SMNW
2022 — Shawnee, KS/US
Novice Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show Hideput me on the email chain!!!!! (before round starts preferably) -- greta.smsdebate@gmail.com
she/her -- fourth year @ Shawnee Mission South
tldr: i am a policy bro that reads Ks on the neg. i will vote for anything, don't be racist or transphobic
good things:
- clash
- line by line
- impact calc!!!
- extending past arguments
bad things
- rudeness
- reading cards that don't serve a purpose
- not understanding your argument
shawnee mission south '24 (❤️)
if u read anything but a k... you will be voted down immediately.
they/them
Email chain or speechdrop both work! tarynday55@gmail.com
I've done policy debate for 4 years and LD for 3 years at Shawnee Mission Northwest
If you are using your phone to time and have a fun ringtone I will be happy! This means nothing except it will bring me joy no boost in speaks or anything
I won't accept any homophobic, transphobic, sexist, racist, etc. comments or arguments.
Don't be outright rude, this will make my heart go
tl;dr--
-I'll pretty much listen to any type of argument but like DA/CP combos and one off Ks.
-I don't mind speed and/or spreading but just make sure you're clear and slow down for tags/analytics. Although this doesn't really matter since I'm probably judging novices.
-don't say your opponent dropped an argument when they didn't.
-in your last rebuttals tell me why you should win
-whatever type of CX you want is fine
-roadmaps!
-please flow, I see way too many debaters not flow and it makes me sad
T--
I like T and will vote on it but make sure to tell me why I'm voting on it. Running T on a case that is clearly topical is something you should do at your own risk as it will take a lot for me to vote on it. It will subsequently not take a lot for me to vote on a case that is clearly not topical. You need an interpretation and to extend it, a violation, standards, and voters, if you don't have those parts, I will not vote on T.
DAs--
I like DAs and think they are underrated in debate. I <3 DAs with specific links to the aff plan but generic links are okay too as almost all DAs are non-unique this year. Always always when you are running a DA tell me why the impact of the DA outweighs the impact of the aff. It's not a DA if you don't have uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact. If the other team points out your DA doesn't have those parts and explains why that matters, I will not vote on it. If you are aff, I love to see link/impact turns. Defense arguments are fine and have their place but I'm way more likely to vote aff if you have some offense on the DA.
CPs--
For me, CPs should do a two things 1) not link to any DA you are running (unless it's condo of course) 2) provide a net benefit to the aff. A third thing that will also make me happy is if your CP is mutually exclusive. That way I don't have to sit through a perm debate. If your CP does neither of those two things I will probably vote for aff on a perm as there's no compelling reason to vote neg.
Ks--
I enjoy Ks if they are done well. I am someone who runs a policy aff but loved running one off Ks on neg. If you are going to run a K, make sure you understand it. If you misrepresent a K I am familiar with (liberal militarism, FEM IR, imperialism, capitalism, etc.) I will make a frowny face. I will vote on Ks, you just have to make sure you are extending links and impacts. These are often underrated. If you are aff against a K you should always weigh the impacts of the aff vs the alt. In turn, if you want to win on a K, make sure to tell me why either you win on weighing the impact of the aff vs the alt or give me framing to judge the debate in a different way. I don't think you need an alt to win on a K, just give me a compelling reason why you don't need one.
Overall, this is supposed to be a fun and educational activity, let's keep it that way.
Feel free to ask questions! :)
Hello all, my name is Maddie (she/her). Add me to the email chain: madeline.doyle0628@gmail.com
-Feel free to contact me with questions about the round, I am more than happy to give more in-depth feedback. I think post-rounding is incredibly beneficial, just try not to argue w me bc then I will be annoyed :(.
I debated for 3 years in high school, mostly on the DCI/TOC level. You can go fast in front of me, I don't care just make sure you're clear. I WILL clear you if you are not.
TL:DR:
-I'm very tech over truth but arguments must be warranted. I went for cc good a lot my senior year if that tells you anything.
-I am down to hear any type of argument. I just love clash, so prioritize clashing with your opponents.
-I'd like to see more judge instruction, I don't see this enough.
-I will default to policymaking, if you want different, you have to tell me.
ATTENTION: I will flow... You can't just lie to me about dropped args.
Flow: Off-time roadmaps please, for ALL speeches! Tell me the order you want me to flow in. Try and keep the flow relatively clean, although I know this can be hard. If you decide to skip around I might be salty, but I won't vote you down for it. Just signpost and let me know what you are responding to.
Args: DO NOT drop a crucial argument, especially if you're aff. I presume neg. I am fine with anything that you run, but if you run a squirrelly aff and can't answer the opponent's arg, you will lose. Be able to answer T.
CPs:I will vote on any CP. I'm pretty good with competition debates just make sure you give clear warrants. Be prepared to answer condo if you run like 3 CPs.
Topicality: I love T. I think that when done well it serves its purpose. I need competition from both sides on this. Make sure you are specific with your impacts to T, don't just give me some internal links and say that's an impact, I see this too much.Side note- I think that the topic this year has great T ground for most of the novice affs, so if you haven't considered running it, I would give it a try sometime.
Ks: As someone who hits Ks frequently, I am very familiar with lots of literature bases. It never hurts to explain the thesis of the K and the theory of power tho. Your alt can be something funny, but you have to make it make sense and give it some sort of solvency. I will judge kick the alt. I'm comfortable voting on just FW.
Theory: I think theory debates are fine. I like condo but also debate is competitive so I normally err neg on condo bc I think it provides the best ground. Make sure you have heavy analysis of your theory argument because I want to know that you understand what you are running. Disclo theory is fine, but try not to make this your main arg (unless the aff is genuinely very squirrelly, then I understand). I will vote on most theory arguments if they are presented well enough.
