1st and 2nd Year National Championships at Woodward Academy
2023 — Atlanta, GA/US
Policy Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideMy paradigm is extremely simple. Carpe Diem, a clean slate. This means that I judge each, and every round with only the information that is provided in given round. I was a Varsity Policy Debater for four years with qualifications to Nationals a couple of times. I understand all arguments, and flow everything provided in the round. Critical arguments are great, theory should only be used in certain circumstances, and if you can frame that it is the correct circumstances you will get my ballot. I consider the stock issues of policy debate to hold major weight throughout the debate as well.
23-24 updates: assume I have zero topic knowledge beyond a basic level, explain your niche crypto terms if you are using them
add me to the email chain - nva.debate@gmail.com
westminster '24
Carson Bates
My email is 23cbates@woodward.edu
I am a senior at Woodward, and this is my 4th year of debate.
My number one priority in a debate is that everyone is having fun and learning at least one thing.
Below that is being clear. Never sacrifice clarity for speed. I prefer teams that can win a debate on the substance of their arguments rather than by overwhelming the opponents.
Regarding which arguments I prefer, I have no bias. I always evaluate arguments even if I don't particularly enjoy going for them.
In CX, I am ok with pushing for a question, but that doesn't mean laughing or using harsh terms to get your point across.
I do believe that dropped arguments are inherently true if not answered by the opposing team, but if they are answered, I will evaluate them based on how well the debaters explain their evidence and contextualize it to their stance.
Lastly, Enjoy the debate!
Experience-This will be my fifth year as the head coach at Northview High School. Before moving to Georgia, I coached for 7 years at Marquette High in Milwaukee, WI.
Yes, add me to the email chain. My email is mcekanordebate@gmail.com
*As I have gained more coaching and judging experience, I find that I highly value teams who respect their opponents who might not have the same experience as them. This includes watching how you come across in CX, prep time, and your general comportment towards your opponent. In some local circuits, circuit-style policy debate is dwindling and we all have a responsibility to be respectful of the experience of everyone trying to be involved in policy debate.*
I recommend that you go to the bathroom and fill your water bottles before the debate rather than before a speech.
LD Folks please read the addendum at the end of my paradigm.
Meta-Level Strike Sheet Concerns
1. Debates are rarely won or lost on technical concessions or truth claims alone. In other words, I think the “tech vs. truth” distinction is a little silly. Technical concessions make it more complicated to win a debate, but rarely do they make wins impossible. Keeping your arguments closer to “truer” forms of an argument make it easier to overcome technical concessions because your arguments are easier to identify, and they’re more explicitly supported by your evidence (or at least should be). That being said, using truth alone as a metric of which of y’all to pick up incentivizes intervention and is not how I will evaluate the debate.
2. Evidence quality matters a bunch to me- it’s evidence that you have spent time and effort on your positions, it’s a way to determine the relative truth level of your claims, and it helps overcome some of the time constraints of the activity in a way that allows you to raise the level of complexity of your position in a shorter amount of time. I will read your evidence throughout the debate, especially if it is on a position with which I’m less familiar. I won’t vote on evidence comparison claims unless it becomes a question of the debate raised by either team, but I will think about how your evidence could have been used more effectively by the end of the debate. I enjoy rewarding teams for evidence quality.
3. Every debate could benefit from more comparative work particularly in terms of the relative quality of arguments/the interactions between arguments by the end of the round. Teams should ask "Why?", such as "If I win this argument, WHY is this important?", "If I lose this argument WHY does this matter?". Strategically explaining the implications of winning or losing an argument is the difference between being a middle of the road team and a team advancing to elims.
4. Some expectations for what should be present in arguments that seem to have disappeared in the last few years-
-For me to vote on a single argument, it must have a claim, warrant, impact, and impact comparison.
-A DA is not a full DA until a uniqueness, link, internal link and impact argument is presented.Too many teams are getting away with 2 card DA shells in the 1NC and then reading uniqueness walls in the block. I will generally allow for new 1AR answers.
Similarly, CP's should have a solvency advocate read in the 1NC. I'll be flexible on allowing 1AR arguments in a world where the aff makes an argument about the lack of a solvency advocate.
-Yes, terminal defense exists, however, I do not think that teams take enough advantage of this kind of argument in front of me. I will not always evaluate the round through a lens of offense-defense, but you still need to make arguments as to why I shouldn’t by at least explaining why your argument functions as terminal defense. Again this plays into evidence questions and the relative impacts of arguments claims made above.
Specifics
Case-Debates are won or lost in the case debate. By this, I mean that proving whether or not the aff successfully accesses all, some or none of the case advantages has implications on every flow of the debate and should be a fundamental question of most 2NRs and 2ARs. I think that blocks that are heavy in case defense or impact turns are incredibly advantageous for the neg because they enable you to win any CP (by proving the case defense as a response to the solvency deficit), K (see below) or DA (pretty obvious). I'm also more likely than others to write a presumption ballot or vote neg on inherency arguments. If the status quo solves your aff or you're not a big enough divergence, then you probably need to reconsider your approach to the topic.
Most affs can be divided into two categories: affs with a lot of impacts but poor internal links and affs with very solid internal links but questionable impacts. Acknowledging in which of these two categories the aff you are debating falls should shape how you approach the case debate. I find myself growing increasingly disappointed by negative teams that do not test weak affirmatives. Where's your internal link defense?? I also miss judging impact turn debates, but don't think that spark or wipeout are persuasive arguments. A high level de-dev debate or heg debate, on the other hand, love it.
DA-DAs are questions of probability. Your job as the aff team when debating a DA is to use your defensive arguments to question the probability of the internal links to the DA. Affirmative teams should take more advantage of terminal defense against disads. I'll probably also have a lower threshold for your theory arguments on the disad. Likewise, the neg should use turns case arguments as a reason why your DA calls into question the probability of the aff's internal links. Don't usually find "____ controls the direction of the link" arguments very persuasive. You need to warrant out that claim more if you're going to go for it. Make more rollback-style turns case arguments or more creative turns case arguments to lower the threshold for winning the debate on the disad alone.
CP-CP debates are about the relative weight of a solvency deficit versus the relative weight of the net benefit. The team that is more comparative when discussing the solvency level of these debates usually wins the debate. While, when it is a focus of the debate, I tend to err affirmative on questions of counterplan competiton, I have grown to be more persuaded by a well-executed counterplan strategy even if the counterplan is a process counterplan. The best counterplans have a solvency advocate who is, at least, specific to the topic, and, best, specific to the affirmative. I do not default to judge kicking the counterplan and will be easily persuaded by an affirmative argument about why I should not default to that kind of in-round conditionality. Not a huge fan of the NGA CP and I've voted three out of four times on intrinsic permutations against this counterplan so just be warned. Aff teams should take advantage of presumption arguments against the CP.
K-Used to have a bunch of thoughts spammed here that weren't too easy to navigate pre-round. I've left that section at the bottom of the paradigm for the historical record, but here's the cleaned up version:
What does the ballot do? What is the ballot absolutely incapable of doing? What does the ballot justify? No matter if you are on the aff or the neg, defending the topic or not, these are the kinds of questions that you need to answer by the end of the debate. As so much of K debating has become framework debates on the aff and the neg, I often find myself with a lot of floating pieces of offense that are not attached to a clear explanation of what a vote in either direction can/can't do.
T-Sitting through a bunch of framework debates has made me a better judge for topicality than I used to be. Comparative impact calculus alongside the use of strategic defensive arguments will make it easier for me to vote in a particular direction. Certain interps have a stronger internal link to limits claims and certain affs have better arguments for overlimiting. Being specific about what kind of offense you access, how it comes first, and the relative strength of your internal links in these debates will make it more likely that you win my ballot. I’m not a huge fan of tickytacky topicality claims but, if there’s substantial contestation in the literature, these can be good debates.
Theory- I debated on a team that engaged in a lot of theory debates in high school. There were multiple tournaments where most of our debates boiled down to theory questions, so I would like to think that I am a good judge for theory debates. I think that teams forget that theory debates are structured like a disadvantage. Again, comparative impact calculus is important to win my ballots in these debates. I will say that I tend to err aff on most theory questions. For example, I think that it is probably problematic for there to be more than one conditional advocacy in a round (and that it is equally problematic for your counter interpretation to be dispositionality) and I think that counterplans that compete off of certainty are bad for education and unfair to the aff. The biggest killer in a theory debate is when you just read down your blocks and don’t make specific claims. Debate like your
Notes for the Blue Key RR/Other LD Judging Obligations
Biggest shift for me in judging LD debates is the following: No tricks or intuitively false arguments. I'll vote on dropped arguments, but those arguments need a claim, data, warrant and an impact for me to vote on them. If I can't explain the argument back to you and the implications of that argument on the rest of the debate, I'm not voting for you.
I guess this wasn't clear enough the first time around- I don't flow off the document and your walls of framework and theory analytics are really hard to flow when you don't put any breaks in between them.
Similarly, phil debates are always difficult for me to analyze. I tend to think affirmative's should defend implementation particularly when the resolution specifies an actor. Outside of my general desire to see some debates about implementation, I don't have any kind of background in the phil literature bases and so will have a harder time picturing the implications of you winning specific arguments. If you want me to understand how your argumets interact, you will have to do a lot of explanation.
Theory debates- Yes, I said that I enjoy theory debates in my paradigm above and that is largely still true, but CX theory debates are a lot less technical than LD debates. I also think there are a lot of silly theory arguments in LD and I tend to have a higher threshold for those sorts of arguments. I also don't have much of a reference for norm setting in LD or what the norms actually are. Take that into account if you choose to go for theory and probably don't because I won't award you with high enough speaks for your liking.
K debates- Yes, I enjoy K debates but I tend to think that their LD variant is very shallow. You need to do more specific work in linking to the affirmative and developing the implications of your theory of power claims. While I enjoy good LD debates on the K, I always feel like I have to do a lot of work to justify a ballot in either direction. This is magnified by the limited amount of time that you have to develop your positions.
Old K Paradigm (2020-2022)
After y’all saw the school that I coach, I’m sure this is where you scrolled to first which is fair enough given how long it takes to fill out pref sheets. I will say, if you told me 10 years ago when I began coaching that I’d be coaching a team that primarily reads the K on the aff and on the neg, I probably would have found that absurd because that wasn’t my entry point into the activity so keep that in mind as you work with some of the thoughts below. That being said, I’ve now coached the K at a high level for the past two years which means that I have some semblance of a feeling for a good K debate. If the K is not something that you traditionally go for, you’re better off going for what you’re best at.
The best debates on the K are debates over the explanatory power of the negative’s theory of power relative to the affirmative’s specific example of liberalism, realism, etc. Put another way, the best K debaters are familiar enough with their theory of power AND the affirmative’s specific impact scenarios that they use their theory to explain the dangers of the aff. By the end of the 2NR I should have a very clear idea of what the affirmative does and how your theory explains why doing the affirmative won’t resolve the aff’s impacts or results in a bad thing. This does not necessarily mean that you need to have links to the affirmative’s mechanism (that’s probably a bit high of a research burden), but your link explanations need to be specific to the aff and should be bolstered by specific quotes from 1AC evidence or CX. The specificity of your link explanation should be sufficient to overcome questions of link-uniqueness or I’ll be comfortable voting on “your links only link to the status quo.”
On the flipside, aff teams need to explain why their contingency or specific example of policy action cannot be explained by the negative’s theory of power or that, even if some aspects can be, that the specificity of the aff’s claims justifies voting aff anyway because there’s some offense against the alternative or to the FW ballot. Affirmative teams that use the specificity of the affirmative to generate offense or push back against general link claims will win more debates than those that just default to generic “extinction is irreversible” ballots.
Case Page when going for the K- My biggest pet peeve with the current meta on the K is the role of the case page. Neither the affirmative nor the negative take enough advantage of this page to really stretch out their opponents on this question. For the negative, you need to be challenging the affirmative’s internal links with defense that can bolster some of your thesis level claims. Remember, you are trying to DISPROVE the affirmative’s contingent/specific policy which means that the more specificity you have the better off you will be. This means that just throwing your generic K links onto the case page probably isn’t the move. 9/10 the alternative doesn’t resolve them and you don’t have an explanation of how voting neg resolves the offense. K teams so frequently let policy affs get away with some really poor evidence quality and weak internal links. Please help the community and deter policy teams from reading one bad internal link to their heg aff against your [INSERT THEORY HERE] K. On that note, policy teams, why are you removing your best internal links when debating the K? Your generic framework cards are giving the neg more things to impact turn and your explanation of the internal link level of the aff is lowered when you do that. Read your normal aff against the K and just square up.
Framework debates (with the K on the neg) For better or worse, so much of contemporary K debate is resolved in the framework debate. The contemporary dependence on framework ballots means a couple of things:
1.) Both teams need to do more work here- treat this like a DA and a CP. Compare the relative strength of internal link claims and impact out the terminal impacts. Why does procedural fairness matter? What is the terminal impact to clash? How do we access your skills claims? What does/does not the ballot resolve? To what extent does the ballot resolve those things? The team that usually answers more of these questions usually wins these debates. K teams need to do more to push back against “ballot can solve procedural fairness” claims and aff teams need to do more than just “schools, family, culture, etc.” outweigh subject formation. Many of you all spend more time at debate tournaments or doing debate work than you do at school or doing schoolwork.
2.) I do think it’s possible for the aff to win education claims, but you need to do more comparative impact calculus. What does scenario planning do for subject formation that is more ethical than whatever the impact scenario is to the K? If you can’t explain your education claims at that level, just go for fairness and explain why the ballot can resolve it.
3.) Risk of the link- Explain what winning framework does for how much of a risk of a link that I need to justify a ballot either way. Usually, neg teams will want to say that winning framework means they get a very narrow risk of a link to outweigh. I don’t usually like defaulting to this but affirmative teams very rarely push back on this risk calculus in a world where they lose framework. If you don’t win that you can weigh the aff against the K, aff teams need to think about how they can use their scenarios as offense against the educational claims of the K. This can be done as answers to the link arguments as well, though you’ll probably need to win more pieces of defense elsewhere on the flow to make this viable.
Do I go for the alternative?
I don’t think that you need to go for the alternative if you have a solid enough framework push in the 2NR. However, few things to keep in mind here:
1.) I won’t judge kick the alternative for you unless you explicitly tell me to do it and include a theoretical justification for why that’s possible.
2.) The framework debate should include some arguments about how voting negative resolves the links- i.e. what is the kind of ethical subject position endorsed on the framework page that pushes us towards research projects that avoid the links to the critique? How does this position resolve those links?
3.) Depending on the alternative and the framework interpretation, some of your disads to the alternative will still link to the framework ballot. Smart teams will cross apply these arguments and explain why that complicates voting negative.
K affs (Generic)
Yes, I’m comfortable evaluating debates involving the K on the aff and think that I’ve reached a point where I’m pretty good for either side of this debate. Affirmative teams need to justify an affirmative ballot that beats presumption, especially if you’re defending status quo movements as examples of the aff’s method. Both teams benefit from clarifying early in the round whether or not the affirmative team spills up, whether or not in-round performances specific to this debate resolve any of the affirmative offense, and whatever the accumulation of ballots does or does not do for the aff. Affirmative teams that are not the Louisville project often get away with way too much by just reading a DSRB card and claiming their ballots function the same way. Aff teams should differentiate their ballot claims and negatives should make arguments about the aff’s homogenizing ballot claims. All that being said, like I discussed above, these debates are won and lost on the case page like any other debate. As the K becomes more normalized and standardized to a few specific schools of thought, I have a harder and harder time separating the case and framework pages on generic “we couldn’t truth test your arguments” because I think that shifts a bit too strongly to the negative. That said, I can be persuaded to separate the two if there’s decent time spent in the final rebuttals on this question.
Framework vs. the K Aff
Framework debates are best when both teams spend time comparing the realities of debate in the status quo and the idealized form of debate proposed in model v. model rounds. In that light, both teams need to be thinking about what proposing framework in a status quo where the K is probably going to stick around means for those teams that currently read the K and for those teams that prefer to directly engage the resolution. In a world where the affirmative defends the counter interpretation, the affirmative should have an explanation of what happens when team don’t read an affirmative that meets their model. Most of the counter interpretations are arbitrary or equivalent to “no counter interpretation”, but an interp being arbitrary is just defense that you can still outweigh depending on the offense you’re winning.
