over an unwarranted card.

I won't call for evidence unless you ask me to in a speech or it is essential to the round.

Defense isn't sticky.

Please frontline in 2nd rebuttal, I consider 2nd summary too late.

No new stuff allowed in final speech, unless it's basic weighing.

My name is Max Moskovitz and I’m currently a Junior at Virginia Tech studying microbiology and biochemistry. I did debate for one year in high school and attended a few tournaments, but most of my time was spent focusing on Model United Nations club which I did for four years and was the co-president of. In Public Forum debate I like seeing intense scrutiny of opposing arguments during crossfire and both sides keeping debate lively and civil

I am a Theatre Teacher where all of the debate and public speaking classes fall under me. I mainly focus on Public Forum debates in my classes, but I am a flow judge and will listen intently. If I am your judge, you can expect the following in the debate room:

1. I expect respect and courtesy in the debate room. Disrespect, yelling, or belittling your opponent will not be allowed. You can be firm and defend your side without being rude or hateful. No eye rolling or disrespectful behavior will be tolerated. Keep a clean, poker face.

2. Speak clearly and at a good pace. You will have lost the round if I cannot understand what you're saying and am unable to write your arguments down. I am not as good at flowing very quickly.

3. I will give some encouragement and feedback in the room, but will post the results and detailed feedback on the ballot.

4. I like a logical and well-formed case with clear evidence. Public forum should be delivered with the general audience in mind (no experience). Make sure your arguments are clear, concise and have legitimate evidence.

Good luck debating.

danielaudreycole@gmail.com

daniel please, Not judge and definitely not sir

So who is this random guy?

POST JUDGING TWO CIRCUIT TOURNAMENTS THOUGHTS:

I don't know if I just did not care about it when I debated and judged regularly last year, or if there was some committee meeting where people decided just to toss evidence ethics completely out the window. It seems even worse than before. I saw a card that was tagged "Iran key for nuke war" then the card said in tiny unhighlighted font... "5 places where war could go nuclear." Authors, even at very credible websites write speculative pieces and opinion pieces that are being weaponized by debaters for cards with absolutely no regard to whether or not it is actually what the card says with context. Making something size 5 font does not make it go away if I catch anyone doing this... I will stop paying attention and drop you. No questions asked. I don't care if I'm the only one in the community that cares about this, if you can't be bothered to edit your case so it meets very high standards of evidence ethics, then PLEASE strike me.

Policy debater at Houston Memorial (2022), TFA, and NSDA Qualifier with a horrendous record at National Circuit tournaments- Arkansas 26(Not debating)

I judge mostly these days for fun, and far less than I used to. I cover sports in my spare time for sports illustrated, Slow down from top speed.

Speaker Points: 30s for all, call me lazy but I've got enough crap to do as a judge, I'm not sorting through the minutia of what the difference is between a 30 and 29,6...

There are two major exceptions to this rule:

1. Unnecessary showmanship and/or general rudeness... Don't spread if you don't have to... Don't run 7 off if you don't have to... Don't cut your opponent off in cross every question... you know the usual stuff...
2. Evidence ethics... This is DIFFERENT THAN MOST OTHER JUDGES... You should not highlight one sentence from the card and then make the rest of the text incredibly small to make the context of the card impossible to read. The general rule of thumb, is if the author of the article came in and listened to you read the card, would they feel comfortable with the way you have represented the card? If not, please recut..., I will drop your speaks to 27.5 without saying a word, your opponent does not even have to say anything (although if you stake the round on it, I am certainly willing to sign and deliver my ballot if you are correct). It won't change the rest of the debate, I won't even mention it in my RFD. Trust me, as someone who writes content that gets published online for a job, we do NOT write articles with debate in mind... cut them as such, do not cut a sentence out of an article, just because it is a fire link to your DA. (See longer rant above)

Pref Shortcuts(LD)-

LARP-1

(Real theory-Condo, T Violations vs LARP AFF, etc.) 1-2

Phil-3

K-4

Trix-The cereal is for 3-year-olds, and so is this kind of debate :)

This used to be a heck of a lot longer, I’m convinced that most of y’all didn’t read that disorganized mess. This is how you should think of me as a judge. A former policy debater that went strictly topic related T and Policy stuff and a few basic Ks. Slightly out of practice but judged 50+ circuit LD rounds last year.

Parent Judge.

I would appreciate it if you talk clearly and not too fast. Please do not spread, I need to be able to understand your facts. Would appreciate it if you could minimize the debate jargon. Also it would help if an off-time roadmap could be given. I'll listen to cross, but won't flow it. If anything happens during cross that you want me to consider in my ballot, mention it in a speech. Being assertive is good, being overly aggressive is not. Please do not throw cards at me without warranting them out.

Finally, as a public forum debater you should rely on both logic and evidence to construct your arguments.

Have Fun!