--> Disclosure: I have a slight hesitation voting for disclosure in novice rounds because y'all have to stick to the packet, so most people will be running generics. If you're at an off-packet tourn this doesn't matter to you- I will vote on disclo if you can do the work on the impacts.
Speed: I'm fine with speed. It looks bad if you are spreading and you end your speech early- I will dock speech points. If you choose to spread, please make a point to send me your evidence through an email chain (or speechdrop); I will not be able to keep up with you otherwise. Slow down for tags if you choose to spread, I will dock you speaker points if you don't. Also- if your opponents don't want you to spread, please don't. I want to make the debate space as friendly as possible, and that starts with basic kindness and consideration.
Being mean is a voter :)
Don't forget to have fun!
Qualifications: I am a 4th year debater and I am highly active in debate and forensics. I have qualified for nationals 3 times in different forms of debate
Judging style:
- I will flow, so I know when you drop arguments, please do not say a team dropped an argument when you know they did not. (It is my biggest pet- peeve.)
- I will follow well so it is extremely important- even if you don't have evidence- give analyticals!! Well thought out and explained analyticals can be very helpful. I think it is very important for an educational debate, that serves a purpose to understand what you are talking about.
- use cross ex wisely.
- As for on- case arguments, solvency is so important, if you can prove the affirmative cannot solve for everything they say they solve for, you win.
- Too many people get caught up in topicality, it is the biggest time waster in a round so do not drop it- but do not waste your time.
- For off- case arguments DAs and CPs (in my opinions) are the most productive use of your time.
- Theory debate gets a thumbs up
- I also will not tolerate any kind of sexism, racism, or homophobia- I will immediately vote to the other team regardless of how good your arguments are, and I will report it to the tournament director. No one should feel like debate is not a safe place for all to express themselves and be educational.
- Good luck and have fun, debate is very important to the education of our youth and I am happy to judge!
asra june --- she/her
3rd year varsity/dci debater at shawnee mission south
add me to the chain: asrajune.debate@gmail.com
novices:
be kind above anything else. to be transparent, i am 1000x less likely to vote for you if you're mean and belittling to the other team. novice debate is about learning the activity before anything else, there is quite literally nothing at stake. being good at novice debate doesn't give you a pass to insult two random freshmen you just met. this doesn't mean don't have swag, you should be confident in your arguments, just don't be mean.
speed is fine, just be clear.
im good w/ any argument. as much as "tech>truth" means basically nothing in this context, its the way i'll evaluate the debate. remember, truth informs tech, the less true (and warranted!) an argument is the less tech you need to beat it. i'll attempt to evaluate the debate w/ as little bias as possible, using offense/defense to determine who wins as default unless given a reason to evaluate the debate otherwise. I've done both policy and k debate, and i've been debating long enough where i'll know what you're talking about. I'm more than comfortable evaluating these debates at a novice level. that being said,
arguments need warrants. i cannot emphasize this enough. even if they dropped an important argument, you still have the burden of explaining the argument w/ warrants, and impacting out why that matters for other parts of the debate. identify what you're winning, and why that means i vote for you. doing this will win you 99% of novice debates. bonus points if you can identify what the other team is winning, and why them winning that argument doesn't matter.
do line by line. most novice debates end up a card reading contest, without making arguments about why those cards respond to the other teams argument. don't do this. you should clash with the other teams arguments! flowing in a novice debate, and using your flow to answer arguments/cards the other team reads (use what you have flowed to directly respond, i.e in a "they say [argument], no, we say [argument]" format during your speech) will win you 99% of these debates in front of me. just remember to warrant out why your argument is true. the flow is how i decide debates, so using your flow to debate aligns the way you debate with how i decide debates.
orders/roadmaps should organize my flow. the order/roadmap is not "first impact calc, and then summarizing the whole debate", because i don't have seperate flows for those things. 1NC order should always be the # of off case, and then the advantages. beyond that, the order should instead be which advantages you'll be on, and which off case arguments you'll be on. i.e "the order is the IRS DA, the States CP, then advantage one, and advantage two". if you're aff, case comes first always. if you're neg, off case should come first. offense before defense.
any questions? please ask. i'm here to help you learn, so if anything here is confusing, or doesn't make sense, just ask me. do keep in mind that my feedback will be in the context of national circuit debate, because thats what i do. if you want more lay feedback, i can give it to you, but i'm likely not paying too close attention to the things lay judges care about. i know debate can be anxiety-inducing, but we're all just here to help you learn this fantastic activity. policy debate is the hardest style of debate, and is incredibly hard to learn for everyone, you all are doing great!
Hi! I am Ravnoor and I'm a debater at SMNW. I have been debating for 4 years, so I know quite a bit about policy debate. Therefore, I am quite familiar with the resolution and arguments run this year. Do not be afraid to run different types of arguments, but do make sure you don't kick them halfway through. Please make sure you are respectful while you are in the room. If you are disrespectful in any sort of way, you will be losing speaker points, and there's a solid chance I will vote against the disrespectful team. Please make sure your arguments are listed clearly, for I would like to be in your speechdrop.
Neg-
I love on case clash, so it'd be nice if you have some.
T-
I'm a fan of T. If the aff isn't topical or can't prove themselves topical, T goes to the negative team.
CP-
Make sure if you're running a CP, you clearly differentiate the Aff plan and the CP. If your CP sounds more like the aff plan than not, I might as well vote aff on perm if they run one.
Cross ex:
Please utilize your time and ask as many questions as you can, if not, at least take the time as an advantage to further clarify your case. Also, be respectful!
K-
I'm personally not a huge fan of Ks but I will not vote against it if run carefully.
Speed-
Spreading is not a huge issue if I have your evidence and if you are emphasizing your arguments clearly.
Flow-
Make sure you are flowing as a debater in the round, it will help you keep track of arguments. I will be flowing and will be voting on flow.