In impact turn debates, both teams need to be much clearer about the terminal impacts to their offense while providing an explanation as to why voting in either direction resolves them. After sitting in so many of these debates, I tend to think that the ballot doesn’t do much for either team but that means that teams who have a better explanation of what it means to win the ballot will usually pick up my decision. You can’t just assert that voting negative resolves procedural fairness without warranting that out just like you can’t assert that the aff resolves all forms of violence in debate through a single debate. Both teams need to grapple with how the competitive incentives for debate establish offense for either side. The competitive incentive to read the K is strong and might counteract some of the aff’s access to offense, but the competitive incentives towards framework also have their same issues. Neither sides hands are clean on that question and those that are willing to admit it are usually better off. I have a hard time setting aside clash as an external impact due to the fact that I’m just not sure what the terminal impact is. I like teams that go for clash and think that it usually is an important part of negative strategy vs. the K, but I think this strategy is best when the clash warrants are explained as internal link turns to the aff’s education claims. Some of this has to due with the competitive incentives arguments that I’ve explained above. Both teams need to do more work explaining whether or not fairness or education claims come first. It’s introductory-level impact analysis I find lacking in many of these debates.
Other things to think about-
1.) These debates are at their worst when either team is dependent on blocks. Framework teams should be particularly cautious about this because they’ve had less of these debates over the course of the season, however, K teams are just as bad at just reading their blocks through the 1AR. I will try to draw a clean line between the 1AR and the 2AR and will hold a pretty strict one in debates where the 1AR is just screaming through blocks. Live debating contextualized to this round far outweighs robots with pre-written everything.
2.) I have a hard time pulling the trigger on arguments with “quitting the activity” as a terminal impact. Any evidence on either side of this question is usually anecdotal and that’s not enough to justify a ballot in either direction. There are also a bunch of alternative causes to numbers decline like the lack of coaches, the increased technical rigor of high-level policy debate, budgets, the pandemic, etc. that I think thump most of these impacts for either side. More often than not, the people that are going to stick with debate are already here but that doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences to the kinds of harms to the activity/teams as teams on either side of the clash question learn to coexist.
K vs. K Debates (Overview)
I’ll be perfectly honest, unless this is a K vs. Cap debate, these are the debates that I’m least comfortable evaluating because I feel like they end up being some of the messiest and “gooiest” debates possible. That being said, I think that high level K vs. K debates can be some of the most interesting to evaluate if both teams have a clear understanding of the distinctions between their positions, are able to base their theoretical distinctions in specific, grounded examples that demonstrate potential tradeoffs between each position, and can demonstrate mutual exclusivity outside of the artificial boundary of “no permutations in a method debate.” At their best, these debates require teams to meet a high research burden which is something that I like to reward so if your strat is specific or you can explain it in a nuanced way, go for it. That said, I’m not the greatest for teams whose generic position in these debates are to read “post-truth”/pomo arguments against identity positions and I feel uncomfortable resolving competing ontology claims in debates around identity unless they are specific and grounded. I feel like most debates are too time constrained to meaningfully resolve these positions. Similarly, teams that read framework should be cautious about reading conditional critiques with ontology claims- i.e. conditional pessimism with framework. I’m persuaded by theoretical arguments about conditional ontology claims regarding social death and cross apps to framework in these debates.
I won’t default to “no perms in a methods debate”, though I am sympathetic to the theoretical arguments about why affs not grounded in the resolution are too shifty if they are allowed to defend the permutation. What gets me in these debates is that I think that the affirmative will make the “test of competition”-style permutation arguments anyway like “no link” or the aff is a disad/prereq to the alt regardless of whether or not there’s a permutation. I can’t just magically wave a theory wand here and make those kinds of distinctions go away. It lowers the burden way too much for the negative and creates shallow debates. Let’s have a fleshed out theory argument and you can persuade me otherwise. The aff still needs to win access to the permutation, but if you lose the theory argument still make the same kinds of arguments if you had the permutation. Just do the defensive work to thump the links.
Cap vs. K- I get the strategic utility of these debates, but this debate is becoming pretty stale for me. Teams that go for state-good style capitalism arguments need to explain the process of organization, accountability measures, the kind of party leadership, etc. Aff teams should generate offense off of these questions. Teams that defend Dean should have to defend psychoanalysis answers. Teams that defend Escalante should have specific historical examples of dual power working or not in 1917 or in post-Bolshevik organization elsewhere. Aff teams should force Dean teams to defend psycho and force Escalante teams to defend historical examples of dual power. State crackdown arguments should be specific. I fear that state crackdown arguments will apply to both the alternative and the aff and the team that does a better job describing the comparative risk of crackdown ends up winning my argument. Either team should make more of a push about what it means to shift our research practices towards or away from communist organizing. There are so many debates where we have come to the conclusion that the arguments we make in debate don’t spill out or up and, yet, I find debates where we are talking about politically organizing communist parties are still stuck in some universe where we are doing the actual organizing in a debate round. Tell me what a step towards the party means for our research praxis or provide disads to shifting the resource praxis. All the thoughts on the permutation debate are above. I’m less likely to say no permutation in these debates because there is plenty of clash in the literature between, at least, anti-capitalism and postcapitalism that there can be a robust debate even if you don’t have specifics. That being said, the more you can make ground your theory in specific examples the better off you’ll be.
Background:
- I debated for Niles West in high school and West Georgia in college.
- BA in Philosophy.
Email:
- For all UMich camp debates: cgershom@umich.edu
- Personal email: gershom000@gmail.com
Top level things:
- If you engage in offensive acts (think racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.), you will lose automatically and will be awarded whatever the minimum speaker points offered at that particular tournament is.
- If you make it so that the tags in your document maps are not navigable by taking the "tag" format off of them, I will actively dock your speaker points.
- Quality of argument means a lot to me. I am willing to hold my nose and vote for bad arguments if they're better debated but my threshold for answering those bad arguments is pretty low.
- I’m extremely hesitant to vote on arguments about things that have happened outside of a debate or in previous debates. I can only be sure of what has happened in this particular debate and anything else is non-falsifiable.
- Absolutely no ties and the first team that asks for one will lose my ballot.
- Soliciting any outside assistance during a round will lose my ballot.
Pet peeves:
- Lack of clarity. Clarity > speed 100% of the time.
- The 1AC not being sent out by the time the debate is supposed to start.
- Email-sending related failures.
- Dead time.
- Stealing prep.
- Answering arguments in an order other than the one presented by the other team.
- Asserting things are dropped when they aren't.
- Asking the other team to send you a marked doc when they marked 1-3 cards.
- Marking almost every card in the doc.
- Disappearing after the round.
- Quoting my paradigm in your speeches.
- Sending PDFs instead of Word Docs.
Ethics:
- If you are caught clipping you will receive a loss and the lowest possible points.
- If you make an ethics challenge in a debate in front of me, you must stake the debate on it. If you make that challenge and are incorrect or cannot prove your claim, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points. If you are proven to have committed an ethics violation, you will lose and be granted the lowest possible points.
- If you use sexually explicit language or engage in sexually explicit performances in high school debates, you should strike me.
Cross-x:
- Yes, I’m fine with tag-team cx. But dominating your partner’s cx will result in lower points for both of you.
- Questions like "what cards did you read?" are cross-x questions, and I will run the timer accordingly.
- If you fail to ask the status of the off, I will be less inclined to vote for condo.
- If the 1NC responds that "every DA is a NB to every CP" when asked about net benefits in the 1NC even if it makes no sense, I think the 1AR gets a lot of leeway to explain a 2AC "links to the net benefit argument" on any CP as it relates to the DAs.
Inserting evidence or rehighlightings into the debate:
- I won't evaluate it unless you actually read the parts that you are inserting into the debate. If it's like a chart or a map or something like that, that's fine, I don't expect you to literally read that, but if you're rehighlighting some of the other team's evidence, you need to actually read the rehighlighting.
Affirmatives:
- I’m fine with plan or planless affirmatives. However, I believe all affirmatives should advocate for/defend something. What that something entails is up for debate, but I’m hesitant to vote for affirmatives that defend absolutely nothing.
Topicality:
- I default to competing interpretations unless told otherwise.
- The most important thing for me in T debates is an in-depth explanation of the types of affs your interp would include/exclude and the impact that the inclusion/exclusion would have on debate.
- 5 second ASPEC shells/the like have become nonstarters for me. If I reasonably think the other team could have missed the argument because I didn't think it was a clear argument, I think they probably get new answers. If you drop it twice, that's on you.
Counterplans:
- For me counterplans are more about competition than theory. While I tend to lean more neg on questions of CP theory, I lean aff on a lot of questions of competition, especially in the cases of CPs that compete on the certainty of the plan, normal means cps, and agent cps.
Disads:
- If you're reading a DA that isn't just a case turn, it should go on its own sheet. Failure to do so is super annoying because people end up extending/answering arguments on flows in different orders.
Kritiks:
- The more specific the link the better. Even if your cards aren’t that specific, applying your evidence to the specifics of the affirmative through nuanced analysis is always preferable to a generic link extension.
- ‘You link you lose’ strategies are not my favorite. I’m willing to vote on them if the other team fails to respond properly, but I’m very sympathetic to aff arguments about it being a bad model for debate.
- I find many framework debates end up being two ships passing in the night. Line by line answers to the other team's framework standards goes a long way in helping win framework in front of me.
Theory:
- Almost all theory arguments are reasons to reject the argument, condo is usually the only exception.
- Conditionality is often good. It can be not. I have found myself to be increasingly aff leaning on extreme conditionality (think many plank cps where all of the planks are conditional + 4-5 more conditional options).
- Tell me what my role is on the theory debate - am I determining in-round abuse or am I setting a precedent for the community?
Framework/T-USfg:
- I find impacts about debatability, clash, and iterative testing to be very persuasive.
- I am not really persuaded by fairness impacts, but will vote on it if mishandled.
- I am not really persuaded by impacts about skills/the ability for debate to change the world if we read plans - I think these are not very strategic and easily impact turned by the aff.
- I am pretty sympathetic to negative presumption arguments because I often think the aff has not forwarded an explanation for what the aff does to resolve the impacts they've described.
- I don't think debate is role-playing.
- If the aff drops SSD or the TVA and the 2NR extends it, I will most likely vote neg.
I've coached LASA since 2005. I judge ~120 debates per season on the high school circuit.
If there’s an email chain, please add me: yaosquared@gmail.com.
If you have little time before the debate, here’s all you need to know: do what you do best. I try to be as unbiased as possible and I will defer to your analysis. As long as you are clear, go as fast as you want.
Most judges give appalling decisions. Here's where I will try to be better than them:
- They intervene, even when they claim they won't. Perhaps "tech over truth" doesn't mean what it used to. I will attempt to adjudicate and reach a decision purely on only the words you say. If that's insufficient to reach a decision either way--and it often isn't--I will add the minimum work necessary to come to a decision. The more work I have to do, the wider the range of uncertainty for you and the lower your speaks go.
- They aren't listening carefully. They're mentally checked out, flowing off the speech doc, distracted by social media, or have half their headphones off and are taking selfies during the 1AR. I will attempt to flow every single detail of your speeches. I will probably take notes during CX if I think it could affect my decision. If you worked hard on debate, you deserve a judge who works hard as well.
- They give poorly-reasoned decisions that rely on gut instincts and ignore arguments made in the 2NR/2AR. I will probably take my sweet time making and writing my decision. I will try to be as thorough and transparent as possible. If I intervene anywhere, I will explain why I had to intervene and how you could've prevented that intervention. If I didn't catch or evaluate an argument, I will explain why you under-explained or failed to extend it. I will try to anticipate your questions and preemptively answer them in my decision.
- They reconstruct the debate and try to find the most creative and convoluted path to a ballot. I guess they're trying to prove they're smart? These decisions are detestable because they take the debate away from the hands of the debaters. If there are multiple paths to victory for both teams, I will take what I think is the shortest path and explain why I think it's the shortest path, and you can influence my decision by explaining why you control the shortest path. But, I'm not going to use my decision to attempt to prove I'm more clever than the participants of the debate.
- If you think the 1AR is a constructive, you should strike me.
Meta Issues:
- I’m not a professional debate coach or even a teacher. I work as a finance analyst in the IT sector and I volunteer as a debate coach on evenings and weekends. I don’t teach at debate camp and my topic knowledge comes primarily from judging debates. My finance background means that, when left to my own devices, I err towards precision, logic, data, and concrete examples. However, I can be convinced otherwise in any particular debate, especially when it’s not challenged by the other team.
- Tech over truth in most instances. I will stick to my flow and minimize intervention as much as possible. I firmly believe that debates should be left to the debaters. I rarely make facial expressions because I don’t want my personal reactions to affect how a debate plays out. I will maintain a flow, even if you ask me not to. However, tech over truth has its limits. An argument must have sufficient explanation for it to matter to me, even if it’s dropped. You need a warrant and impact, not just a claim.
- Evidence comparison is under-utilized and is very important to me in close debates. I often call for evidence, but I’m much more likely to call for a card if it’s extended by author or cite.
- I don’t judge or coach at the college level, which means I’m usually a year or two behind the latest argument trends that are first broken in college and eventually trickle down to high school. If you’re reading something that’s close to the cutting edge of debate arguments, you’ll need to explain it clearly. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear new arguments. On the contrary, a big reason why I continue coaching debate is because I enjoy listening to and learning about new arguments that challenge my existing ways of thinking.
- Please mark your own cards. No one is marking them for you.
- If I feel that you are deliberately evading answering a question or have straight up lied, and the question is important to the outcome of the debate, I will stop the timer and ask you to answer the question. Example: if you read condo bad, the neg asks in CX whether you read condo bad, and you say no, I’ll ask if you want me to cross-out condo on my flow.
Framework:
- Don't over-adapt to me in these debates. If you are most comfortable going for procedural fairness, do that. If you like going for advocacy skills, you do you. Like any other debate, framework debates hinge on impact calculus and comparison.
- When I vote neg, it’s usually because the aff team missed the boat on topical version, has made insufficient inroads into the neg’s limits disad, and/or is winning some exclusion disad but is not doing comparative impact calculus against the neg’s offense. The neg win rate goes up if the 2NR can turn or access the aff's primary impact (e.g. clash and argument testing is vital to ethical subject formation).
- When I vote aff, it’s usually because the 2NR is disorganized and goes for too many different impacts, there’s no topical version or other way to access the aff’s offense, and/or concedes an exclusion disad that is then impacted out by the 2AR.
- On balance, I am worse for 2ARs that impact turn framework than 2ARs that have a counter-interp. If left to my own devices, I believe in models and in the ballot's ability to, over the course of time, bring models into existence. I have trouble voting aff if I can't understand what future debates look like under the aff's model.
Topicality:
- Over the years, “tech over truth” has led me to vote neg on some untruthful T violations. If you’re neg and you’ve done a lot of research and are ready to throw down on a very technical and carded T debate, I’m a good judge for you.
- If left to my own devices, predictability > debatability.
- Reasonability is a debate about the aff’s counter-interpretation, not their aff. The size of the link to the limits disad usually determines how sympathetic I am towards this argument, i.e. if the link is small, then I’m more likely to conclude the aff’s C/I is reasonable even without other aff offense.
Kritiks:
- The kritik teams I've judged that have earned the highest speaker points give highly organized and structuredspeeches, are disciplined in line-by-line debating, and emphasize key moments in their speeches.
- Just like most judges, the more case-specific your link and the more comprehensive your alternative explanation, the more I’ll be persuaded by your kritik.
- I greatly prefer the 2NC structure where you have a short (or no) overview and do as much of your explanation on the line-by-line as possible. If your overview is 6 minutes, you make blippy cross-applications on the line-by-line, and then you drop the last three 2AC cards, I’m going to give the 1AR a lot of leeway on extending those concessions, even if they were somewhat implicitly answered in your overview.
- Framework debates on kritiks often don't matter. For example, the neg extends a framework interp about reps, but only goes for links to plan implementation. Before your 2NR/2AR, ask yourself what winning framework gets you/them.
- I’m not a good judge for “role of the ballot” arguments, as I usually find these to be self-serving for the team making them. I’m also not a good judge for “competing methods means the aff doesn’t have a right to a perm”. I think the aff always has a right to a perm, but the question is whether the perm is legitimate and desirable, which is a substantive issue to be debated out, not a gatekeeping issue for me to enforce.
