tl;dr for the tl;dr—be clear and be nice :)

tl;dr—I prefer framework and definition debate, but I'll judge all styles and do my best not to be swayed by personal preferences. Any racist/sexist/transphobic/etc arguments won't fly with me. Speed is fine but clarity is essential, this is not just cadence but clear signposting and stuff like spelling out claim/warrant/impact. Be aggressive if you want but don't be mean. Please don't drop contentions and please please please don't attempt to bring contentions back from the dead. I don't want to see your case because I want to judge solely based on what exists in the debate itself. Overall I'm pretty lazy, so make my job as judge as easy as possible by being clear and clean in the debate. Above all, be nice, this should be fun.

Timing—This is probably one of the few things people care about so I'll put it at the top. I'll keep official time, you can time yourself. If you go over time just finish your sentence or thought quickly. I reserve the right to revoke this privilege and if you keep on speaking for a long time e.g. 30 seconds after your time has run out I'll stop flowing it.

Framework—This is the standard by which the round will be judged. If you concede a Value of preserving nature and a Value Criterion of maximizing the number of birds of paradise in the world, I will only judge arguments based on the number of birds of paradise they create/protect, regardless of any other impact. I realize this opens the door for contradictions to my earlier point about making bigoted arguments, and I will resolve that at my discretion. I'm a big fan of novel frameworks and don't believe any framework to be inherently less useful/valuable unless positing that framework causes harm outside of the debate, namely to competitors, judges, and spectators. Argue for your framework, assume you have won the framework debate, and explain why your contentions mean your side is preferred under that framework.

Definitions—Definitions have 2 main functions: to provide clarity and to strengthen your framework argument/develop covert arguments for your framework. Definitions to provide clarity are very important for resolutions that don't deal with common topic areas. They're also useful in showing me how you think of an issue. However, the other type of definition is the real reason anyone cares about giving definitions at all. Definitions quite literally define the terms under which the debate will take place. In this way they are prior to even framework and in my opinion provide the (hopefully only) link between the real world and the world of the debate. If you have done well in establishing definitions you have literally created the world in which the debate takes place and I can judge the debate based on the rules of that world. I understand not every debate will have such a robust world but the closer I am to only ever using my discretion to choose the definitions I prefer, the better. You may notice that this means my personal opinions/biases/etc come into play more with definitions than any other aspect of the debate. There's unfortunately not much I can do about this. I generally won't prefer definitions from more "prestigious" sources necessarily except in the case of particularly egregious example e.g. The Heritage Foundation. The extent to which I value the "spirit of the resolution" affects how I choose definitions depends on context; I'll judge novice LD at a local tourney far differently than a debate on a national circuit. I will attempt to choose definitions for the round based upon the best arguments given for those definitions. Failing that, I will defer to my personal bias/opinion. Failing that,I will defer to the "value" of the sources of the given definitions (you will note that a.) any argument critiquing the ways in which we evaluate the prestige of institutions from which these definitions originate will bring us back to my first criterion for evaluating definitions, and b.) this means that I will not inherently prefer more obvious/simple definitions, you just have to have a better argument for the stuff that's really out there.)

Bigoted arguments—This is really murky and hard to sort out within the context of debate as play. Any arguments directly stating that a given marginalized group is somehow lesser will cause you to be voted down. Arguments that lead to negative outcomes that disproportionately impact certain marginalized groups e.g. colonialism are a bit more complicated. However, note that I will be biased against these arguments to begin with, and my burden of proof for striking them down will be lower, whether I am consciously aware of that fact. All an opponent needs to do is establish these arguments lead to harm for marginalized groups and I'll be inclined to flow that to the opponent's side. In fact, a debater could get cute and say that a framework under which such arguments are good is in fact an invalid framework. I think that'd be pretty rad tbh. You may notice that this seems to contradict some of my earlier statements about debate being its own world and me judging solely based on framework, and yea it does to an extent; however, even though the debate exists within a separate world the border between that world and our own is porous, with ideas, assumptions, and attitudes being carried both ways. (This is essentially the concept of the magic circle as it exists in game studies, which I'm inclined to disagree with generally but I think its basic ideas have some level of applicability here.)

Speed, Clarity, Case Sharing—I've combined these all into one subtopic since they go together to make the same point. I'm fine with speed of basically any level, but this requires clarity of speech. The faster you speak, the clearer you will need to be and the more helpful signposting and drawing emphasis to your main points is going to be. I also do not want anyone sharing their cases with me. I don't care if competitors share cases with each other but I am purely interested in judging based on the world of the debate that both competitors create. Not only does this give me an opportunity to see arguments that the competitors may have not even said aloud, it removes a burden from the competitor to make themself understood. If sharing your case with me helps resolve an accessibility issue, however, please let me know in person or by messaging me and we can figure something out. I will always rule on the side of inclusion over competition.