Impact Calc-
I love impact calc and if you go ahead with it. that's a plus.
Overall, make sure to be respectful in the round and have fun!
Hi my name is Madison Kujawa, i'm a senior at Shawnee Mission South and this is my fourth year in debate
Pronouns (she/her)
Call me Madison instead of judge
Heres my email in case you have questions later: Mkujawa05@gmail.com
Basic things: Speech drop or email chain is good, I prefer speech drop but whatever works, do not steal prep, flows are good, do them right, don't say they dropped something when they didn't I will also be flowing. Most importantly do not be mean to the other team, any racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or any form of hate to the other team will not be tolerated and will result in loss of the debate and I will be talking to coach's.
actual debate stuff:
DA: Yes love them
CP: Yes love them
T: Yes if explained well
aff: do whatever just explain why its important
K: i'm not super familiar but if explained well I see no problem with it
Please explain to me why I should vote for you provide analytics/impact calc
If any thing above is unclear or need more clarification on something please ask:)
I debated in the 1980s. While I maintained the "stock issues" paradigm for a decade or so after that, I have become more progressive. Twenty-four years of coaching have demanded it.
My coaching resume:
4 years KCK-Washington High School (UDL debate)
10 years Shawnee Mission North
12 years Shawnee Mission West
1 semester Palo Alto High School/California circuit
What I do not like:
DISRESPECT OF ANY KIND . . . check your sarcastic tone, your eye rolls, and your bad attitude at the door. Be a good person.
provocative language (especially slurs; I know people use them in real life, but I do not need to hear them in a debate round to be "woke")
super fast spreading (I need slower tags, and I need you to slow down if I clear you)
theory debate
extensive counterplan debates; keep it simple
What I like:
topic-centered debate
real-world application
K debates where things are explained to me in a way to make me feel morally obligated to decide correctly
strong 2NR and 2AR . . .my favorite speeches!
people who are kind but assertive
Honestly, I tend to be old-fashioned in that I like a debate round with a good solid case that is argued. I will listen to counter plans and DAs but they do need to be applicable to the case.
I do not mind some speed but I still like there to be some emphasis on speaking skills and presentation.
I will vote on Topicality if it truly is applicable but make sure you are doing T instead of significance.
I have voted for K before but it needs to be good, applicable and succinct.
Be polite, logical and please do not change history.... For example don't say something such as World War II was the only world war. Doesn't the two imply a one?
If you have questions, ask. I always forget something.
Abigail Quick---she/her---abigailquick06@gmail.com
I am a varsity debater at Shawnee Mission Northwest high school (SMNW). I’ve judged before, and have experience in a variety of arguments/strategies. However, I do not have experience with this year's topic.
The gist: run what you want, how you want. Be kind. Add me to the email chain.
I do not tolerate any kind of hate speech within the round. If you or your partner partake in outright hate speech, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. I may vote against you out of pure principle. At the very least, your speaks will reflect my dislike. Even if you are not participating in any of the many -isms and -phobias, if you are unnecessarily rude during the round, your speaks will also reflect that.
I am fine with speed. If you want to spread, you better be coherent. Don’t sacrifice clarity for cards and we should be good.
-If you want to up your speaker points, body language and eye contact are key!
I enjoy good case debate with lots of clash. Education is the biggest impact in a round.
I believe debate is an educational game, but it's important to remember that we're all people and that things in the round can affect us outside of the round. Enjoy yourselves. Tell jokes, I like jokes.
The specifics:
Theory: I love theory, but not when it’s a block-reading contest. I will vote on theory, but I need warrants and I tend to lean toward “reject the arg, not the team”--there are very few things that could convince me to reject the team.
Condo: I tend to lean toward conditionality being good, except when the neg runs like 8 off in the 1NC. In that case, I will probably vote aff on a well-argued condo bad stance in the 2AR as well as an explanation on why deep debating on your aff is good and how the neg prevents that.
Dispo: No one knows what this is, including me.
Severance/Intrinsic: I lean pretty heavily toward severance perms being bad, but it's the aff's burden to prove me wrong. I don't have a great understanding of intrinsic perms so I can definitely be swayed either way.
Topicality: I like good T debates, I dislike bad T debates. Clash and fairness are not impacts, they are internal links to education. Warrant out your impacts.
Competing interpretations! Don't say "we meet" just to say it, tell me how you meet their interp and why that's beneficial to your side. Explain to me what debate looks like under your model and why that’s better.
T is definitely a lot stronger when you actually believe their aff isn't topical. It's an argument made to protect the negative side, it's not an argument meant to be run for a free win.
Kritiks: Assume I am not familiar with your literature. I run a K aff with my partner and we typically run a K on neg, that doesn't mean running a K is an auto-vote from me.
I am more likely to vote for you if you have an alternative. Explain your links and impacts well. I don't like generic links on Ks and if your link debate is shallow I will likely err aff on the K.
If you do not tell me how I should evaluate the K, I will default to weighing the aff v the alt. If you're good with that, impacting things out is beneficial to both sides. If you don't like that, make a compelling framework argument. PLEASE give me a role of the judge. If you don't give me one, I can't guarantee I will be evaluating the debate the way you want me to. I enjoy a good framework debate, though winning framework is not a guaranteed win, it will most certainly make winning the rest of your args easier.
I suppose in a way FIAT is illusory, but I also believe that arguing about hypothetical policy action is good. You've got to convince me either way.
If you have questions about what Ks I am at least somewhat familiar with and what Ks I am not, feel free to ask before round.