- I’m an OK judge for K “tricks”. A conceded root cause explanation, value to life impact, or “alt solves the aff” claim is effective if it’s sufficiently explained. The floating PIK needs to be clearly made in the 2NC for me to evaluate it. If your K strategy hinges on hiding a floating PIK and suddenly busting it out in the 2NR, I’m not a good judge for you.
Counterplans:
- Just like most judges, I prefer case-specific over generic counterplans, but we can’t always get what we want.
- I lean neg on PICs. I lean aff on international fiat, 50 state fiat, condition, and consult. These preferences can change based on evidence or lack thereof. For example, if the neg has a state counterplan solvency advocate in the context of the aff, I’m less sympathetic to theory.
- I will not judge kick the CP unless explicitly told to do so by the 2NR, and it would not take much for the 2AR to persuade me to ignore the 2NR’s instructions on that issue.
- Presumption is in the direction of less change. If left to my own devices, I will probably conclude that most counterplans that are not explicitly PICs are a larger change than the aff.
Disadvantages:
- I’m a sucker for specific and comparative impact calculus. For example, most nuclear war impacts are probably not global nuclear war but some kind of regional scenario. I want to know why your specific regional scenario is faster and/or more probable. Reasonable impact calculus is much more persuasive to me than grandiose impact claims.
- Uniqueness only "controls the direction of the link" if uniqueness can be determined with certainty (e.g. whip count on a bill, a specific interest rate level). On most disads where uniqueness is a probabilistic forecast (e.g. future recession, relations, elections), the uniqueness and link are equally important, which means I won't compartmentalize and decide them separately.
- Zero risk is possible but difficult to prove by the aff. However, a miniscule neg risk of the disad is probably background noise.
Theory:
- I actually enjoy listening to a good theory debate, but these seem to be exceedingly rare. I think I can be persuaded that many theoretical objections require punishing the team and not simply rejecting the argument, but substantial work needs to be done on why setting a precedent on that particular issue is important. You're unlikely to win that a single intrinsic permutation is a round-winning voter, even if the other team drops it, unless you are investing significant time in explaining why it should be an independent voting issue.
- I think that I lean affirmative compared to the rest of the judging community on the legitimacy of counterplans. In my mind, a counterplan that is wholly plan-inclusive (consultation, condition, delay, etc.) is theoretically questionable. The legitimacy of agent counterplans, whether domestic or international, is also contestable. I think the negative has the right to read multiple planks to a counterplan, but reading each plank conditionally is theoretically suspect.
Miscellaneous:
- I usually take a long time to decide, and give lengthy decisions. LASA debaters have benefitted from the generosity of judges, coaches, and lab leaders who used their decisions to teach and trade ideas, not just pick a winner and get a paycheck. Debaters from schools with limited/no coaching, the same schools needed to prevent the decline in policy debate numbers, greatly benefit from judging feedback. I encourage you to ask questions and engage in respectful dialogue with me. However, post-round hostility will be met with hostility. I've been providing free coaching and judging since before you were birthed into the world. If I think you're being rude or condescending to me or your opponents, I will enthusiastically knock you back down to Earth.
- I don't want a card doc. If you send one, I will ignore it. Card docs are an opportunity for debaters to insert cards they didn't read, didn't extend, or re-highlight. They're also an excuse for lazy judges to compensate for a poor flow by reconstructing the debate after the fact. If your debating was disorganized and you need a card doc to return some semblance of organization, I'd rather adjudicate the disorganized debate and then tell you it was disorganized.
Ways to Increase/Decrease Speaker Points:
- Look and sound like you want to be here. Judging can be spirit murder if you're disengaged and disinterested. By contrast, if you're engaged, I'll be more engaged and helpful with feedback.
- Argument resolution minimizes judge intervention. Most debaters answer opposing positions by staking out the extreme opposite position, which is generally unpersuasive. Instead, take the middle ground. Assume the best out of your opponents' arguments and use "even if" framing.
- Demonstrate that you flowed the entire debate. If you're reading pre-scripted 2NC/2NR/2AR blocks without adapting the language to the specifics of your debate, you've only proven that you're literate but possibly also an NPC. I would much rather hear you give a 2NR/2AR without a laptop, just off your paper flows, even if it's not as smooth.
- I am usually unmoved by aggression, loud volume, rudeness, and other similar posturing. It's both dissuasive and distracting. By contrast, being unusually nice will always be rewarded with higher points and never be seen as weakness. This will be especially appreciated if you make the debate as welcoming as possible against less experienced opponents.
- Do not steal prep. Make it obvious that you are not prepping if there's not a timer running.
- Do not be the person who asks for a roadmap one second after the other team stops prep. Chill. I will monitor prep usage, not you. You're not saving us from them starting a speech without giving a roadmap.
- Stop asking for a marked doc when they've only skipped or marked one or two cards. It's much faster to ask where they marked that card, and then mark it on your copy. If you marked/skipped many cards, you should proactively offer to send a new doc before CX.
add me to the email chain - chrischendebate@gmail.com
Please slow down and be clear on analytics and signpost
Go for whatever arguments you want, I'll vote on it as long as it's done well (unless it's death good stuff racist etc)
For K's, am not that familiar with a lot of K's outside of common ones (set col, cap, fem ir, security etc) so please explain clearly
Generally, I think that three condo is probably fine, but can definitely be convinced otherwise.
Not a fan of aspec
Mamaroneck 2023
Yale 2027
she/her
jdavisdebate@gmail.com
T/L
The most important thing is that everyone has fun. If there is a way that I can make the round more comfortable for you, please don't hesitate to ask.
Use trigger warnings during (do not spread them) AND ask opponents before round if you plan to read potentially sensitive arguments.
No ad hominem attacks; no berating your opponents.
Respect pronouns.
Argumentation
Read whatever you want in front of me. I have limited topic knowledge, so be careful with acronyms (putting them in parentheses in a tag is fine).
Tech > truth so long as your arguments are explained and implicated sufficiently.
I will find it difficult to vote for you if you cannot explain your arguments beyond cyclical jargon.
Misc
A marked doc does not mean taking out the cards you didn't read. Clarifying which cards weren't read requires cross/prep time.
I look annoyed sometimes but I swear I'm not.
I encourage you to make jokes about any of the Bronx Science/Mamaroneck debaters from the classes of 2022/2023 in your speeches.
Feel free to email me/ask me questions before and after the round.
email: eforslund@gmail.com
Copied and Pasted from my judge philosophy wiki page.
Recent Bio:
Director of Debate at Pace Academy
15 years judging and coaching high school debate. First at Damien High School then at Greenhill. Generally only judge a handful of college rounds a year.
Zero rounds on the current college topic in 2020.
Coached at the University of Wyoming 2004-2005.
I have decided to incentivize reading strategies that involve talking about the specifics of the affirmative case. Too many high school teams find a terrible agent or process cp and use politics as a crutch. Too many high school teams pull out their old, generic, k's and read them regardless of the aff. As an incentive to get away from this practice I will give any 2N that goes for a case-only strategy an extra point. If this means someone who would have earned a 29 ends up with a 30, then so be it. I would rather encourage a proliferation of higher speaker points, then a proliferation of bad, generic arguments. If you have to ask what a case strategy involves, then you probably aren't going to read one. I'm not talking about reading some case defense and going for a disad, or a counterplan that solves most of the aff. I'm talking about making a majority of the debate a case debate -- and that case debate continuing into the 2NR.
You'll notice "specificity good" throughout my philosophy. I will give higher points to those teams that engage in more specific strategies, then those that go for more generic ones. This doesnt mean that I hate the k -- on the contrary, I wouldn't mind hearing a debate on a k, but it needs to be ABOUT THE AFF. The genero security k doesnt apply to the South Korean Prostitutes aff, the Cap k doesnt apply to the South Korea Off-Shore Balancing aff - and you arent likely to convince me otherwise. But if you have an argument ABOUT the affirmative --especially a specific k that has yet to be read, then you will be rewarded if I am judging you.
I have judged high-level college and high school debates for the last 14 years. That should answer a few questions that you are thinking about asking: yes, speed is fine, no, lack of clarity is not. Yes, reading the k is ok, no, reading a bunch of junk that doesn't apply to the topic, and failing to explain why it does is not.
The single most important piece of information I can give you about me as a judge is that I cut a lot of cards -- you should ALWAYS appeal to my interest in the literature and to protect the integrity of that literature. Specific is ALWAYS better than generic, and smart strategies that are well researched should ALWAYS win out over generic, lazy arguments. Even if you dont win debates where you execute specifics, you will be rewarded.
Although my tendencies in general are much more to the right than the rest of the community, I have voted on the k many times since I started judging, and am generally willing to listen to whatever argument the debaters want to make. Having said that, there are a few caveats:
1. I don't read a lot of critical literature; so using a lot of terms or references that only someone who reads a lot of critical literature would understand isn’t going to get you very far. If I don’t understand your arguments, chances are pretty good you aren’t going to win the debate, no matter how persuasive you sound. This goes for the aff too explain your argument, don’t assume I know what you are talking about.
2. You are much better off reading critical arguments on the negative then on the affirmative. I tend to believe that the affirmative has to defend a position that is at least somewhat predictable, and relates to the topic in a way that makes sense. If they don’t, I am very sympathetic to topicality and framework-type arguments. This doesn’t mean you can’t win a debate with a non-traditional affirmative in front of me, but it does mean that it is going to be much harder, and that you are going to have to take topicality and framework arguments seriously. To me, predictability and fairness are more important than stretching the boundaries of debate, and the topic. If your affirmative defends a predictable interpretation of the topic, you are welcome to read any critical arguments you want to defend that interpretation, with the above stipulations.
3. I would much rather watch a disad/counterplan/case debate than some other alternative.
In general, I love a good politics debate - but - specific counterplans and case arguments are THE BEST strategies. I like to hear new innovative disads, but I have read enough of the literature on this year’s topic that I would be able to follow any deep debate on any of the big generic disads as well.
As far as theory goes, I probably defer negative a bit more in theory debates than affirmative. That probably has to do with the fact that I like very well thought-out negative strategies that utilize PICS and specific disads and case arguments. As such, I would much rather see an affirmative team impact turn the net benefits to a counterplan then to go for theory (although I realize this is not always possible). I really believe that the boundaries of the topic are formed in T debates at the beginning of the year, therefore I am much less willing to vote on a topicality argument against one of the mainstream affirmatives later on in the year than I am at the first few tournaments. I’m not going to outline all of the affs that I think are mainstream, but chances are pretty good if there are more than a few teams across the country reading the affirmative, I’m probably going to err aff in a close T debate.
One last thing, if you really want to get high points in front of me, a deep warming debate is the way to go. I would be willing to wager that I have dug further into the warming literature than just about anybody in the country, and I love to hear warming debates. I realize by this point most teams have very specific strategies to most of the affirmatives on the topic, but if you are wondering what advantage to read, or whether or not to delve into the warming debate on the negative, it would be very rewarding to do so in front of me -- at the very least you will get some feedback that will help you in future debates.
Ok, I lied, one more thing. Ultimately I believe that debate is a game. I believe that debaters should have fun while debating. I realize that certain debates get heated, however do your best not to be mean to your partner, and to the other team. There are very few things I hate more than judging a debate where the teams are jerks to each other. Finally, although I understand the strategic value to impact turning the alternative to kritiks and disads (and would encourage it in most instances), there are a few arguments I am unwilling to listen to those include: sexism good, racism good, genocide good, and rape good. If you are considering reading one of those arguments, don’t. You are just going to piss me off.
AHS
email: archita.atl@gmail.com
- Clarity over speed.
- Tech over truth.
- No racism, sexism, etc.
- If an argument is dropped, I will not take it into account unless the other team has brought it up.
- In order for an argument to be extended, there has to be some analytics; don't just read the tagline and consider it done.
- Weigh and meta weigh your arguments
- Use analytics. Don't just shove a bunch of cards in your speech.
- if you have a sense of humor use it, it adds speaker points.
- Don't clip.
- Warrant your arguments.
- If I do not understand an argument, I will have trouble voting on it.
Woodward Academy '22
Dartmouth College '26
Email chain: ashna.ghanate@gmail.com
Important
The very most important thing to me is that everyone in the round has fun, learns something, and is respectful. Debate is a wonderful activity, and we should all be grateful for the opportunity (Especially when a lot of people can't do what they love anymore)! Your gratitude is proven through your etiquette.
Short Version + Novices
Win on clarity, clash, and argument comparison.
Flow, be nice, be clear, have fun, and send out analytics.
Please feel free to ask questions!
Longer Version
Case
Impact turns that are reasonable (LIO bad, economic growth bad, etc.) can make for extremely fun, nuanced debates.
Kritiks
I think you should explain your argument well. It's also important that you try to make affirmative specific links.
I personally believe critiques are better with framework that is about weighing the plan vs the competitive alternative. The kritik can also become a "DA". You can still get critiques of representations under this interpretation - just win that representations steer policy implementation. In round debating outweighs this opinion, though.
Topicality vs. USfg Action Affirmatives
It's important to emphasize why your model of debate is better. I think the smaller the case, the more persuasive topicality is. No real predispositions (although I think precision debates often become a wash).
Topicality vs. Critical Affirmatives
I'll most likely defer to the process of debating.
If you are confused about the affirmative, I probably am too. Just point it out.
Procedural fairness is an impact. This opinion can be changed for the ballot by in-round debating.
I think a lot of teams forget that you can read a topical affirmative that is also non-traditional/changes the debate space/creates good pedagogy.
Theory
I enjoy good theory debates. I have no real reservations, but try not to be silly.
Counterplans
I enjoy counterplan debates! Competition debates don't bother me that much, and I think they can be really fun.
Misc
Card/evidence quality matters a LOT.
I don't think framing debates matter as much as some people would like them too. For example, if you are saying "util outweighs," that doesn't mean that just because you think the affirmative has a "small" impact and the DA accesses extinction, I should vote negative. Mitigate the risk of case. Conversely, if you are reading an affirmative and say "probability should come first," I do not think you can just assert that the DA is low probability. You need to actually prove that the DA is low probability.
Intrinsic permutations can be justified.
Last Updated: November, 2023. Please put me on the chain: nathanglancy124@gmail.com
***Background***
Debated at:
Niles West High School (2014-2018)
Trinity University (2018-2020)
Michigan State University (2020-2023)
Coached for:
Winston Churchill (2018-19)
Niles West High School (2020-2023)
Niles North HS (2023-now)
University of Wyoming (2023-now)
I debated for 9 years, all the way from Oceans to Personhood. I've been a 2n for longer than I've been a 2a, but at heart I am a 2a. I currently coach at Niles North High School in northwest Chicagoland and do remote coaching for the University of Wyoming. I went for policy-style arguments throughout my debate career and relied on debate to help realize/finance my college education. Debate's done a lot for me and I'd like to think I'm doing what I can for debate. If you already know me, say hi!! If you don't know me yet, don't mind the fact that I have a grumpy resting face! I'm not shy and would love to show you pictures of my dog.
***TL;DR***
I really want to ensure you all have a satisfying judging experience. I think this means it is my role as a judge to try my best to render a decision based on the arguments made in the debate. I care about debate's existence and success. I hope that is reflected in my feedback and my efforts as a judge.
High school debaters will do well in front of me if they keep the round organized and moving, show their motivation to improve/learn/win, and maintain a positive approach to the round despite the competitive nature of debate. They'll do even better if this is coupled with good, SPECIFIC arguments :)
College Debaters should consider me capable of judging whatever you need me to. I don't have any large predispositions and therefore I would consider myself quite impressionable if faced with good judge instruction and application of arguments at the end of the debate.
I have comparatively lower amounts of college topic knowledge - fair word of warning for acronyms
*Non-argument Things*
CLIPPING: I am soooooo done with people getting away with murder clipping everywhere. In that light, I will now start dropping non-novice teams that meet my minimum standard for clipping. Triggering any one of these conditions will result in an immediate loss after the speech, with minimum speaks to the individual who does it...
1. Speaker skips a paragraph of a card in a speech
2. Speaker skips a sentence that is 10 or more words in a speech
3. Speakers skips 3-5 words 5 times within a speech
4. Speaker systematically skips 1-2 words throughout a speech
Speaks: I will reward speaks mostly on the following criteria...