Dropping Contentions, Addressing arguments, etc.—I was tempted to put this in with the above subsection because this is all related to clarity but I think there is enough here to warrant a separate topic. Please don't drop contentions. I will not flow a dropped contention. If you drop a contention and attempt to revive it through divine intervention, necromancy, etc Istillwill not flow it. If your competitor drops a contention it is your responsibility to let me know, otherwise I will drop the argument entirely and it poofs out of existence. Note that you can drop contentions and still win the round and I am not inclined to give more inherent value to a dropped contention that flows through the round; however, an uncontested argument can have ripple effects through the debate. The conclusions of dropped arguments can have implications on other points still being argued. A quick explainer of what counts as dropping an argument to me: obviously, not addressing a contention at all in your speech counts as dropping it. Saying that you will get to the rest of your opponent's arguments in your next speech still counts as dropping them. Saying "cross apply my 1st contention to all my opponent's arguments" doesn't strictly count as dropping your opponent's arguments in my book but I do find it to be weaker than saying "cross apply my C1 to opponent's C1, cross apply my C1 to opponent's C2,..., cross apply my C1 to opponent's CN." All opponent has to do is find one part of their argument where cross applying your C1 doesn't work/make sense and suddenly you're in a world of hurt. To this point, please be clear about which arguments you are addressing at all times and address arguments individually whenever possible. Make sure your arguments tie back into framework. Claim, warrant, impact structure is a great way of doing that and I greatly appreciate it.

Meanness/Rudeness—This largely goes with everything said under the bigoted arguments section, but just generally don't be a jerk. Aggression is fine and almost expected and I quite like stuff like explaining to me why exactly you won, but there's a line between playing to win and being a jerk. Remember that your actions within a debate have real world consequences. If your opponent is much newer than you and is on the verge of tears, maybe dial it back a little bit. I know that acting above it all is a power move as a debater, but a) this will not work on me and b) I expect a certain level of respect and decorum toward everyone in the room. I'm not here to power trip, but if I'm at one of these tourneys I guarantee you I'm on no more than 4 hours of sleep and just want to be treated with the basic level of politeness you'd give to anyone else. This extends to everyone else as well. I've had some competitors do this thing where they say something along the lines of "you're much nicer/better/more understanding than other other judge, they were awful." Please don't badmouth judges. It doesn't make you look good and I don't care to be flattered at the expense of someone else. Just remember this is all for fun, people are sacrificing sleep, time, etc to be here, and how well you do won't matter in a few years. I cannot remember how well I did at any given tournament but I do remember the time a debater was really nasty toward one of my newer teammates.

PF—This paradigm is designed around LD although most of the concepts still apply to public forum. Main differences for public forum are that my own understanding of the issue/personal biases toward "common sense" are ever so slightly more impactful and I really would prefer you to sneak in framework telling me how to judge the round. Again, I'm lazy. Tell me how to evaluate arguments and tell me why you won.

I would like to see you present your argument clearly, concisely, and confidently, with evidence, data, facts, and good reasoning logic. Please explain any acronyms you might be using and avoid too much jargons. No spreading. And respect your opponent. Good luck!

All debate styles - I do not read shared files until the end if I need to refer to a piece of evidence. Debate is supposed to be understood not read. I do not mind speed but make sure it is enunciated and intelligible. Watch my body language, if you have any questions if I am understanding you....Head down and flowing your speech...I understand you. Watching you without a pen in my hand....you are not making any sense to me and I can not follow your arguments.

Policy (CX) - I am a stock issue judge. Focus on the stock issues and why the AFF does or does not satisfy them. Spreading is okay but make sure your arguments make sense. Do not start a bunch of arguments in the 1 NC just to drop most of them by 2 NC or the 1NR. There are very few times an extinction argument truly works. Do not run one just to run it. Most of the time, it makes the NEG look desperate.

Lincoln - Douglas (LD) - Focus on your value and value criterion. Be clear on why your value criterion is better than your opponent's or why you satisfy your opponent's value criterion better than they do.

Public Forum (PF) - While it is easy to have most everything prepared and ready before the round, do not forget to address your opponents' argument and point out where you are different and why your side is the better choice.

If you have further questions please ask me before the round starts.

Please do your best to state your definitions for the resolution. I've had it happen a couple of times where definitions weren't clear and it became messy. While I am okay with definition based debates, when it becomes exceedingly nit picky it can be a bit frustrating for everyone.

I'm okay with speaking fast/spreading to an extent. Just be sure you are speaking clearly and loudly enough that we can hear you. Please do your best not to mumble.

Ensure you are citing your evidence correctly in your speeches.

Notes on etiquette:

I will, without any hesitation, give you low points and drop your case if you are rude during and immediately following the debate.

A short list of some things I find rude:

Packing your things up before the last speaker is done

Laughing/talking while the other speaker is giving his speech

Throwing things at a competitor

Just generally being a bully and unprofessional.

*If you make it to finals and want your team members/friends to come watch and support you I'm okay with that. However, you will be penalized if your friends/team mates are disruptive and rude as well. This shouldn't need to be said but for some reason this has happened more than once.