Counterplans: Repeat after me: CPs MUST BE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, or at least I believe it is the neg burden to prove that. I don’t enjoy perm debates, they’re kinda dull to me and I don’t think they add to the round especially when theory gets into it. I would much rather see some good turns from the aff than a block from 2013 about how severance perms are good. That being said though, if the CP is not proven to be mutually exclusive by the neg, I will vote on the perm. Delay counterplans are probably cheating but I guess that's up to you to prove to me they're not.
Disadvantages: Uniqueness, link, internal link, impact--without one, it is not a DA. High probability, less detrimental impacts > shouting extinction every four seconds to get a ballot. Timeframe, magnitude, probability--bonus points if you explain these without using the words “timeframe,” “magnitude,” & “probability”
I can't vote on a non-unique DA, but it is the burden of the aff to show that the DA is not unique.
K affs:
Aff: I do believe it is the burden of the aff to at the very least interact with the resolution. If you are rejecting the resolution entirely, for whatever reason, it is your burden to show me that rejection counts as interaction and that you have a well-developed, warranted reason to reject it.
My partner and I run a K aff, this by no means translates to "I am well-researched on and thoroughly understand all of your literature, therefore you don't have to explain anything." If you are running a K aff in front of me, it is probably going to be better for you to overexplain than underexplain.
I also need specific analysis on why your model and the education produced from debating under your model is good and why my aff ballot means that model is affirmed and is key.
Neg: Run T if you want, or don't. I'm probably willing to vote on some specific TVAs as long as the rest of your T arg is cohesive and compelling.
Interact with the aff!! You stand very little chance of winning in front of me if you basically ignore the 1AC.
Other shenanigans:
Death good: Do not run this. This needs no further explanation.
Speaks: Someone has to get the 1, someone has to get the 4. It’s not personal.
If you didn't convince me, you didn't convince me.
Have fun debaters!
My name is Parker Richmond and I am a 4th year debater. I am the Captain of the SM West Debate Team.
Put me in the email chain if you have one: kentaro.richmond@gmail.com
I also highly recommend SpeechDrop as a way to share your speeches quickly and this is something I really prefer as a judge.
---
Topicality: I will ALWAYS VOTE ON T if you can argue it properly and win. That being said, this does not mean I think you should run it every round, especially if 1. you can't explain your definition or why they are untopical, 2. your definition is really bad, or 3. you can't explain what the aff being untopical does (why it is bad for debate). Topicality must have an interpretation, violation, standard, and voters. If you can do all these things, I will be slightly more likely to vote in favor of you depending on the aff answer. If the aff answer is good however, and they are able to persuade me more on either why their definition is better for debate/why they meet, then you should probably just spend the rest of your time on the neg developing your other arguments.
DA: The bread and butter of neg offense, Disadvantages need to have a clear uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact scenario. Essentially, you have to prove that there is something in the status quo that the aff plan changes, which leads me to some problem that we would not see absent the plan. The more specific the link the better, I am more likely to vote on a DA with a more specific link. I think impact calc is a very persuasive argument, especially if you can prove that your impact outweighs the opposing teams.
CP: Must be mutually exclusive with the plan (can't do both.) It is the burden of the neg to prove that you cannot do both. I will not vote on a CP with no net benefit (no reason to prefer.) Generally, this will be that your CP does not link to a DA you read, or it solves better (assuming you read solvency arguments against the aff plan.) Don't think there needs to be too much said here, prove that CP is better than plan for me to vote on it.
Aff: I think a very big mistake alot of novice teams make is not answering the arguments made by the other teams. This is something that is very common, and happens alot when learning how to debate, but is a very important part of debate. If you can successfully answer what your opponent says, and what you say that answers it, then you will be in a very good spot to win the round at the novice level. This goes both ways, for both the aff and the neg. I will vote on any impact, but if there is absolutely no reason for me to prefer one or the other. I will vote on both kinds of impacts, including real world impacts (police brutality) and big stick impacts (warming causes extinction.) Again, if you can explain to me why your impact is better, that plays a big part in my decision making. I don't believe that any one solvency arg completely negates solvency, unless you convince me that it is such a big issue that they can't solve. Rather, I view solvency as comparing how much less the aff plan can't solve, and if that is enough for me to not see the advantages being solved.
K: An argument I do not usually run as a debater and have not dealt with extensively, but as long as you explain it well to me and can prove you understand it, I will consider/vote on it, but I personally don't like K affs very much. I do prefer a K with a clear alt or solvency mechanism.
Summary: I will judge you based on the evidence you provide, as well as reasons to vote for you. I see judging as weighing arguments on either side is made, as well as speakers telling me why certain arguments should be preferred over their opponent's arguments. Being a human, I have my own opinion, but also being a debater, I know how annoying it is to have judges to say "I vote for whatever team because I believe what they said," even if they did not have any other arguments, and you were 100% winning. So, I try to be as neutral as possible.
Overall, I think that a big part of debate is a good balance of reading evidence, and being able to explain what it is that you just read, as well as why it is important. Being able to do that is the foundation of being successful in debate. I think another big thing that should happen is learning how to fill speech time, especially in the rebuttals. I understand that it is not always easy to fill up all your time, but even if it means repeating everything you just said three times, that is still better than ending your speech 50 seconds in.
A really easy way to fill time is to answer and refute your opponents arguments, especially with direct evidence that you read from previous speeches. Even if it is not a very good or convincing argument, it goes a long way. There is a very good chance that if you have are able to respond to every argument that the opponent throws at you, whether by analytics or evidence cards (which you should still extend/explain with analytics), then you will likely win the round. RESPOND TO EVERYTHING!
Also, if you are disrespectful or straight-up insulting, you will definitely automatically lose the round.
YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY WIN THE ROUND IF YOU CAN ANSWER THIS QUESTION: why do they call it water when you protect the cold water of out hot save the water
I am a high school teacher and a lay judge.
When I'm judging, I appreciate a slower pace; spend more time explaining your thoughts to me instead of trying to cram multiple ideas into a set time limit.