1. How did you impact your team's ability to win?
2. How did you impact my judging? Did something impress me?
3. Mastery of Material - "knowing what's going on" at the highest level
4. Mastery of Tech/Organization - did you cause/fix any unnecessary/avoidable decision time hurdles?
Clarity: I'm starting to care way way more about the clarity of argument communicated earlier for how I assess risk later in the debate. I really feel like rewarding good packaging of arguments, labeling, and organization that guides the judge through what you're saying AND why that matters. I will try and highly prioritize this analysis over reading every card and seeing who did the better research project. However, instructing me to read a portion of a card obviously constitutes a form of argument that I will take into account.
Conduct: The more we have good vibes in the round, the better the experience will be for everyone. Feel free to have competitive spirit, but don't let that turn you into an unlikeable person!! That's not a winning recipe. Also I am a fan of corny humor, often to a fault. I have given one 30 in my lifetime, and it was to someone who's joke made me uncontrollably laugh during the 2ar (they lost). Don't reach for a bad joke though that's never funny.
Online Debate: Before EVERY speech and EVERY CX, please confirm that everyone is here AND that the sound is clear! Feel free to do camera on or off, I understand everyone has their reasons. Please be understanding of the different complications of online debate and let's do everything we can to keep online accessible and effective. Oh and I HATE prep stealing and doing it while online doesn't excuse it.
Inserting Evidence: If you plan to "insert evidence re-highlighting" it should only come after a clear, comprehensive analytical argument. Re-highlighting can be referred to, but not inserted. If you want to say "their ev goes neg" then you're gonna read the re-highlighting.
***Argument Things***
Case:
I should understand a consistent explanation of the 1ac and its advantages throughout the debate. Changing this narrative or being dodgy/vague is easily subject to punishment by a good neg team. AFF teams should punish teams that are light on case using clear 2ac articulations of dropped arguments instead of being equally as vague. 2NRs on case should focus on identifying what AFF impacts your case defense is responding to.
I am starting to get really tired of bad highlighting here and teams that point this out can mitigate offense here.
DAs:
They're cool, but oh my gosh do teams double, triple, quadruple turn themselves with these so often! I don't care about spamming DAs, but I wish more AFF teams would exploit contradictions in "neg flex". Neg teams can best win their DAs by getting impact framing out early and being clear about 1ar concessions to establish a high risk of your offense.
I am starting to get really tired of bad highlighting here and teams that point this out can mitigate offense here.
T:
I think explaining your vision of the topic is one of the most underrated and underutilized ways to win a T debate. Please just explain to me why in your squad room you decided that T made sense? What's the "core thing" that the AFF did that is the controversy being debated?
Things that help a lot: TVA, case-list of good AFFs under your interpretation, case-list of bad AFFs under their interpretation, definition comparison, explanation of neg ground under your interpretation AND the other teams'.
Theory:
I HATE bad theory arguments and don't want to vote on them, but I hate teams that don't flow slightly more so I will vote on that stuff (and if I miss one line ASPEC that's on you, debate's a communication activity!). Bad theory debating is a one way ticket to low speaks, but good theory debating can drastically alter how rounds go down.
I'm pretty good for theory all things considered. I went for states CP theory a lot on the education topic and am a 2a at heart, but as someone who was a 2n I understand the deep, deep love we share for condo. I feel like the best theory debaters are FLOWABLE while doing their theory debating, SPECIFIC in their impact articulation beyond just talking about clashing and doing some fair education, and INSTRUCTIVE to the judge on questions of impact comparison and justifying new arguments.
CPs:
CPs are defense and should be explained in the context of what it is defending against (the 1ac's mandate, evidence, and how the advantages are explained). This is how I often think about deficits and how a CP implicates my ballot. Re-cutting the 1ac/AFF evidence is usually the gold standard for proving a CP sufficiently solves. I feel like fore-fronting how you explain a CP early and not deviating from that is the best way to ensure you don't bring in new explanations so I don't let the AFF get new answers. I lowkey hate process CPs but sometimes it must be done.
Ks:
I'm better for the K than you think, but likely need more judge instruction about how to apply X argument. Better for evidence-heavy OR depth-focused debate. Any amount of generic evidence is best addressed through specific analysis.
"Exceeds expectations"/I've gone for: Cap, Security, Biopolitics/Agamben
"Meeting expectations"/I feel fine judging: Set Col, Anti-blackness (Nihilism, Pessimism, to name a few), Orientalism/Colonialism, Imperialism, Queer pessimism, Trans pessimism, Ableism
"Needs improvement"/err towards over-explaining: Psychoanalysis, Bataille, Heideggerian stuff, Baudrillard, Deleuze
I have not judged a KvK debate yet.
Framework:
I almost exclusively went for t-usfg/framework in HS and college, but that doesn't make me care about dropping a policy team. Impact articulation matters for me but far too often I find teams blending concepts such as fairness and clash in incoherent ways. I don't care about the label, but rather the underling explanation and how it is being applied in the debate. If you have any other questions look at Josh Harrington's philosophy on K AFFs, that'll reflect roughly how I feel.
Nate's sliding scales about debate:
Tech/Truth----------------------------X-Facts are Facts & Dropped args are as true as the warrants conceded
Condo-------X----------------------Respect the Aff Peasant (have and will vote on it, clear args in the 1ar key)
Process CP/Normal Means Competition----------------------------X- 100 plank case-specific advantage CP
Super Big CP-----------------X------------Deep Case Debating
Simply saying "Sufficiency Framing"-----------------------------X-Explain why CP solves sufficiently
Zero Risk Framing----------X-------------------Any Risk Framing
Perm Double Bind--------------X---------------Haha Silly Policy Hacks
Deb8=Karl Rove----------------------------X-That was one dude
Salad K----------------------------X-Single K Thesis
Economic Growth----------------------------X-( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
***Miscellaneous***
Email chain is always preferable to anything else barring tech issues
I don't like cards in the body of the email... but nobody seems to care... oh well...
I am fine with open cx. All people should be.
The Prep Rule: I will increase speaks from what I would have given by .1 for every minute of prep not used - speaks can be earned by specifically telling me the balance of prep your team had remaining before their last rebuttal. Capped at .5 boosted speaks.
Massive pet peeve: if you call a CP a "see-pee" I will think about it so much that it might disrupt my flowing and you might instantly lose (I am being sarcastic).
here's a photo collage about debate that I made in high school:
he/him, junior @ Westminster
add me to the email chain: arthurguodebate@gmail.com
T/L
Please do line by line, flow, and answer arguments in the order presented
Clarity, judge instruction, and not being mean are good
K stuff
On the Neg
---I don't care what the substance of your argument is, all I care about is that you do line by line and explain how the K interacts with the Aff.
---I'm not going to list literature bases I'm familiar with because that shouldn't change how much you explain stuff.
---I will probably be more likely to vote for a strategy that centers on the alt/links turning the case than a "you link you lose" approach, but the second is possible if there's a big asymmetry in how the debate plays out.
---Framework, I try to resolve this first because it frequently determines how the rest of the debate is evaluated so I will never say "framework was a wash" unless neither team explains their interpretation. I don't really have any revolutionary thoughts here. However, I do think if the neg is trying to go for a you link, you lose/don't weigh the plan framework, there needs to be offense other than "caring about rhetoric is good". I've never heard a great reason that an Aff middle ground interpretation along the lines of "reps can be a basis for making the alt competitive but you should still weigh the case" doesn't solve this. Offense along the lines of "policymaking/fiat bad", or really good cards establishing a tradeoff between analyzing policy outcomes and analyzing rhetoric both seem fine.
---Framework for the Aff, the fastest way to lose a framework debate in front of me is to drop a series of the defensive arguments at the bottom of any framework 2nc/1nr.
---Specific impact explanation/how the K interacts with the case is also vital. Saying the word "militarism" or an analogy to the iraq war aren't impacts.
---Going to be honest, in a debate setting, trying to convince me utilitarianism is bad might be an uphill battle given I haven't heard any great alternative ethical frameworks that don't rely on utilitarian justifications. Thats not to say "extinction outweighs" is unbeatable in front of me, i just think I'll be persuaded better by other approaches to mitigating the Affs extinction impact including: answering the case, a plan exclusive framework interpretation, turns case arguments, having your own extinction impact, some sort of risk analysis argument (predictions fail, conjunctive fallacy etc.) a root cause claim (securitization makes threats inevitable etc.).
On the Aff
---The 2AR I am most likely to vote on has a counter interp that defines words in the resolution in an attempt to solve some neg offense (doesn't necessarily mean traditional definitions) or at the very least, a clear vision of what the topic looks like. Establishing a role for the neg beyond "you can read baudrillard" will help you a lot. Fairness is an impact (if the neg takes the time to explain why), clash might be a better one though.
Policy stuff
I care about evidence quality but only insofar as its debated out. i.e If the neg's politics uniqueness cards are far better than the Aff's but only the Aff is doing evidence comparison/spin, I'll probably end up Aff.
Absolute defense/presumption is a thing.
I'll go either way on judge-kick.
I think predictable limits matter a lot and that unpredictable but limiting interpretations don't solve anything. I can be convinced that small differences in card quality/predictability are outweighed by a big limits DA though.
The neg probably needs a counter interpretation in plan text in a vacuum debates.
theory predispositions (none of these are strongly held).
---I find the argument that competition determines legitimacy fairly persuasive. It seems to me that going for theory while conceding the CP competes is analogous to ASPEC or going for T without reading any definitions of words in the resolution.
---For process cps, there is a big difference between CPs that solve by causing the Aff via follow on, and CPs that fiat the plan but said action is conditioned on X. I.e a CP that has Mexico recommend the plan but doesn't fiat anything else is way more competitive/legitimate than a CP that fiats the plan if Mexico agrees.
---Condo debates---I think that debates where the Aff defends 2 condo and the neg defends 3 are kinda silly. The neg should defend conditionality and the Aff should defend dispositionality, unconditionality et cetera.
---Very ambivalent about everything else, ill go either way on condo, process cps, international fiat etc.
Email: aarinj@gmail.com
Jesuit '22(2a/1n, 2n/1a(Junior Year)), Georgia Tech '26(Not Debating)
He/Him
Don't call me judge, I have a name(pronounced Are-in)
Quick Notes Before the Round:
I am fine with essentially every argument. If you want to go for ASPEC, I'll begrudgingly listen to it. I'll reward better arguments with better speaker points, but not vice versa. The more niche your argument is, the more you have to explain it for it to make sense to me, but I assure you I will try my best to understand based on what is presented in the round. I have not read anything related to the topic, so keep that in mind when you use acronyms and words of art.
That said, I will not vote for anything I do not understand. If the 2ar/2nr does not give me a coherent reason to vote for them, I will probably vote for the other team. If neither give me a coherent reason, then I will do the work to figure out who won, but I really don't want to do that.
Make the debate as easy as you can for me. Trust me, it will greatly award you in terms of the outcome of the debate and speaker points.
Preferably, both you and I will keep track of time for speeches/prep. If our times differ significantly, I'll intervene, otherwise, I'll leave it up to you.
Don't take excessive time setting up the email chain. It should be set up and sent right at start time. I will dock speaker points if its taking too long for you to send the email.
Theory debates are good. Affs should go for them more, don't be afraid to read and go for theory, especially on CP competition.
If you have a cool sticker for me to add to my computer, I will be eternally grateful.
Topicality:
Topicality debates are very very complex thus reading your 2nc/2ac blocks slower will help a ton for me to actually catch every warrant you want me to. Since a lot of topicality is based on analytical arguments, spacing/numbering of arguments will keep the flow clear and help me keep up. If you choose to go 100% speed through your block, don't get angry at me when I miss a warrant.
Topicality is about setting limits to the topic, so I instinctively compare both the affirmatives and negatives interpretation of how limits should be set. Giving me a clear topic list under both interps will help me compare both. Also making your standards comparative will go a long way. If you couldn't guess, comparing is a really good idea for topicality.
I default to competing interpretations, but I can be easily persuaded to default to reasonability if the aff claims and supports that they are a core of the topic aff.
Disadvantages:
The more specific your link, the more likely I am going to vote for you. If your evidence is cherry-picked, poorly highlighted to get a link, then I will have a very high threshold to vote for you. I think the best thing either side can do is be comparative about why the link story is wrong/right. Affirmatives should always be skeptical of the negative link evidence. Use your 1ac to answer disadvantage, the 1ac should pre-empt common disadvantages against your aff.
Counter Plans:
Affirmative--please read theory. Negatives read too many nonsensical counterplans. Read and go for theory, I will probably vote for you more often than not if there is clear abuse. Also, please use your 1ac evidence, you read 8 minutes of evidence that should help to prove your solvency claims.
Negative--I like smart counterplans. The more specific the better, especially if the solvency advocate is fire. I am fine with most counterplans. Process counterplans are fine, but you need to prove an opportunity cost to the aff, not a reason why the CP is better than the aff. I also think negs need more of a defense of their strategy. Don't just throw out 5 counterplans with bad highlighting. Think about which ones are actually strategic.
Kritiks:
I have gone for these the most. I like Kritiks. They are fun to read and fun to judge. Framework esque kritiks are fine, but you need to slow down on the nitty gritty so I can flow. Other types of Ks are what they are. Make sure to give examples of links and contextualize them to the aff. Show me why the aff is bad and feeds into a violent system. I'm fine with any of the common Ks, but if it is more niche, I need a longer explanation in the 2nc/2nr.
Affirmative--Tell me why your aff is good and why you should get to weigh it. A lot of negative f/ws are kinda limiting and I think affs can win that they get to at least weigh their aff in which case outweighs is your friend. I also think that slowing down on the link debate is to your benefit because then I can more easily understand your warrants and will probably subconsciously do a lot of the work for you.
Negative--It is essentially the first paragraph, but recognize when FW is two ships sailing at night. Ditch it if you don't need it. Don't go for it if it doesn't tie into the alt. Speaking of alts, paint a picture of the alt. Tell me what I am voting for and I will be a little more lenient on the link debate.
K affs: I don't think that fairness is an impact. At best, it is an internal link to things like advocacy skills. I don't think "core generics" is a good argument because the negative saying is that they are forced to read generics when half their 1ncs are the PTX DA and some random camp DA is equally as bad. Aff teams should push more on education being a terminal impact.
Clearly define your model of debate and the relevant terms. I will view FW debates through a comparison of models so the more comparative you are the more you are likely to win. I think that K affs are important for policy debate, so you are highly unlikely to convince me that the aff is cheating. Instead, the negative should be making arguments about why there needs to be a connection to either the topic or governmental action. This is absent a clear TVA where the aff could easily be done through policy action. Making demands on the state doesn't require USfg action. I will vote for the negative, but I think that a. you have to get off your blocks and b. you got to actually respond to what the aff is saying. I think that a lot of judges are very neg biased and I will NOT be.
Go for presumption or case against K-Affs, most of K-Affs don't actually do anything besides ask for the ballot. I am in the camp that reading K-Affs are good and should be read, NOT in the camp that they actually spill out. A good case push or a presumption ballot is very good imo.
Speaker Points
I start at 28.5 and go up or down based on what you do in the debate that either helps you or makes the debate harder for you or for me.
Don't be rude to your opponent or me
Don't say problematic things in the debate
If you are a novice and you got this far, show me your flows at the end of the debate and I will give you +0.5 points, also tell me your favorite TV show and I will give you another +0.5 points if I haven't seen it.
PF/LD
I have no experience with either or what is expected. I will judge these rounds like Policy. I do not keep up with the topics for these events so please explain well otherwise I will be lost.
Rishabh Jain (he/him)
Woodward '24, debated for 3.5 years. Northwestern '28.
Influences: Bill Batterman, Maggie Berthiaume, Sam Wombough, Gabriel Morbeck
I have decent topic knowledge. I have no topic knowledge.
Novice Version:
I hope yall take enjoyment in this activity. Debate can be an incredibly fun and rewarding experience, and I'll do my best as a judge to make it that way for yall. The main things i want yall to do is:
- have fun!
- be nice!
- be clear and practice line by line!
- don't clip - if you don't know what this is, feel free to ask me
- send me the chain!
- flow and look like you're invested in the debate!
- tell me you know, or at least you're trying/pretending to know what you're talking about.
IDK if this is ever gonna be relevant but I think the novice division is more for learning how to debate, with the topic as a vehicle for core topic args to be introduced so novices can learn how to apply topic arguments to debate and learn how arguments interact with each other. If that doesn't make any sense, just know that I don't like it when novices run Process CPs or goofy stuff their varsity/coaches told them to run and win because the other team has no idea what they're doing.
Long (Varsity) Version:
I'll be attempting to resolve the questions I always had of a judge when i was debating. I'll try to keep my personal biases (explained below) out of every round, but they might affect my feedback to a degree. Feel free to post round - every judge should be able to defend their decision, and if they can't, that's on me. Just don't scream at me please.
Tech over truth. Ideological predispositions are irrelevant to my decision calculus. I will evaluate the most atrocious 14 off 1NC that boils down to warming good in the 2NR the same way I will evaluate a 2NR that goes for a deep and nuanced advantage CP with a hyperspecific DA to the aff. The only exception is when arguments become so morally repugnant to a standard beyond debate that I have to give an L + 0. This includes: suicide good + racism, sexism, etc. good. "My role as educator outweighs my role as any form of disciplinarian, so I will err on the side of letting stuff play out. This ends when it begins to threaten the safety of round participants." - Truf.
Tech over truth is not to say I'll vote on dropped ASPEC hidden in some random CP shell with a humongous smile on my face. While I will vote on it, I probably won't be happy about it at all. The best debates (and the ones that result in higher speaker points) are where two teams who are able to communicate clearly and confidently demonstrate deep understanding of a topic. I also think truer arguments are easier to win on.
FYI - an argument is a claim and a warrant - if a claim is dropped, but it has no warrant nor an implication on the rest of the debate, it's probably going to be completely irrelevant to how I evaluate the debate.
I understand that a claim and a warrant might sound infinitely regressive - take for example the derivative of x^2 is 2x because you do the power rule. But there could always be a warrant for why you do the power rule, like it's best and fastest method. But there could always be warrant for why its the best and fastest method, and so on, and so forth. So I'll draw a line and count anything as an argument when the claim you make has at least 1 "because XYZ claim".
Above all, you do you. Don't try to cater to me - that will probably be a worse debate than if you just did what you usually do. Every preference I list in this paradigm can be overcome by good debating, these are simply my views in a debate where these beliefs are not contested.
Misc Practices:
I'm good for tag teaming, just keep it at a reasonable level.
Inserting rehighlights is definitely a good practice, but you have to explain what the rehighlight says before you insert it.
Also, if you're recutting an article and reading stuff from beyond what the other team has cut it to be, you must read the recut. Inserting a bunch of ev into the debate without an explanation defeats the whole point of debate being a communicative activity.
Sending analytics? You don't need to, but it's probably a good idea to - I want to say my flowing skills are average.
CX as prep? no, unless you're mav.
Any other doc format besides word? No.
Highlighting colors? Good for blue, green, yellow, purple, gray for rehighlights/inserts etc. Just don't make the highlighting absolutely atrocious and unreadable.
Card Docs? Send them please. Chances are I won't look at them unless the debate truly comes down to the evidence OR if a team expressly tells me to look at a card, however.
Addendum: Please Don't Tag Cards Like This. Who Writes Anything Like This.
Substantive Thoughts on Arguments:
General/Stuff that doesn't really fit into any one category.
I don't really have any strong feelings on "neg terrorism" (CPing out of straight turns, lots of condo). Do what you must. Too many aff teams let the neg get away with antics though.
Case Debate.
Most 1ACs are usually nonsensical and have glaring flaws the neg tends to not exploit, instead opting for impact defense. Why are you doing this? Good case debating, and likewise, a 1AC that the aff team can coherently explain, will result in higher speaks.
Disadvantages.
No hot takes on them. Politics DAs are fine. Turns case is extremely important, and applying it at all levels of the DA is a good idea.
Counterplans.
Fine for you going for artificially competitive counterplans, but evenly debated, I'd lean aff.
Some theoretical objections to these are explained in a way that every CP would violate. "Reject Process CPs" - what is a process? Isn't every CP a process?
Creative advantage CPs are good. The monstrous multiplank advantage CP is kind of fun.
International fiat on domestic topics, object fiat, and multi-level government fiat is bad.
Impact Turns.
These can be fun and nuanced.
Spark or wipeout are fine with me.
Kritiks.
The 2NC and 2NR has to explain their theory of power and their impact coherently. Otherwise, I likely won't have any idea what I'm voting on, and that's going to make my decision much harder to parse thru. A really buzzwordy overview won't help.
I will not decide a middle ground framework and will only choose between the ones both sides present me in the debate.
Not much knowledge on stuff beyond security/cap/set col - you'll probably lose me a bit if you're rocketing 400 WPM thru a bunch of blocks on high theory. I kinda understand bataille though.
Topicality.
I think plan text in a vacuum is a true argument, but I think it has limited use cases. (i.e., if they go for "if they win PTXIV vote neg on presumption" and i could truthfully vote neg on presumption if the definition of the word took out the whole aff, i wouldn't recommend going for it)
Evenly debated, I think predictability > limits/debatability.
Limits is probably a better impact than ground.
Theory.
Condo is probably good. This isn't to say I won't vote on condo bad - I think the best condo 2ARs identify round-specific reasons why condo was bad so as to avoid the best general condo good offense.
Skew feels inevitable.
Anything else is probably just a reason to reject the arg.
K Affs.
Only ever been neg vs a k aff.
Presumption is really good against a lot of these. I think smart K affs that actually can beat presumption are kind of cool.
T USFG.
Go for it.
Good for either fairness or clash. I think fairness is an impact, and is probably more strategic a majority of the time. But clash is still fine with me in the back.
KvK.
Probably have no idea what I'm doing here tbh.
Varsity Speaker Points
<27.5 - Clipped, or other technical fouls.
28 - Below average.
28.5 - Median.
29 - I think you're breaking.
29.2+ - Solid elim run.
29.6+ - Winning the tournament.
29.9 - Future NDT winner.
Don't ask for a 30 pls.
Ways to get speaker points:
- knowing what you're talking about
- being nice
- sounding smart and confident and clear
- having good evidence and explaining said good evidence
- judge instruction
- doing line by line
- well formatted and organized evidence + docs
Ways to lose speaker points:
- being slow to send out stuff, being kinda late to start the round
- unclarity (is that a word?)
- rudeness or disrespectfulness
- dropping multiple pieces on the line by line
Good luck!
Zaria Jarman — Woodward Academy ’23 and current debater at Michigan State ’27
Yes, please add me to the email chain: zariajarman@gmail.com
General Comments
- Please be nice and respect your opponents.
-
Clarity >>>> Speed. If I don’t understand what you’re saying I can not flow it. If your opponents don't understand what is happening I probably don't either. I flow on paper if that makes a difference to you.
- I will not evaluate out of round issues.
- *Online debate* — If you feel comfortable, turn on your camera. (If you do not have a camera don’t worry about it)
- please I have little econ topic knowledge, please do your best to explain to me things like specific taxes and why that matters.
- My biggest influences in debate are Maggie Berthiaume , Bill Batterman , Sam Wombough feel free to look at their paradigms.
CX
I prefer that you lead/answer your own cross-ex questions, know that tag-teaming is alright but doing it a lot will affect your speaker points.
Topicality
Generally I love a good T debate.
The evidence you read should match the definition you have in the Tag.
Topicality is not a reverse voting issue.
Please don’t forget about the impact…
K-Affs and Kritiks
I am not an expert in Kritik literature, so chances are I have not read your main author or your main authors author. I am more convinced if Kritiks are debated as DAs to the affirmative, but as long as you explain your Kritik and impact it, you will be fine.
I am certainly willing to vote on a K-Aff. I was/am a more policy debater. I prefer K-Affs that are critiques of the resolution rather than "debate is bad". I am more convinced if the impact turn to fairness is coherent.
Counterplans
While I love a 12 plank advantage CP, I think that affirmatives should not be affaird to go for theory when the negative is reading an abusive counterplan. However if the advantages to the aff are not intrinsic the negative should capitalize off of this.
DAs
I love a really good CP/DA Debate. I will vote on absolute defense — sit down on the DA in the 2NR and tell me why the squo is better.
Theory
Affirmative theory is a lot more convincing than Negative theory.
I feel comfy voting for condo if there’s more than 2 conditional off.
For non condo theory arguments I will need slightly more explanation of why its a voting issue.
Biases
- Racism/Homophobia/Sexism… Any form of discrimination is bad. If you say any of these are good it will be an auto L and auto zero speaks
- War is probably bad
- Death/suffering is bad
Random stuff
I am a 1A/2N
I really enjoy debate as an activity so I want everyone to have as much fun as I do
Feel free to email me if you have any questions!
Please have fun!!! Don’t waste your weekends :(
LASA 21, Northwestern 25
Put me on the email chain: monicaelise.mej@gmail.com
I debated for 5 years at LASA debate and was coached by Yao Yao Chen and Mason Marriott-Voss. My thoughts on debate are very similar to theirs. I qualified to the TOC and the last year I debated was 2019-2020.
TLDR:
I am fine with basically everything, don't over adapt and do what you do best. I value argument explanation, so please take the time to explain your arguments. This also tends to make me more truth>tech than other judges. I am fine with speed. Don't say stuff that's racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist etc. (but also don't accuse the other team of doing this if they didn't.)
Theory
I lean aff on condo, but in general for condo to be viable for the aff I would like for the aff team to spend more time on it and actually respond to the negatives arguments. In general this is true for theory and everything else. I will probably not vote for you if you aren't responding to your opponents arguments and just reading blocks, but this tends to come up the most in theory debates. I lean neg on agent CPs, Advantage CPs, PICs out of the plan, and anything with aff specific solvency advocates. I tend to lean aff on process CPs, kicking planks, and CPs with no solvency advocate. I am ok with 2NC CPs if there is a reasonable explanation for them. I would like to see more teams be creative with theory; ie use it to justify a perm or as a reason the counterplan doesn't solve rather than just going for reject the team.
Topicality
I don't like evaluating T debates so please only go for T if there is an actual violation and you have a good interp and vision for the topic. This is the argument that I need y'all to explain the most, because it is very topic specific and I will probably not have the context of camp debates and thoughts that y'all do. This is where I think y'all should be doing the most clash and indepth answering the other teams arguments so that I know what is going on.
Policy Affs
I prefer judging affs that have solvency advocates and scenarios that actually relate to each other. The more specific your advantage and solvency advocate the more happy I am. I also wish the neg would take more advantage of how awful many policy affs are and how little their cards say. A good case debate can take out most risk of the aff for me and make it very easy for the neg to win.
Counterplans
I enjoy specific case specific counterplans more than generic counterplans. If you have to run a generic counterplan please at least contextualize to the aff in your explanation. You should have a solvency advocate. I am not a fan of process cps with an internal net benefit. That goes doubly for delay counterplans.
Disads
Disads also require more explanation than debaters often give them. I would really appreicate if more people would spend their time spinning their evidence, especially their link because I know its hard to have aff specific link cards. I also think its often important for the neg to set up multiple links and then chose the best ones in the late debate because it makes it much harder for the aff. I am not the biggest fan for Rider DAs but everything else is fine. Affs should compare how contrived the da is in comparison to aff scenarios.
Kritiks
I am not super familiar with K literature, so I will need you to explain your k. I also think that a K should have specific links to the aff. Similar to the disad section I don't really care if your card is answering the aff but you need to explain how the aff links based on what your link card says. I am harder to convince on structural arguments, but if you put in effort to explain them and apply it to the aff I'll vote for them. I think the best links are to the core ideas of the aff, either being the action of the plan or the core reps of the aff. I am generally skeptical about whether the alt does anything so please explain the more material implementation of the alt. I also think more aff teams should call out alts that are clearly utopian.
Kritikal Affs
Similar to what I said about Ks, I am probably not going to know what your aff is about. I have very limited knowledge on K literature and that is even more true for K affs. Your evidence should defend the same thing and be related to each other, I am going to be even more confused if your evidence is from a dozen different arguments and doesn't clearly connect. You really need to take the time to explain your aff and contextualize it to the topic (this will help you on the framework debate). The neg should try to engage the aff, I get it if you can't if you've never seen anything like it before, but you at least need to engage with the content of the aff at some point in the debate even if it is on framework. I will probably be very lost in K v K debates, but I will do my best just make sure to have very good explanations and don't rely on me having any prior knowledge.
Framework
I am not a huge fan of the fairness impact. I don't think that it can't be used convincingly, but I have yet to hear an explanation that doesn't just feel like two teams reading fairness blocks against each other. I think clash/research impacts on framework tend to be the best, but I am pretty open to anything. I think you should do impact analysis on them though. You should be specific about the ground you have lost, what the TVA is, and how the aff's content could exist in debate in another form. Also please respond to the aff's arguments and disads. The worst and most frustrating Framework debates are when teams just read blocks against each other.
I am okay with judging anything in round. I firmly believe that debates should be left up to the debaters and what they want to run. If you want to read policy or a new kritik; I am good with anything y'all as debaters want to run. Do not read anything that is homophobic, racist, ableist, or sexiest in round. Debate should be a safe place for everyone. A little bit about me I was a 1A/2N my senior year. I recently graduated from Sac State with a major in Communications and Women's Studies. I am currently applying to Law school and will be attending a law school in fall of 2024. I am currently a policy coach for the Sacramento Urban Debate League, coaching at CKM and West Campus.
Kritikal Affs: I love identity politics affirmatives. They are one of my favorite things to judge and hear at tournaments. I ran an intersectional k aff my senior year. If you run an identity politics affirmative then I am a great judge for you. For high theory k affs I am willing to listen to them I am just not as well adapted in that literature as identity politics. But on the negative, I did run biopower.
Policy Affirmative: Well duh.... I am good at judging a hard-core policy round or a soft-left affirmative. Once again whatever the debaters want to do I am good with judging anything.
Framework: I feel like the question for framework that debaters are asking here is if I am more of a tech or truth kind of judge. I would say its important for debaters to give me judge instruction on how they want to me to judge the round. If you want me to prefer tech or truth you need to tell me that, and also tell me WHY I should prefer tech or truth. The rest of the debate SSD, TVAs etc need to be flushed out and not 100% blipy. But that's pretty much how I feel like with every argument on every flow.
CP/DA: If you want to read 9 off you can.
Theory: I will be honest; I am not the best at evaluating theory arguments. I know what they are, and you can run them in front of me. But if you go for them, judge instruction is a must, and explaining to me how voting for this theory shell works for the debate space etc.
I like being told what to vote for and why. I am lazy to my core. If I have to look at a speech doc at the end of the round I will default to what happened in the round, not on the doc.
On a side note, go follow the Sacramento Urban Debate League on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, I want to be in the email chain. My email is smsj8756@gmail.com thanks!
**Just a brief update for the high school community on the IPR topic:
This is a difficult topic for high school students to fully understand. You might be best served by keeping it simple.
T - Subsets -- Waste of time.
Process CPs - Good luck with these in front of me.
If you feel the need to not take prep before the 2AC or 2NC, good luck with that as well in front of me.
**Updated Summer 2024**
Yes I would like to be on the email chain: jordanshun@gmail.com
I will listen to all arguments, but a couple of caveats:
-This doesn't mean I will understand every element of your argument.
-I have grown extremely irritated with clash debates…take that as you please.
-I am a firm believer that you must read some evidence in debate. If you differ, you might want to move me down the pref sheet.
Note to all: In high school debate, there is no world where the Negative needs to read more than 5 off case arguments. SO if you say 6+, I'm only flowing 5 and you get to choose which you want me to flow.
In college debate, I might allow 6 off case arguments :/
Good luck to all!
Eshkar Kaidar-Heafetz – He/They
Chattahoochee ’23 – Wenatchee Independent KK – UWG ’27
Email chain – esh5.atl.debate@gmail.com
213 Rounds debated, 67 Judged, 2X TOC Qual, 1X NDT Qual
Affiliations – Chattahoochee, Johns Creek, Brookfield East SM, Alpharetta
“K debaters cheat, Policy debaters lie. If you believe both, you should pref me highly. If you believe one of the two, you should pref me in the middle percentile. If you don’t believe either, go do PF” – Josh Harrington
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No one in debate should have to interact with their abuser. If a round is unsafe, please let me know before the round, I will go to tabroom and fight for whatever potential solution I can. This is something that should be taken up with tabroom, your coach, etc. and is not something I would want to have to adjudicate in the middle of a round. If you are someone who treats others like trash, is implicated negatively in a title IX investigation, etc., I should be at the very bottom of your pref sheet.