It's important to me that debaters treat each other with respect.
I've had Ks explained to me, but I am not compelled to vote on them.
Hi! Im Fern Schrotberger (she/her). I have been doing debate and forensics for three years.
My email is 3082737@smsd.org if you could please add me to any speech drop or email chain.
Disclosure
Add me to the chain - jackshaw.debate@gmail.com
Please include the name of the tournament, the teams debating, and the round number in the header of the email.
Email chain > Speechdrop > File share > Google Drive > Flashdrive > Paper >>>>> "We don't disclose"
About Me
Shawnee Mission South 2022, University of Kansas 2026
Pronouns are He/Him/His, but I'm comfortable with any.
I have experience in policy debate on both the Kansas and national circuits as well as LD debate, IX, and IMP2 on the Kansas circuit.
TLDR
Do what you want*. Win the debate from a technical standpoint on the flow to win the debate.
*I will not vote on outright problematic args like racism good, homophobia good, abelism good, etc. and "suffering is inevitable so we should all end ourselves".
If you have any questions about anything in my paradigm or otherwise my thoughts about debate, feel free to ask me.
Judging Philosophy
I will vote on anything* you tell me to using an offense-defense paradigm.
An argument is comprised of a claim and at least one supporting warrant. For me to evaluate and argument, and for you to win an argument, it needs more than just an assertion without backing.
Tech informs truth every time. Truth has value but technically winning an argument comes first and is the most objective way to evaluate a debate.
Absent a procedural reason for judge intervention, I will evaluate the debate starting with key framing issues and judge instruction, then often the impact level and impact comparison, then the rest of each side's extended arguments carried through their last rebuttals.
I evaluate the round while being a blank of a slate as possible. While I do have opinions about debate and arguments, I have no real overwhelming ideological predispositions or biases, so don't stress about conforming to whatever you perceive my style to be.
I will evaluate evidence the way it is spun in the round first. I will read over relevant and especially flagged evidence before my final evaluation. If you think it is pertinent, ask me if I want a card doc. I probably will.
There’s no need to call me judge. Call me whatever you see fit instead; just “Jack” is fine. Or just avoid personally addressing me.
If I'm not reacting to what you say with any emotion, it's because I'm trying not to, as I want to evaluate arguments as a spectator without being a distraction or a real-time influence on what is being said.
Procedural Notes
Both teams should disclose a reasonable period before the round. I will not hesitate to vote on properly executed disclosure theory.
Academic ethics violations are bad. To avoid this becoming an issue, be clear where you mark cards and be ready to send a marked copy if it is requested of you.
You can insert perm texts and short rehighlightings, but read your rehighlighting if it's more than a few words.
Speak as fast as you want so long as you are clear. I’ll give two "clear"s if you are not clear. If the problem continues after that, I'll flow what I catch and miss what I don't.
Sending analytics is cool and can boost speaks.
Time yourselves, including CX and prep.
I don’t really care what you do with your CX time; I think of it like a speech that I mostly don't flow. Asking your opponents questions is good and can help speaks and ethos, but if you want to use CX as prep time, I won't stop you.
I always default to open CX, but I am fine if all of the competitors agree to closed.
Speed is good and preferred if you can read clearly and if there is no ability-based opposition in the round, but you'll be better off speaking in a style you are comfortable in front of me with rather than one you are not, especially for rounds with a tricky panel.
Speaks will reflect the quality of debating done, though difficulty of the tournament's pool will scale all of my point assignments. I am open to using speaker points as objects to be discussed in the round as a form of solvency or praxis if you can win it, but I lean towards using the ballot, including speaks, as I see fit rather than as praxis for debaters.
If I can give an oral RFD, I will. I will be as efficient and direct as possible and will share the reason for my decision as well as broad comments for both sides with more specific comments being left to the ballot, as I respect the competitors' time. With that being said, I am always open to questions and can elaborate as much as time allows me to. Feel free to email me after round if you have any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, etc.
Online Debate
If my camera isn't on, assume I'm not there unless I say otherwise.
Please turn your cameras on if you are able and feel comfortable doing so.
I understand and empathize with tech issues, so just keep us updated as best you can on resolving them as they arise. If a tournament has tech time allotted, let us know clearly (if possible) if/when you need to use it.
I will likely have some good headphones to listen to you with, but I may still miss something if you cut out or are inaudible, so play it on the safe side and prioritize clarity over speed.
Mute if you aren’t speaking, especially if there’s background noise. We all should be able to hear the speaker as best as possible without external distractions.
Case
I like to know what I’m voting for, so be clear about what signing my ballot for you entails and affirms.
You don't need a plan to have an advocacy, but you should at least have an advocacy.
Kritiks
I'm partial to letting the aff at least weigh their impacts on FW.
As with evaluating an aff's advocacy, make sure you tell me what I’m voting for when I vote neg for the alt, whether that be “reject the aff” or a fundamentally new model of society or anything in between or beyond.
Arguments centered around identity should appropriately reflect the debaters advocating for them. I am all good with those arguments in a vacuum and by no means would I force someone to justify their identity, but this is something to keep in mind when making that personal and strategic choice in front of me.
Disadvantages
Intrensicness is bad and my threshold for voting for this argument is very high.
Counterplans
All counterplans will be evaluated as legitimate until the aff wins otherwise.
Judge kick is good when applicable. If the neg can win that condo is good, I will default to judge-kicking a counterplan unless the aff can win otherwise. However, if a counterplan is in the 2NR, I will flip presumption to the aff unless the neg can win otherwise.
Topicality
I default to competing interps.
RVIs aren’t real at least for affs with plans.
On the question of framework / T USFG, I consider myself somewhat aff-leaning, but I won't hack for the aff by any means.