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Most important notes
Clarity is massive for me. I have a memory loss disorder along with minor hearing problems. This does not mean that I am unable to hear or process the spreading of any given round, but that your persuasive ability majorly goes down when I have to spend more of my time processing figuring our what you’re saying rather than focusing on the quality of your arguments and instruction. I don’t care how fast you’re going; I care how clear you are when going at that speed.
Highlighting in debate right now is maybe one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. Your evidence should still be highlighted to be, generally, grammatically correct and highlighted warrants.
Everything about basic decency that you’ve seen in every other paradigm I believe in. Racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. is unacceptable and will be given a L25, likely combined with an incredibly serious email to your coach.
Evidence ethics – clipping, miscites, cards cut with sentences omitted, cards cut that don’t begin and end at the start and end of paragraphs, changes to words in a card altering the meaning of the evidence are also an L25.
Also, I think highlighting words from the name of the article or book is ridiculous. Don't highlight cites...
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Arguments –
I wholeheartedly believe that I’m good for any argument. My high-school career included a lot of policy debates and even more K debates. My senior year, I exclusively went for disability on the affirmative, and our negative strategy included anything from conditions counterplans to kritiks to impact turns. I was both the 2A and 2N for four years. My college career has just started, but I primarily read queerness on the AFF when 2Aing and on the NEG when 2Ning, but when I was the 1A read a policy aff and when I was the 1N extended almost exclusively topicality or a PIK.
The only major threshold for evaluating if an argument should be read in front of me is if you’re willing to go for it, I dislike throw-away strategies.
Wipeout, spark, death good, whatever are all fine positions. I believe there is a difference between a post-fiat argument that centers around death being good, and a real world threat of violence (i.e., telling a debater to inflict harm upon themselves, threatening harm upon someone, etc.).
Specific arguments –
Disadvantages – I love seeing creative disadvantages or just ones that are articulated very well. My main issue with DA debates nowadays is I tend to see ones where, by the 2NR, many parts of the debate feel incredibly isolated rather than a cohesive story that I can sit down and say I understand. Debaters that are able to clearly articulate and define the link debate beyond just shallow extensions do much better in front of me when they fit that link explanation into the broader story of the AFF/DA.
Counterplans – Some of my favorite debates when the counterplan actually competes. I went for conditions and pics a lot of the time my senior year (probably at least 1/2 of my 2NRs), the sorts of debates for counterplans that I dislike are ones that get incredibly muddled in solvency/impact questions, ESPECIALLY if your evidence is not specific and you’re trying to write a plan text around generic evidence to make it work. I am not the world’s best judge for intense counterplan competition debates, but don’t let that deter you from going for what you want. I think delay is a silly cp.
Topicality – I honestly went through most of high-school HATING topicality debates but have now grown incredibly fond of them. As of my freshman year in college, topicality usually makes up nearly two-thirds of my 1NRs. What I think deters most debaters is a numbers game for interpretations, but I genuinely believe that an incredibly high quality interpretation is far better than a ton of short cards that barely say anything. Give me a solid caselist and view of what would happen for debate under the AFF’s counter-interpretation and do in depth evidence comparison and warrant comparison, because a LOT of topicality debates seem to lack these. Storytelling is so critical and underrated in T debates, I want to clearly imagine the world of the interp/counter interp.
Kritiks – My bread and butter, went for Ks a ton throughout all of high school. I’m familiar with most branches of literature, my weak spots are Baudrillard, Deleuze, Guattari and Derrida, but I am very well versed in nearly every other branch of lit. I think kritiks probably need aff-specific links (at least articulated/contextualized in the 2NC) and have no particular thought on if I should weigh the consequences of the plan or not. I hold Kritik debates to a much higher standard, because I know what a good K debate should look like and expect you to produce a good K debate.
Kritik Affirmatives – Love them, ran them exclusively both my senior year of H.S. and (as of writing this) freshman year of college. However, I am incredibly skeptical of most K-AFF’s ability to solve their impacts or solve/do anything at all. I am a judge who is completely willing to vote on a 5 minutes of presumption 2NR, because often times these AFFs don’t have a topic link, don’t do anything, etc. My favorite affirmatives are ones that defend actual material strategies, methods, etc. or at least are able to have a position that I feel is sufficient to beat back on SSD/TVA and presumption. I am not going to do the work for you. Last note – most of your authors probably hate each other and I think a lot of affirmatives fail to reconcile that, if you’re going to be reading an affirmative in front of me, the evidence/narrative should be cohesive. I like anything from more traditional K-AFFs to poetry to songs to completely uncarded ones, but understand I have a reasonably high threshold for solvency. For the negative, I love a well-executed KvK debate and will reward a high-quality one, but I am similarly amenable to framework.
Framework – Go for it, I don’t really care what impact you go for. I hate seeing teams over-rely on generic blocks and miss the actual content of AFF offense, so if you want to go for framework, I expect to see you spend time engaging the affirmative’s arguments, actually responding to the content of them, etc. Otherwise, you can see me checking out on something like a counter interp + risk of a DA more easily than I’d like to. I am very skeptical of a lot of KAFF's offense versus framework, you should maximize that.
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Miscellaneous
I am a small-school debater who handled running their program since 2021. If you need any help with your own, reach out to me.
Favs -
Kelly Lin, Allison Lee, Charles Sanderson, Patrick Fox, Avery Wilson, Srikar Satish, Sophia Dal Pra, Rose Larson, Astrid Clough, Jordan Keller, Robin Forsyth, Ash Koh, Geoff and Sarah Lundeen, Lauren Ivey, Kevin Bancroft, Grey Parfenoff, Blaine Montford, Austin Davis
Updated pre-greenhill on IPR
Yes email chain-- willkatzemailchain@gmail.com
I am currently a coach at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart full time and very part time at the University of Kansas. I debated in high school at Washburn Rural and in college at the University of Kansas.
I have been actively involved in research for the high school IPR topic and lightly involved in research about college energy topic.
Short Version
I will flow debates on paper and decide debates from my flow. Evidence quality matters a lot to me, as does execution. Debaters that use their paper flows to deliver speeches often impress me a lot.
I prefer debates with a lot of clash over well-researched issues that are germane to the topic. I often vote for arguments that I don't prefer. I do so less often in close debates.
No ad homs/screen shots. Things that happen outside of the debate are not within my jurisdiction. Contact the tournament director or have your coach do it if you aren't comfortable doing so.
Slightly longer version
Everyone must treat all participants in the debate with respect. Speeches are something that I, a high school teacher, should be able to enthusiastically show my administration.
I prefer debates with a lot of clash over well-researched issues that are germane to the topic. I would love to see your core topic da vs case throwdown, your topic-specific mechanism counterplan, or (most of all) your case turn strategy. I might even enjoy your core-of-topic k provided you make link arguments about the aff and have an alternative that actually disagrees with the aff.
Affs:I love big, core of the topic affs. I can even like smaller affs sometimes too. Your aff needs to defend things. Vagueness is not the path to victory with me.
Topicality:I have far fewer pre-dispositions about what is and isn't topical going into the season than usual. I will be interested to see how debates play out over what it means to protect IPR.
Counterplans: I am increasingly opposed to process counterplans. I have historically had an okay record for them, but in close debates, I have voted aff far more than neg. I am equally convinced by "permutation: do the counterplan" and permutations that exercise "limited intrinsicness". Often, teams rush to the latter, but the former is almost always a simpler and clearer path to victory.
Conditionality: I am dangerous to negative teams that flagrantly abuse conditionality. CP'ing out of straight turns, multiple conditional planks, and fiated double turns/contradictions that the aff can't exploit make debate bad. I don't have a hard and fast rule about the number that you can read, but if you have more than 2 or 3 conditional arguments, you would be best served having a robust defense of conditionality.
By default, I care more about the quality of debates than "logic" or "arbitrariness." That doesn't mean I will never care about those things, just that it requires you to robustly develop your impact.
Non-conditionality theory:It can definitely be boring when it is just whining, but I do think there are some things that negative teams fiat that are hard to defend when put under scrutiny. I am not the worst judge in the country to go for a theory argument in front of.
Kritiks: There are K debates on this topic that I am excited to watch. Those K debates will focus on the link and actually talk about what the affirmative does that is wrong. It will focus a lot less on abstract frameworks, theories of power, or generic structures. A few more notes on kritiks:
1. Links aren't alt causes, they are things that the aff does that are bad
2. K's need alts. Framework CAN function as an alt, but then the affirmative obviously gets to permute it and any other deviation from the status quo that the neg defends. To convince me the aff perm doesn't apply, you would need to defend the status quo.
3. Bring back the ethics impact! I am rarely persuaded by a k with an extinction impact because those are usually very easily solved by a permutation. You need an impact to your link, not an impact to your overall structure.
I am a debate coach at Little Rock Central. Please put both on the email chain: jkieklak@gmail.com; lrchdebatedocs@gmail.com
I believe that my role is to listen, flow, and weigh the arguments offered in the round how I am persuaded to weigh them by each team. I will listen to and evaluate any argument. It is unacceptable to do anything that is: ableist, anti-feminist, anti-queer, racist, or violent.
I think debates have the lowest access to education when the judge must intervene. I can intervene as little as possible if you:
1) Weigh your impacts and your opponents' access to risk/impacts in the debate.
2) Actively listen and use your time wisely. Debaters miss each other when distracted/not flowing or listening. This seems to make these teams more prone to missing/mishandling arguments by saying things like, "'x' disad, they dropped it. Extend ____ it means ____;" yet, in reality, the other team actually answered the argument through embedded clash in the overview or answered it in a way that is unorthodox but also still responsive/persuasive. Please be clear.
3) Compare evidence and continuously cite/extend your warrants in your explanations/refutation/overall argumentation. Responses in cross that cite an individual warrant or interrogate their opponents' warrants are good ethos builders and are just in general more persuasive, same in speeches.
4) You fully explain your perms/responses to perms. I am less persuaded by blippy arguments (especially the perms), and I am more persuaded when perms and are either: explained in detail or carded.
5) "Be mindful of your maximum rate of efficiency" (AT). Speed isn't typically a problem, but do be realistic about how fast you think I can type your responses that you want me to flow verbatim (perms, blippy disads, etc.) and not reconstruct.
Debate has changed the way that I believe about certain policies and policymaking. I believe that debate can do this for other people too.
I value persuasive judge instruction, and I would like my RFD to reflect key moments/lines in the 2AR and 2NR. Line by line is important.
Abt Me:
they/them
6th Year Debater @ USN (~4 years 2A, 2 years 2N)
My email is: soggywaffleandboiledcabbage@gmail.com
I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THAT I have little to no topic knowledge!
General Stuff:
Debate what you're good at, except high theory. I'll listen to and evaluate all kritical args. I don't want to do work for you and if you make me you won't like it. Clarity over speed. I will want everything impacted out in the round, even if they dropped it. I usually vote for the team that writes me the best ballot. Tech beats truth, but truth args probably get you more for less. I want an actual roadmap and sign-posting. I want A SINGLE word doc, google drive speeches will be flowed, but I won't torture myself looking at evidence. I want to be on the chain.
If we're online, I want cameras on during speeches and if you are being cross-ex'ed (I will have my camera on during speeches and cx as well). Similarly, if you're reading a big block of analytics, I'd much prefer you send them out.
Specification helps you win -- keep that in mind on every flow, especially k alt's.
I'd say that silly !'s scenarios are probably on a lower tier of preference to larger, "realer" !'s. That being said, they are fun when debated well.
K's:
They're cool and fun. Send out your analytics if you're reading a block of them, I consider it good sportsmanship. If your argument depends on a leap of logic, then don't assume I take that leap.
If you read high theory, you can high five me on the way out with 25 speaks.
I'm fine with your args being perf-con as long as you have a standard thesis in the block. Won't knock you for it unless aff says something.
I default aff gets weighed, doesn't mean you can't win otherwise.
You can't sever out of things that you have said in a speech ie. reps, offensive language said during the speech, your partner, etc. (except if you include trigger warnings and language filters, as you should).
I lean towards solvency being a key aspect of any kritik -- I'll vote easier on that than fw.
DA'S:
Good, comparative analysis is what wins you a DA.
A turn debate is a good debate, and you will get higher speaks for having a debate heavily involved in the aff.
Line-by-line counts for a lot.
I'd prefer you signpost Uq, Link, etc., but I won't knock you if you don't.
I like a DA vs Case debate as much as a DA + CP vs Case debate; too few people realize it's just as viable.
Impact Calc matters a lot.
I will give the neg what they win on the DA (There is probably a non-zero chance of the DA at all times, but the higher the chance of the DA, the more credence I will give it in-round).
UQ means a lot for the DA and controls how I think about it.
For linear DAs and Links in general, be very specific about the plan's effects.
CP:
Be textually and functionally competitive, I will vote for most theory if you aren't both.
Condo if 2 or less CP's/K's usually goes Aff for me, not that it goes Neg if it's 3, that's when the condo debate really starts.
Keep it simple, 4 planks is where you start losing condo.
Judge kick is an option if you say it is.
I'd prefer you don't sever out of the aff, I give the neg a lot of leeway with non-PDB perms.
If you have a specific solvency advocate, it's very hard for me to vote on CP theory. I would like solvency advocates for the CP be as good as the aff's.
I think the aff's best argument is usually the Perm, which I definitely swing Aff on if there is sufficient solvency deficit and explanation. I vote on sufficiency.
If the CP solves enough of the Aff and the Neg wins a net benefit, I'll vote.
If the CP has significantly higher solvency than the Aff, I will vote on that (emphasis on significantly higher solvency). I'm not against a presumption for the aff if the CP has no solvency.
T/Theory:
I love (good) theory debates. For that reason I will be giddy for good theory rounds. Most folks don't enjoy theory as an argument on the same level as others, but I do.
Larger violations should be a single flow page or sign-poster super well.
I will probably vote against you if you don't present actual arguments on either side.
Lit base usually checks. If your ev is good, I'll enjoy it.
Split up this debate and slow it down.
I won't evaluate it if it's incomplete, your T shell must include an interp, violation, voting issues, and impacts. Clearly explain the violation and expand and flesh out your impacts, even if they drop the T shell.
Effects/Extra T is an abuse amplifier on a T flow. It can be an individual theory argument if the violation is big enough.
I love theory, it's a real argument and strategy. For that reason, have a full theory shell for all args including the same things your T shell has. Don't just hide your theory either. It's a scummy thing to do.
FW:
Fairness is both an ! and IL.
I evaluate both the K and the Aff.
Debate is a game that gives students and debaters a method of engaging and learning in a competitive and challenging environment (debate is a competitive educational game).
K's have !'s because of the way debate is judged. I prefer a K debate built upon debating philosophy and solvency being justified through philosophical difference (ie. how does a grassroots movement's philosophy affect economic systems).
When it comes to planless/kritical affs, I give a decent bit of lenience to the neg.
I'm easily persuaded by real arguments (resources, small schools, etc.).
Case:
I'm fine with both policy and kritical affirmatives, but I have a preference on meaningful literature and argumentation.
If you do read a planless Aff, I will be more lenient to the Neg.
I love a good case debate (even on K affs). I won't mind if you take off some more off-case for more time on-case.
Disclose... please.
CX:
Be nice. It's a speech that just so happens to be directed by your opponent, do with that what you will.
Speaks:
I find them completely arbitrary and stupid, don't be insulted at what I give you. I start at 28.4 and go up or down. 27 and lower if you say something very rude or offensive. You've known how to curse for a while, don't act like you learned yesterday.
Extras:
Debate is a game and no one should get too worked up. I hate when people are mean, it lowers speaks significantly.
I use alt-use time and tag-teaming.
Steal prep and you will suffer in speaks.
Don't call me out (judge, Luke, etc.)
If you spread the Speed K, you get +2 speaks and hella clout w/ me but probably not a ballot.
Instant win and 30 speaks for your team if you accurately spread your 1NC/1AC in Morse Code (doc w/ .'s as beep, - as beeeep)
Credits:
Maddox Gates + Nikolai Smirnov
Decatur High School 2023
Macalester 2027
"Don't be annoying or rude. Do line by line. Flow."
This is my 8th year in policy debate. I've been successful in UDL, hs national circuit, and college debate. I am happy to judge any style of debate. I was a lab leader over the summer and do some high school research, so my topic knowledge is medium, but skewed a bit towards the patent side of things.
I flow on paper unless there isn't any available, and recently haven't been using a speech doc during speeches unless I've made an error on my end or I am noticing something off clipping wise. That means please be clear. If I can't understand an argument, I will not vote for it. I have been in debate for a while and understand spreading well, so this is not a deterrent to speaking fast, but go only as fast as you are clear. On the same note, clear signposting and organization is great too.