Theory
My reject the team threshold is high but my reject arg threshold is lower.
Don't spread through your analytics at max speed if you want me to catch them.
I generally like to flow non-arg-specific theory like condo on a separate flow to keep it clean, so make sure to note where theory is on your roadmaps.
PerfCon is oftentimes more of an internal link to condo than an independent voter, but I guess I can vote on it if you want me to.
For an ethics violation, I need to have clear and definitive proof of the abuse occurring as well as a clear willingness to stake the round on it before I can consider pulling the trigger. However, at the point at which abuse has clearly occurred, I am partial to dropping the team. If I agree with the violation, then the violating team gets dropped with minimum speaks and the other team gets max speaks. If I do not agree with the violation, it's the inverse.
Lincoln-Douglas
Traditional > Kritikal > Philosophy > Theory > Tricks
I debate on the Kansas circuit, so I've really only been exposed to conservative/traditional LD, though I am confident in my ability to adapt based on my policy knowledge.
I default to organizing the debate by flowing definitions and burdens, values, criterions, aff contentions, and neg contentions on their own respective pages.
Definitions > Value > Criterion > Contentions
Email: debate.swafford@gmail.com
Experience: Competed in HS (policy debate only), current Shawnee Mission West Speech and Debate assistant coach
Pronouns: He/Him
Non-Policy Notes:
LD: I'm open to just about anything in LD, but I do tend to expect a traditional values debate. If you want to get real philosophical or fun with it, that's fine, just explain your stuff. See if you can glean anything from my policy notes, but as long as you aren't a jerk you're going to be fine. I will always view high school debate as an educational activity - this means I value good, proper argumentation over everything. The basis or motivation of that argumentation is totally up to you.
PF: I straight up just weigh contentions. My ballot will list my decision on each contention and how much I weigh it in the context of the round. Fully winning a single impactful contention will sway my vote more than winning a bunch of less important ones. I don't love having more than 3 or 4 contentions, less is always more. Please don't be chaotic during grand crossfire, some of y'all need to chill.
Policy Notes:
Don't be rude or condescending to me or your opponent. Don't use problematic language. Be nice, have fun, live, laugh, love.
I fundamentally believe this to be an educational activity more than a competitive one, so I tend to lean truth over tech. I'm big on communication skills and proper argumentation. Logical fallacies, bad-faith arguments, lack of warrants, and blatant misuse of data or statistics (I teach math) make me sad. I will almost always prioritize probability when weighing impacts. Clear analysis is key. I always follow along in docs, but will not be doing any additional reading - I've gotten more and more comfortable doing less and less work in a round. If you expect me to re-read something in order for you to win the round, don't expect to win the round. (I was never really good at debate, you definitely don't want me to debate for you.)
I'm fine with speed (like 8/10) with appropriate signposting and a clear structure. If you spread through absolutely everything and I can't reasonably comprehend something, I won't vote on it. You have to be OK with that tradeoff. Judge instruction and having good rebuttals can make up for this. I'm not the judge for you if you're just trying to win by out-speeding your opponent. I'm also not the best judge for a highly technical round - I don't have a lot of high level varsity experience and can struggle with processing all the jargon when going fast (think closer to 6/10 on speed for heavy theory). I find theory debates boring at best and inscrutable at worst. If we are going to go down that path, the team that can actually explain why I should care (in plain language) will get my ballot. The good news is, other than that, I really don't have any opinion on what you run. I think it's important for judges to be willing to listen to anything.
Assume I know nothing when reading philosophy, because I likely know very little about whoever you are talking about. I'm comfortable with most standard kritiks, but I don't read (or generally care) about philosophy, so you'll need to help me out there. I do enjoy a good K debate. You do you! All this said, don't be performative. Really think about what you are saying. Running a K just to win a debate, oftentimes, is high-key problematic and can tank your chances in a round.
Things I find annoying:
- Wasting time with tech issues (speech drop, email, computer, etc.); always have a back-up plan. In the words of the poet T.A. Swift, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."
- Interrupting your opponent during cross ex and then later saying they didn't answer your question.
- Overuse of jargon or abbreviations. Until something is clearly established in a round, I don't want to hear a slang term. Be better communicators.
- No attempt to offer a roadmap, signposts, or any semblance of structure to your speeches.
- Just reading card after card after card without actually saying anything substantive.
- No clash in a round. What are we even doing here?
- Bad rebuttals. At least outline why I should vote for you. I'm lazy, write my RFD for me. Give me some specific cards I should reference in my decision.
- Stealing prep time. You can't "stop prep" and then spend 5 minutes uploading a document. If you are truly that bad at technology, you need to go old school and be a paper debater.
- Don't roll your eyes at the other team, that's such an unnecessarily mean thing to do and being mean is loser behavior.
- Extinction/nuke war outweighing on magnitude is nothing if you can't definitively prove probability. It's hard to do that, of course, so maybe you should all stop escalating everything all of the time and have a reasonable debate instead.
- One thing I think about a lot: all you varsity kids spend so much time pouring over each other's stuff, you can't get mad at judges who miss something when we only get ONE shot to follow arguments live. Debate isn't my life and I'm going to miss stuff. I promise you I will give you my full attention, but you have to have realistic expectations.
- Asking for feedback from me after a round; it'll be on the ballot. (I need time to process my thoughts and don't want to say something mean/unhelpful to you on the spot). If I feel like there is something necessary to immediately share, I will. I will usually update my RFD/notes throughout the tournament, so check back at the end for the most detailed feedback. (Note: if the tournament is doing verbal RFD's, feel free to ask questions, don't expect eloquent answers though.)
- Trying to shake my hand (I'm sure you're nice, but, gross).
TL/DR:
- be nice, truth over tech, clear analytics, explain your kritiks, rebuttals are key, don't shake my hand
I've evolved as a judge which has unfortunately been interpreted as I'm inconsistent or unpredictable. As an assistant coach I understand that creates frustration, which I want to avoid, so if there is anything below that is not 100% clear, please ask me prior to the round. I would much rather have a brief discussion and give you some sense of understanding my thought process than you walk away from the round thinking you don't know what you could have done to win my ballot. I assure you, there have been people who have asked and learned how I evaluate, and those individuals found me to be consistent even if it wasn't always in their favor (though it often was).
Let's start with the foundation. Once upon a time I would give myself the label of "games player" because I appreciated good strategy. I still evaluate if I think a team is being strategic or clever, but I am strongly TRUTH OVER TECH. If you tell me that the Sun revolves around the Earth, and your opposition does not respond, that DOES NOT mean I accept something that is not true. I think it is especially critical in an environment of "fake news" or "relative facts" that we champion the truth above spin. So you will find that if your argument is only theoretically plausible, it is going to be much less persuasive than if you stick to simple truths.
This leads me to two conclusions you should be able to draw about how I evaluate a round. 1st, magnitude does NOT overwhelm probability. In fact magnitude rarely plays any part in my decision. I have listened to the same authors for 25+ years predict the next war will be over water or food or that we're all going to starve or that terrorists are moments away from having nuclear weapons. Empirically all of these authors are wrong. The have no credibility with me. Which means I give zero weight to an impact that I have zero probability of believing it will happen. You hear judges say all the time that they are tired of nuke war impacts. You want to know why? Because I have lived my entire life with the doomsday clock at least 7 minutes to midnight. The "experts" have cried wolf for far to long to be believed. The only chance you have to win on magnitude is if you extend very detailed warrants about why this time is different and the facts your author has looked at to draw the conclusions. If you don't know what facts the author looked at, don't bother.
2nd, links and link stories matter much more than uniqueness. I believe students like to debate uniqueness because it is easy. It is eacy to try to find evidence about the current state of the world. What is hard is predicting the consequences of taking any action. This is why solvency and link turns on case are extremely effective as well as indicting internal links on a D.A. to make it go away. I will assign 0% solvency or 0% risk of a link so defense can make an entire flow seemingly go away. This is especially apparent on politics scenarios! Pundits who try to predict elections or votes on legislation are less accurate than the weatherman! I will not assume that just because the Affirmative plan is topical that it will lead to any consequence other than the ones that are by fiat. I have listened to debaters who were incredibly informed on specific congressional leaders and how certain pieces of legislation are being used as a political football, and those debaters were persuasive. If you just aren't that debater, there is no shame in that, but you will find your politics scenario just isn't persuasive.
Let's shift gears and talk a little about topicality. Here is my single belief: the affirmative team must affirm the resolution. When I write affirmative on the ballot that means the affirmative team has successfully convinced me the resolution is true. The affirmative plan is an example of the possible reasons the resolution is true. The affirmative doesn't have to prove all instances of the resolution are true, but at least the affirmative plan should be adopted and if the affirmative plan is an example what could be under the resolution, then the resolution is true. This view of the resolution is nearly non-negotiable (we'll talk about K's in a minute). This means the affirmative plan is a proof of the resolution or it isn't. Period. I don't evaluate if it is fair because that is subjective. There will be an interpretation that I either believe or don't believe, it is always all or nothing. When it comes to competing interpretations, I will walk into the round with an interpretation in my mind (no one is a blank slate) and that will be my default. I can be persuaded that there is a different interpretation, but the reason must be more compelling than an appeal to emotion and warranted in facts. I will admit, topicality is the one place that I will suspend the truth until it is argued. There are countless rounds in which the foundation of an affirmative plan hasn't been established, it isn't prima facia topical, and I don't get to pull the trigger because the negative is silent. That frustrates me because I don't get to vote on what I see is the truth. That doesn't mean run topicality no matter what, because you hurt your credibility by running the wrong violation or running it to run it. It's not a strategic time suck. Both the affirmative and negative need to ask themselves if they would vote on if the affirmative is topical and make their best case. It probably goes without saying, but I believe the plan text must be topical, not the solvency of the plan. I believe the plan text must be sufficient to justify the resolution. If you need to do something in addition to the resolution to show the plan should be adopted, then you have shown the resolution should not be affirmed because it is insufficient.
I said I'd talk about K's, so lets get it over with. For years I said I didn't like them or worst wouldn't even listen to them. I'm much more open minded now, but here is the truth. You have 26 minutes to convince me of some philosophical position that I might not agree with. That is ridiculously hard when I've studied most of these positions for entire semesters, or life long, and have true biases. Flat out, I believe in Capitalism. I've studied Marx, and I happily participate in a Capitalist society. I have voted on Cap Bad because the round called for it, but my default is Cap Good. I could go through several popular K's, but you get the point. You will either 1. have to get lucky and preach to the choir on something I already believe or 2. knock me off my preconceived notion about the world. That's either luck or quite difficult. And I will caveat all of this with one big factor. If you are making a social criticism, you better walk the walk. You cannot be a hypocrite. If you performatively contradict your position, your link to the K will be far stronger than anything you say for your opponents because you should have known better. For example if you say animal suffering is always immoral and you are wearing leather shoes, you better be able to prove the cow died of natural causes! I LOVE to vote against the team who presents a K and link back into it. Speaking of K links, I will not assume the K links, you need to have a story (see my take on D.A.'s). And your alt must actually solve (see my take on solvency).