Please still add wmkdebate@gmail.com to the email chain.
Unless it's a cardless theory debate, I'd appreciate if you sent a card doc.
I try to approach the debate with a reasonably clean slate and stay tech > truth. That being said, well-warranted arguments based in the literature are more likely to win my ballot than arguments that are missing pieces or lack evidence even with uneven time coverage or evidence disparities.
I wont decide a high school debate round on an out of round issue. If there is a severe out of round issue where a team is uncomfortable or unsafe debating their opponents, I am happy to help you take it to tab, but I do not believe that I have the ability to adjudicate issues which I was not present to.
K
I have mostly debated using policy arguments. I have zero problem with Kritiks and I vote for them often, but my experience in the literature may be lower than other judges in the pool. Do not feel like you should change your style or go for different arguments because I am in the back, I'll judge these debates technically and vote on the flow.
I default to util framing, but am 100% open to flipping that depending on better debating. Its much more persuasive for me if you have an alternate ethical system for me to use than just making critiques of util/consequentialism
When judging framework v K aff debates, I often think that the K impacts are more persuasive than fairness, but the neg internal links (limits, predictability, etc) and defensive pushes (i.e. SSD or the TVA) are substantially more persuasive than the aff answers. I generally lean towards the team that can maximize these strengths and minimize their weaknesses.
I notice that I have a lower link threshold for non-fwk neg arguments vs planless affs. I can be convinced either way on if perms are legitimate or how they function.
Policy
While try or die framing is very persuasive to me, I also am weary of it. I think that many teams get away with frankly terrible impact cards and there should be a higher threshold for accessing "nuclear war" or "extinction". I don't think I would ever randomly intervene in this respect if it wasn't an issue brought up by the debaters, but pointing out evidentiary deficiencies can be a great way to tip the scales in impact calc.
I am pretty good for theory. Its hard to make me reject the argument and not the team for non condo theory. I am happy to vote either way on condo good or bad, but I'd appreciate it if everyone slowed down.
I am fine either way on competition questions, but I am definitely more skeptical of affs that result in the plan.
My default is to not judge kick unless told to before the 2NR.
I am heavily biased against 2NC counter plans to get out of straight turned arguments.
Case debate is a dying art. If you do it effectively, it can boost your speaker points a lot. DA + Case is a hard, but underrated strategy even on topics that are difficult for the neg. ADV CP + DA is nice too.
I don't have any problems voting for "generic" or "bad" arguments if they're debated well, but I do give speaker point bumps to teams who execute well researched strategies at the core of the topic, whether that is a policy or K strat.
Background:
Director of Debate at Georgetown Day School.
Please add me to the email chain - georgetowndaydebate@gmail.com.
For questions or other emails - gkoo@gds.org.
Big Picture:
Read what you want. Have fun. I know you all put a lot time into this activity, so I am excited to hear what you all bring!
Policy Debate
Things I like:
- 2AR and 2NRs that tell me a story. I want to know why I am voting the way I am. I think debaters who take a step back, paint me the key points of clash, and explain why those points resolve for their win fare better than debaters who think every line by line argument is supposed to be stitched together to make the ballot.
- Warrants. A debater who can explain and impact a mediocre piece of evidence will fare much better than a fantastic card with no in-round explanation. What I want to avoid is reconstructing your argument based off my interpretation of a piece of evidence. I don't open speech docs to follow along, and I don't read evidence unless its contested in the round or pivotal to a point of clash.
- Simplicity. I am more impressed with a debater that can simplify a complex concept. Not overcomplicating your jargon (especially K's) is better for your speaker points.
- Topicality (against policy Aff's). This fiscal redistribution topic seems quite large so the better you represent your vision of the topic the better this will go for you. Please don't list out random Aff's without explaining them as a case list because I am not very knowledgeable on what they are.
- Case debates. I think a lot of cases have very incredulous internal links to their impacts. I think terminal defense can exist and then presumption stays with the Neg. I'm waiting for the day someone goes 8 minutes of case in the 1NC. That'd be fantastic, and if done well would be the first 30 I'd give. Just please do case debates.
- Advantage CP's and case turns. Process CP's are fine as well, but I much prefer a well researched debate on internal links than a debate about what the definition of "resolved" "the" and "should"" are. Don't get me wrong though, I am still impressed by well thought out CP competition.
- Debates, if both teams are ready to go, that start early. I also don't think speeches have to be full length, if you accomplished what you had to in your speech then you can end early. Novice debaters, this does not apply to you. Novices should try to fill up their speech time for the practice.
- Varsity debaters being nice to novices and not purposefully outspreading them or going for dropped arguments.
- Final rebuttals being given from the flow without a computer.
Things:
- K Affirmatives and Framework/T. I'm familiar and coached teams in a wide variety of strategies. Make your neg strategy whatever you're good at. Advice for the Aff: Answer all FW tricks so you have access to your case. Use your case as offense against the Neg's interpretation. You're probably not going to win that you do not link to the limits DA at least a little, so you should spend more time turning the Neg's version of limits in the context of your vision of debate and how the community has evolved. I believe well developed counter-interpretations and explanations how they resolve for the Neg's standards is the best defense you can play. Advice for the Neg: Read all the turns and solves case arguments. Soft left framework arguments never really work out in my opinion because it mitigates your own offense. Just go for limits and impact that out. Generally the winning 2NR is able to compartmentalize the case from the rest of the debate with some FW trick (TVA, SSD, presumption, etc.) and then outweigh on a standard. If you aren't using your standards to turn the case, or playing defense on the case flow, then you are probably not going to win.
- Role of the Ballot. I don't know why role of the ballot/judge arguments are distinct arguments from impact calculus or framework. It seems to me the reason the judge's role should change is always justified by the impacts in the round or the framework of the round. I'm pretty convinced by "who did the better debating." But that better debating may convince me that I should judge in a certain way. Hence why I think impact calculus or framework arguments are implicit ROB/ROJ arguments.
- Tech vs. truth. I'd probably say I am tech over truth. But truth makes it much easier for an argument to be technically won. For example, a dropped permutation is a dropped permutation. I will vote on that in an instant. But an illogical permutation can be answered very quickly and called out that there was no explanation for how the permutation works. Also the weaker the argument, the more likely it can be answered by cross applications and extrapolations from established arguments.
- Kritiks. I find that K turns case, specific case links, or generic case defense arguments are very important. Without them I feel it is easy for the Aff to win case outweighs and/or FW that debates become "you link, you lose." I think the best K debaters also have the best case negs or case links. In my opinion, I think K debaters get fixated on trying to get to extinction that they forget that real policies are rejected for moral objections that are much more grounded. For example, I don't need the security kritik to lead to endless war when you can provide evidence about how the security politics in Eastern Europe has eroded the rights and quality of life of people living there. This coupled with good case defense about the Aff's sensational plan is in my opinion more convincing.
Things I like less:
- Stealing prep. Prep time ends when the email is sent or the flash drive is removed. If you read extra cards during your speech, sending that over before cross-ex is also prep time. I'm a stickler for efficient rounds, dead time between speeches is my biggest pet peeve. When prep time is over, you should not be typing/writing or talking to your partner. If you want to talk to your partner about non-debate related topics, you should do so loud enough so that the other team can also tell you are not stealing prep. You cannot use remaining cross-ex time as prep.
- Debaters saying "skip that next card" or announcing to the other team that you did not read xyz cards. It is the other team's job to flow.
- Open cross. In my opinion it just hurts your prep time. There are obvious exceptions when partners beneficially tag team. But generally if you interrupt your partner in cross-ex or answer a question for them and especially ask a question for them, there better be a good reason for it because you should be prepping for your next speech
- 2NC K coverage that has a 6 min overview and reads paragraphs on the links, impacts, and alt that could have been extended on the line by line.
- 2NC T/FW coverage that has a 6 min overview and reads extensions on your standards when that could have been extended on the line by line.
- 10 off. That should be punished with conditionality or straight turning an argument. I think going for conditionality is not done enough by Affirmative teams.
- Debaters whispering to their partner after their 2A/NR "that was terrible". Be confident or at least pretend. If you don't think you won the debate, why should I try convincing myself that you did?
- Card clipping is any misrepresentation of what was read in a speech including not marking properly, skipping lines, or not marking at all. Intent does not matter. A team may call a violation only with audio or video proof, and I will stop the round there to evaluate if an ethics violation has happened. If a team does not have audio or video proof they should not call an ethics violation. However, I listen to the text of the cards. If I suspect a debater is clipping cards, I will start following along in the document to confirm. If a tournament has specific rules or procedures regarding ethics violations, you may assume that their interpretations override mine.
PF Debate:
- Second rebuttal must frontline, you can't wait till the second summary.
- If it takes you more than 1 minute to send a card, I will automatically strike it from my flow. This includes when I call for a card. I will also disregard evidence if all there is a website link. Cards must be properly cut and cited with the relevant continuous paragraphs. Cards without full paragraph text, a link, a title, author name, and date are not cards.
- You are only obligated to send over evidence. Analytics do not need to be sent, the other team should be flowing.
- Asking questions about cards or arguments made on the flow is prep time or crossfire time.
- If it isn't in the summary, it's new in the final focus.
- Kritiks in PF, go for it! Beware though that I'm used to CX and may not be hip on how PF debaters may run Kritiks.
Brief note for LD/PF: All of my experience is in policy debate. I am less familiar with the norms of other formats. I believe that I would be considered a larper in LD terms.
Note: I enjoy a joke arg, but you must commit to the bit!!!! Additionally, I am keeping track of some UM Brooks treasure for Skye.
I was a college debater for Concordia Moorhead. I am comfortable judging both policy and critical arguments. Do note that I ran mostly biopower and cap, so I may not be as familiar with other kriticks. During the final rebuttals I want you to write my ballot for me. In other words, tell me the story of the debate round and why I should conclude that you have won. That means impact comparison, framing, and condensing the debate down to its core components.
I don't like it when debaters sacrifice clarity to speak faster. I will stop flowing if I have to call clear an excessive number of times. I also really don't like it when you slow down for the tag and speed up for the card body. To me, that says that your evidence isn't meaningful or significant and I should treat the body of cards as just filler. I will call speed if you're going too fast for me to flow.
I like it when you give a speech off your flow without any blocks.
Specific Notes:
Theory- I expect you to slow down for denser theory blocks. Otherwise, I cannot evaluate arguments I cannot write down. I will vote on theory, but I don't have any dogmatic stances on issues like conditionality or PIC/Ks.
The K- I enjoy k vs policy aff debates. I don't think you need an alt if you have won sufficient offense on their reps or epistemology, but a strong alt makes it easier to vote for you.
K affs- I will vote for K affs, but I expect robust answers to framework.
DAs/counterplan- I am waiting for the day an aff team puts theory voters on a politics DA.
Topicality- I have judged mostly novice this year, so I'm not up to date on the T meta. I want to see more T debate in Minnesota, so I will be happy to see some T.
Overall, good luck and have fun. I want debate to be a fun and educational experience for all participants. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Please include me in the email chain, but I try to avoid reading evidence unless absolutely needed.
email:
johnxkrueger@gmail.com
Jake Lee (He/Him)
Math Teacher and Director of Debate at Mamaroneck High School
For Email Chain: jakemlee@umich.edu
Also add: mhsdebatedocs@googlegroups.com
A more in-depth view of my judging record: View this Spreadsheet
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General:
Tech > Truth, will let the flow dictate what I vote on. Will leave personal biases on things outside. Only exceptions: I will not vote on Death Good (Ligotti style) or anything that is blatant hate speech
I won't vote on arguments that pertain to issues outside a debate round or ad homs
Stop asking for a 30 in rounds.
Hiding ASPEC or other theory arguments = cowardly
No "inserting" rehighlightings. You must read your re-highlighting.
I starting to believe in the Shunta Rule, but won't enforce it yet. The NEG really does not need more than 6 offcase to win a debate.
Case/Plan specific strategies with good evidence are substantially better than spamming a ton of incomplete, generic, cheap shot arguments. Those strategies will be rewarded.
Vertical Proliferation of arguments is better than a horizontal proliferation of arguments. You can definitely ask me what this means.
Respect your opponents
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IPR Specific:
T-Subsets should not be your 2NR strategy unless the AFF has MASSIVELY screwed up
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The State of Flowing:
The state of flowing is beyond terrible right now, stop looking at the doc and listen to your opponent. I am getting tired of the amount of times debaters just say with full confidence "x argument was DROPPED!" when it was not. CX time has been wasted on arguments that were not read because you assumed it was read because it being on the doc. I am going to start docking speaker points for debaters that are obviously not flowing the speech and only flowing the speech doc.
If you ask the speaker to remove the cards they did not read, I will run prep time, and the speaker has the right to run your prep time down to 0 because it is your job to listen and flow
If you answer arguments that were in the speech doc but not read, I will doc speaker points.
She/her - respecting others pronouns is non negotiable
I’m currently a coach at Washburn HS, and a former varsity debater for St Paul Central HS. As a debater I was the 2N/1A and leaned towards using Ks and soft left affs
Judging -
Idc what you call me in round but if you're going to use my first name try to pronounce it right (Mar - in)
TLDR - I’ll vote on anything (within ethical bounds) as long as it’s argued + explained well
If you’re a middle schooler read the first 3 sections of my paradigm at least.
Round procedure -
Feel free to ask questions before the round begins, as well as in round as long if it is about procedure
If I’m making origami or something don’t worry I’m still paying attention
I am fairly lax and won't be a huge stickler about certain procedural things, just run them by me before you try anything. I am very empathetic to tech issues; my computer was usually the tech issue... I try to help bridge any accessibility problems that come up (tbh working tech is a privilege that debate takes for granted).
I do allow tag teaming in cross, just please split the time evenly. In speeches however try to avoid talking to your partner during their speech because that’s a pet peeve of mine.
I keep my own timer in round, but also have another for yourself because I am forgetful sometimes.
Presentation/speaks -
Speak clearly, if I can't understand what you're saying there's less of a chance I will flow it. I am not the fastest at flowing, but on analytics slow down.
I can flow fast spreading for the most part, but please justify the need to speak insanely fast. It won’t add to your speaks if you’re not using that extra time you’re making for yourself to make your arguments more complex.
Make sure to stand up and face the judge (me) while speaking (even during CX), if able.
Pet peeve of mine is unlabeled flows - please label them to make my life easier. It makes it harder to organize my flows so it increases the chance something will be misflowed - and also I WILL name them myself if not given a name, and many people across debate can attest to my unserious naming conventions.
Make sure to use all your time in all speeches - this includes cross-ex!
Please be civil - hateful language or actions will not be tolerated and result in immediate deduction from speaker points (if not an auto L) and an email to your coach.
Signpost. Signpost. Signpost.
I like it when constructives are numbered and/or specifically telling me what argument a card is responding to.
You should be pausing, saying “next” (or the like), or changing tone when you start reading a new card’s tag.
Don’t give me overviews or underviews in any of the first 3 constructives unless you really think it is beneficial on a certain flow.
In rebuttals you should be explicitly telling me what I should be voting on and how I should be weighing arguments - write my ballot for me.
Minimize new flows in the block.
Yay direct and explicit clash!!
Tech—O—————Truth
Aff -
I have slightly lower standards for presumption ballots, but mostly comes down to lack of extended warrants. I usually air on the negative side if the aff fails to extend solvency.
I have lower standards for IL chains, unless the neg blows it up.
With me framing will be your friend, especially if you have extinction scenarios.
CPs -
As with any advocacy, you should be clearly explaining what it does and how it has any solvency/net benefits.
I prefer articulated perms but if the neg drops it I’ll vote on very little. I also prefer only one perm, but if multiple are argued and justified well (as well as clearly explaining how they work and the context of them in round) I’m okay with it.
PICs annoy me so I have a low burden for PIC theory.
I have been told I don’t make it clear enough how annoyed I get with most policy CPs in general, so just run them well.
DAs -
The links and IL chain will make or break these for me - defend them with your life.
Prove to me why it o/ws case or takes out a significant enough portion of it.
Kritiks -
Because I am an experienced K debater, I am both a good and bad judge for them. I am probably a bit biased towards well run Ks, but I will not be forgiving with poorly run Ks.