From K's to their cousins the CP. I am old and still believe that a counterplan must be an opportunity cost to the affirmative plan. We can't do the CP and the Aff (mutually exclusive) and the CP is better than the Aff (competitive) so we should do the CP instead of the affirmative. Futhermore the CP must be non-topical or else the affirmative gets to simply say the counterplan is one more example of why the resolution is true. See, the affirmative could present 2 or more plans to prove the resolution is a good idea. They don't do that because it puts them more at risk because they must advocate for everything they present, but they can just freely have the CP if the CP is topical. This is a strong belief of mine so theory to tell me otherwise is not persuasive. This isn't to say PIC's are off limits, it just means the PIC must be extra topical (see my take on why extra T doesn't justify the resolution). There are plenty of strategic CP's that work with this paradigm, but ultimately it needs to be an opportunity cost to the affirmative. CP's can be permed, thus they are not mutually exclusive and therefor not an opportunity cost to the affirmative plan. A CP can link to a D.A. so it isn't competitive. I appreciate counterplans and their usage, but they need to be that opportunity cost to the resolution.
The rest of theory type stuff is a coin flip and situational. I've voted on condo good and bad. I'm willing to pull the trigger on something, but you need to explain it and warrant it. I don't fill in the gaps for blips.
To be clear, I don't fill in anything. Just saying a couple of key words like "perm do both" or "pull the impacts" may not be sufficient. If I understood what you said earlier, perhaps, but I'm not going to insert what I think you mean by shouting out debate jargon. This leads to the overused question of speed. This is a verbal activity. I almost never read cards because I want to evaluate what I heard. If I hear the warrants in a card, great. If I'm not able to process the warrants then all you've done is make a claim in your tag. Speed is very rarely the issue, it is a matter of clarity. And it is unusually pretty obvious if I've given up on flowing. The only time I usually ask for evidence is when I personally am questioning myself on what I heard and I think it is my fault I'm unsure. As far as I'm concerned the authors are there to lend credibility, you are making the arguments, so I'm not going to evaluate what your author said, I'm going to evaluate what you said. If you author lacks credibility, you might as well just say things in your own words. Which honestly is often not a bad thing. I think debaters are way too dependent on quoting an author and treating it like a fact. If your author makes a claim but doesn't warrant it, just because they are an author doesn't make it true. This is more common in K debates where quoting a philosopher is treated like an absolute truth, but it can happen anywhere in the debate. Again, I want the truth over tech, so facts with logical analysis will outweigh a card in most situations.
Finally, I am human. I am biased. I have emotions. Why is this relevant? Because my bias and my emotions can make somethings seem more persuasive than others. Your credibility matters. If you destroy your credibility, you might say you won on the flow, but I'm not believing you so what is on the flow carries no weight. Treating your opponents poorly lowers your credibility. "Put away your impact defense, my card beats them all" is insulting because it shows that you care more about what your opponents think about how cool you are than persuading me that your argument is actually sound. Tag team cross ex tells me through your actions that "I don't trust my partner. My partner is stupid so I'll speak out of turn. What I have to say is more important." That is pretty damning to your partners credibility and frankly makes you a jerk. Prompting arguments says the same thing. Prompting "slower" shows you are trying to assist with something they might not realize in the moment but giving an argument and having them parrot it word for word so it "counts" is about the worst ways to attempt to persuade me. If you cause logistical issues such as being late to the round because what your assistant coach had to say was more important than my time, or stealing prep time while you fiddle with your computer, or take significant time to pass evidence, all of these things I notice and leaves an impression on me. You might be shocked by this, but humans like to reward people they like and punish those they don't like. That isn't to say I'll immediately vote against you because you rearranged the entire room so you could plug in your laptop, but it makes your job harder if I'm rooting against you. Just don't give me a reason to want to vote against you and we'll be fine.
Oh, and I don't shake hands. I'm not as adverse as Howie Mandel, but I prefer not to physically touch strangers. I just don't see any reason to do it. I know you respect me as a human and I respect you as a human without our hands touching.
Mitch Wagenheim
4 years debated in HS, assistant coaching since 2015. Last updated September 2022
If we’re still doing email chains, I’d prefer to be on them: mwagenheim@outlook.com
Overview:
My basic paradigm is that I will vote on almost anything so long as you win the argument and demonstrate that argument is sufficient to win the round. I used to be more of a policymaker judge but have become less attached to that framing. I firmly believe in tech over truth within the scope of the round. The only exceptions to this are arguments or types of discourse that seek to exclude people from the activity (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.) If your arguments fall into the above categories, you will lose my ballot regardless of anything else on the flow. I am wiling to vote on almost anything. What follows are my general views on arguments and I can be convinced otherwise on any of them.
Specifics:
- For theory arguments, you need to specify a compelling reason to reject the team. Saying “reject the team, not the argument” is not actually an argument.
- Topicality is often an underdeveloped argument in rounds I’ve seen.
- If you are running a K aff, it should have something to do with the resolution. It doesn’t need to be topical in the same way a policy aff does, but there should be a clear reason why it’s directly relevant to the topic. If you don’t want to engage the topic for whatever reason, you’ll need some strong framing why.
- I can generally follow the theory of your K, but make sure to clearly articulate your arguments and don’t just read blocks. Your alt needs to be supported by the literature base and somehow mutually exclusive with the affirmative. ROB/ROJ arguments are extremely helpful.
- In terms of familiarity with critical arguments/authors I’m pretty conversant in Fem/Fem IR/Security/Foucault/Heidegger as well as the basic Cap/Imperialism/etc. arguments. Topics like Afropessimism/Queer IR or less common authors (Baudrillard for example) I can generally follow, but am less knowledgable about.
- DAs should have a clear link story and generic disads generally don’t hold much strategic value.
- Smart analytics are just as valuable as cards.
- Clarity is substantially more important than speed. If you are unclear, I’ll give you a warning if you’re unclear but it’s up to you to make sure you are communicating. If I miss something because you’re unclear, that argument won’t be considered.
Overall, do what you are comfortable with as best as you can. Don’t let my preferences discourage you from running your strategy.