Make sure you explain to the fullest degree anyway if you are running a K because they can be tricky. Walk me through the story of the k and tell me why it o/ws case.
Please don’t just throw around buzz words - they don't mean anything on their own. I know a lot of the high philosophy concepts/definitions, I just usually can't immediately mentally access them while they are being spread through at 300 wpm so explanation is incredibly important.
Signpost your k sections!! - especially in the block and 1ar.
I have trouble flowing fast FW analytics so slow down and make sure its clear.
I am not a fan of non-UQ (oh wow we live in a society) or use-of-state links but I’ll vote on them if they are explained with how it relates to the K impacts.
I have fairly high standards for impact turns, but it mostly comes down to explanation.
Same deal as with CP perms - I'm not a fan of perm walls but I'll vote on them.
Ks are my favorite don’t disrespect them please T-T
Theory and topicality -
I understand most theory/topicality as long as it’s not super niche but please explain it like I’ve never heard of it before - I won’t vote on it if you don’t tell why I should care about it in round. I am not the fastest flow-er of analytics so you HAVE to slow down.
If you start new theory flows after the 1NC/2AC make them relevant or else I will NOT care.
The buzz word standards are the ones I’m most likely to get lost in. It’s fine to only briefly explain during the constructives, but you need to contextualize/impact them during the rebuttals if you want me to care.
In my opinion, voters are not implicit - it's fine ig if you don't have them in the 1NC/2AC but in all further speeches you need to at least mention them.
You don't need to fully explain why theory is prefiat but at least give me like a sentence, don't just drop that and expect me to default to it.
I'm pretty wary of theory tbh, so if you roll up with like 7 theory flows I'm going to be more forgiving if the other side drops something.
Joke args -
I love joke args with my full heart because I believe its one of the little things that make this entire activity worth it sometimes, but there is a time and place for them, as well as the content they project should follow basic ethical standards.
If you do run a joke arg you have to be 100% in it - confidence is key! Look me straight in the eyes while you affirm that the fly spaghetti monster controls the planet. If both teams are in it, this is the most likely time I’ll award 30s lol
My email is marenjlien@gmail.com- please put me on any email chain. If you have any after round questions that aren’t answered in my ballot feel free to email me about it, I’m happy to explain anything.
Cheeky document names or any star trek references will earn you extra speaks. A 30 if you play a musical instrument instead of a constructive.
Dan Lingel Jesuit College Prep—Dallas
danlingel@gmail.com for email chain purposes
dlingel@jesuitcp.org for school contact
"Be smart. Be strategic. Tell your story. And above all have fun and you shall be rewarded."--the conclusion of my 1990 NDT Judging Philosophy
Updated for 2023-2024 topic
30 years of high school coaching/6 years of college coaching
I will either judge or help in the tabroom at over 20+ tournaments
****read here first*****
I still really love to judge and I enjoy judging quick clear confident comparative passionate advocates that use qualified and structured argument and evidence to prove their victory paths. I expect you to respect the game and the people that are playing it in every moment we are interacting.
***I believe that framing/labeling arguments and paper flowing is crucial to success in debate and maybe life so I will start your speaker points absurdly high and work my way up (look at the data) if you acknowledge and represent these elements: label your arguments (even use numbers and structure) and can demonstrate that you flowed the entire debate and that you used your flow to give your speeches and in particular demonstrate that you used your flow to actually clash with the other teams arguments directly.
Some things that influence my decision making process
1. Debate is first and foremost a persuasive activity that asks both teams to advocate something. Defend an advocacy/method and defend it with evidence and compare your advocacy/method to the advocacy of the other team. I understand that there are many ways to advocate and support your advocacy so be sure that you can defend your choices. I do prefer that the topic is an access point for your advocacy.
2. The negative should always have the option of defending the status quo (in other words, I assume the existence of some conditionality) unless argued otherwise.
3. The net benefits to a counterplan must be a reason to reject the affirmative advocacy (plan, both the plan and counterplan together, and/or the perm) not just be an advantage to the counterplan.
4. I enjoy a good link narrative since it is a critical component of all arguments in the arsenal—everything starts with the link. I think the negative should mention the specifics of the affirmative plan in their link narratives. A good link narrative is a combination of evidence, analytical arguments, and narrative.
5. Be sure to assess the uniqueness of offensive arguments using the arguments in the debate and the status quo. This is an area that is often left for judge intervention and I will.
6. I am not the biggest fan of topicality debates unless the interpretation is grounded by clear evidence and provides a version of the topic that will produce the best debates—those interpretations definitely exist this year. Generally speaking, I can be persuaded by potential for abuse arguments on topicality as they relate to other standards because I think in round abuse can be manufactured by a strategic negative team.
7. I believe that the links to the plan, the impact narratives, the interaction between the alternative and the affirmative harm, and/or the role of the ballot should be discussed more in most kritik debates. The more case and topic specific your kritik the more I enjoy the debate. Too much time is spent on framework in many debates without clear utility or relation to how I should judge the debate.
8. There has been a proliferation of theory arguments and decision rules, which has diluted the value of each. The impact to theory is rarely debating beyond trite phrases and catch words. My default is to reject the argument not the team on theory issues unless it is argued otherwise.
9. Speaker points--If you are not preferring me you are using old data and old perceptions. It is easy to get me to give very high points. Here is the method to my madness on this so do not be deterred just adapt. I award speaker points based on the following: strategic and argumentative decision-making, the challenge presented by the context of the debate, technical proficiency, persuasive personal and argumentative style, your use of the cross examination periods, and the overall enjoyment level of your speeches and the debate. If you devalue the nature of the game or its players or choose not to engage in either asking or answering questions, your speaker points will be impacted. If you turn me into a mere information processor then your points will be impacted. If you choose artificially created efficiency claims instead of making complete and persuasive arguments that relate to an actual victory path then your points will be impacted.
10. I believe in the value of debate as the greatest pedagogical tool on the planet. Reaching the highest levels of debate requires mastery of arguments from many disciplines including communication, argumentation, politics, philosophy, economics, and sociology to name a just a few. The organizational, research, persuasion and critical thinking skills are sought by every would-be admission counselor and employer. Throw in the competitive part and you have one wicked game. I have spent over thirty years playing it at every level and from every angle and I try to make myself a better player everyday and through every interaction I have. I think that you can learn from everyone in the activity how to play the debate game better. The world needs debate and advocates/policymakers more now than at any other point in history. I believe that the debates that we have now can and will influence real people and institutions now and in the future—empirically it has happened. I believe that this passion influences how I coach and judge debates.
Logistical Notes--I prefer an email chain with me included whenever possible. I feel that each team should have accurate and equal access to the evidence that is read in the debate. I have noticed several things that worry me in debates. People have stopped flowing and paying attention to the flow and line-by-line which is really impacting my decision making; people are exchanging more evidence than is actually being read without concern for the other team, people are under highlighting their evidence and "making cards" out of large amounts of text, and the amount of prep time taken exchanging the information is becoming excessive. I reserve the right to request a copy of all things exchanged as verification. If three cards or less are being read in the speech then it is more than ok that the exchange in evidence occur after the speech.
I have taken a million steps back from debate. Assume I know nothing about the topic... or even the activity.
Raleigh Maxwell
MBA Debate '24
Emory Debate '28
Content Editor at Policy Debate Central
He/him
Email Chain
raleighdebate [at] gmail.com
debatemba [at] gmail.com
IPostRound [at] googlegroups.com
Paradigm
First and foremost, I'm an ontological 2A. Every fiber in my body exudes the predispotions of a 2A. I do, however, attempt to judge debates in the most technical manner possible. I'll vote on dropped theory arguments (if they are clearly flagged as a voting issue), spark, wipeout, the death K, and even CPs that require the "butterfly effect" card to establish competition. As a fair warning, don't expect good speaks if these arguments are your primary strategy.
Topicality: Not very tuned in to IP topicality, so over explain if you are going for T.
Counterplans: Good for almost anything. I don't like generic process garbage, so I'll be aff-leaning on competition. There are plenty of generic CPs on the IP topic. Condo's probably good.
Disads: I love a good DA and case 2NR, but I do realize those might be untenable on this topic.
Kritiks: I am not your best judge for kritiks but will vote for the team who presents a better story to me. Ballot solvency is important for models debates.
Kritikal Affirmatives: Fairness is an impact but a very small one. Big fan of the Ballot PIK.
Case: Teams do not know how to write affirmatives coherently. Exploit it. Especially on the IP topic.
Speaker Points
+.1 for thorough and organized wiki disclosure. Let me know after the round that you open source, or I will not award the bonus.
+.1 for debating entirely off of your paper flow in the 2NR or 2AR. Ineligible for people who flow on their computer and for 1Ns/1As.
Ways to get higher speaker points:
1. Organization: stay organized on the flow and on speech docs.
2. Clarity: self-explanatory.
3. Efficiency: clear, quick arguments will be rewarded.
4. Research: it is incredibly easy to tell who has cut the cards in a debate round.
Pet Peeves
AFF (acronym) < Aff (shortened word)
Seepee < counterplan
Judge < Raleigh
Rehighlighting
The norm of "inserting rehighlightings" has proliferated across the high school debate community, so it is worth explaining my thoughts on the practice. I do believe you are allowed to insert rehighlights for text that has already been introduced in the round, either highlighted or unighlighted, underlined or un-underlined. You do, however, have to read text that is from other portions of an article and not merely "insert" it. To me, this standard represents the only reasonable way to evaluate inserted rehighlightings. That being said, I'll vote on an illegitimate inserted rehighlight if it's not contested by the other team on theory grounds.
Ethics
Entirely agree with Truf's guidelines to ethics issues in debate rounds.
Other Notes
If you would like the round to be recorded and posted on YouTube (either unlisted or listed on Policy Debate Central), please let me know.
Also - if you want Emory Debate stickers, let me know.
Central '19-'23
Macalester '27
Currently coaching for Central
Hi! I’m Cayden, I use they/them pronouns, please use them! I’m generally quite a neutral judge however I think that making debate an inclusive and fun space outweighs all else.
I have bad hearing so please speak extra loud and if it’s online, make sure your mic is clear!
My email is cayd3nhock3y12@gmail.com, stpaulcentralcxdebate@gmail.com if there's an email chain I’d like to be on it for ease of everything. add
This note comes before anything in this paradigm and its at the top for a reason: Please just run whatever you feel best running. I would rather have you run something I’m generally not partial to well than something I like badly. The best debates come from people running what they know best, so do that!
MS/Nov notes-
- What I said above about having fun in debates applies even more here, I coached MS truly just want it to be a positive experience for everyone involved!
- Read a plan text! If you are going for a CP or K, read the CP text or alternative!
- At the end of the day, my role in debate is to help you learn and grow, I am more than happy to answer any questions before or after the round, please feel free to email me if you think of questions after the tournament is over!!!
Some notes:
Pls no death good args in front of me. Also if your args have TW/CW let me know before the round starts please, not before the speech.
Judge Instruction-I think debate has lost a lot of what I think is one of the most important pieces which is the story of arguments. I am down for the tech level, but you are much more likely to get my vote with good judge instruction and consistently explaining the story of your args and how they shake out by the end of the round.
Spreading- Clarity comes first. I will be on the speech doc for the ease of things however I will not flow off the speech doc. If I cannot understand your tag, date, and author I will flow it as an analytic. I firmly believe that policy debate would be a far better activity without spreading, that isn’t to say I see no purpose in spreading, I absolutely understand it, but I do think it is bad for our education. If you are reading this and worried I won't be able to understand you, just slow down on your tags a little bit for me and we are good, I can flow you, I pinky promise. I will also call clear three times for each person after that, if I can't understand you, I won't flow it.
In round non debate stuff: I debated online for a year+ so trust me, I fully understand that “normal” policy debate ethos has gone out of the window, that being said, I would prefer if you do whatever you can so I can hear/understand you better as my hearing is not great. I also will not tolerate being explicitly rude in round. I was a very assertive debater myself so I’m not saying don’t be assertive, but don’t just be flat out rude, especially during cross. You will be getting your speaks docked. As stated earlier, debate should be fun and inclusive and I think that this is an important part of it.
Tech v Truth- Not gonna lie, unsure who is like a true truth>tech judge these days. I'm securely tech>truth, only spot that I think is a little bit closer towards truth is on bad IL chains on DAs. I also weigh arguments as new the first time they have a warrant, analytic or ev.
T- I am down for T however my standards on T impacts are higher than the avergae natcir and lower than localcir. I default to models but am also more likely to happily pull the trigger on in round abuse.
Ks- I ran Ks on both sides and love them over most policy arguments however I’m not going to try and claim to understand your complex literature I just have not read. If you are able to explain your K literature well to me I would love to see you run your K, however if you can’t, I’m not going to try and do the work for you. I also probably buy most no link args over bad link args BUT I do tend to give alt solvency a fair bit of leniency. I am down for you link you lose good or bad debates, down for most K args, not a fan of baudy or psycho but I'll judge em fairly I just won't be the happiest camper.
PTX DAs- I kinda hate them but I totally get that they are a very legit strat especially on the topic, but please be able to defend why PC is real.
CPs- Go for it. I ran a lot of these and see they have a place, that being said I’m also very open to hearing arguments against that. I think that on perm theory I’m pretty deadset neutral but I default to test of competition (idk any judges who don't anymore). I can also be convinced that X type of CPs are bad for debate if given good education and fairness arguments.
K Affs- I ran one, go crazy, love a good planless debate, love a good framework debate. Some of my favorite rounds have been performance style but also some of my least favorite have been bad K affs. I am probably not your best judge for a fairness bad round. Also, I have only ever heard one good death of debate argument and I think nearly all of the rest are not worth it in front of me.
FWK- I go through this first if its present and it will never be a "wash" for me. I default to a policy maker but also ran basically every fw under the sun so I am happy to be convinced otherwise. Please slow down on this once you get to the rebuttals and I love techy cross applications of other flows to fw.
Condo!- I go into each round deadset neutral on condo. I've seen teams win condo v a 1 off conditional advocacy and teams win v condo running 10+ conditional advocacies. I probably am truly deadset neutral on my own opinions around the 6 condo advocacies line, slightly more likely to vote aff once you hit the 10 off mark. All of this can be 100% changed by the round in front of me (obviously) just know these are the mental lines I think I have.
Theory in general- I am sad to say I feel like I need to add this because of Central. I will vote on most theory args, I defualt to condo good but that can be easily changed in round. I also think in round abuse args are always going to be the strongest but models of debate is fine too. At the end of the day though, just because I will vote on it doesn't make me happy to and your speaks will reflect that.
Also, unless the tournament rulebook specifies disclosure, please don't run disclosure theory in front of me, I believe that if you can win on disclosure theory, you can win on something else.
Updated Sept 18 2024
Tracy McFarland
Jesuit College Prep - for a long while; back in the day undergrad debate - Baylor U
Please use jcpdebate@gmail.com for speech docs. I do want to be in the email chain.
However, I don't check that email a lot while not at tournaments - so if you need to reach me not at a tournament, feel free to email me at tmcfarland@jesuitcp.org
Clash - it's good - which means you need to flow and not script your speeches. using blocks = good - placing them where they belong on the LBL = good. LBL with some clear references to where you're at = good. Line by line isn't answer the previous speech in order - it's about grounding the debate in the 2ac on off case, 1nc on case.
Dates and "real world" matter - andI am persuaded by teams that call out other teams based on their evidence quality, author quals, lack of highlighting (meaning they read little of the evidence).
Process CPs and other neg trickeration - I get it. I do, however, think that the aff can make compelling arguments about why the process doesn't result in the aff and/or that the prioritization of the process is a bad thing. A discussion of what normal means is by the aff and neg would also help both sides to explain how the CP is competitive.
DAs - it's possible to win zero risk that the DA is an opportunity cost to the aff. Specific to agenda and elections - the aff can make compelling no link and non-unique arguments. The direction of the link doesn't influence uniqueness on these DAs. And, yes, even in a world of a CP Affs could win zero risk of agenda politics or elections. The aff should make arguments - even without evidence - that the link needs to be specific, the internal link needs to be about specific voting blocks in sufficient swing states to shift the electoral college.
Ks - specific links are good. You should have a sense on the aff and the neg what FW is going to get you in a debate -- too often that FW debate really just ends up two ships passing in the night.
K affs - should be tied to the topic in some way. If they aren't, then neg args with topical versions or ways to access the education the K aff offers through the resolution are usually persuasive to me. The neg can win that the TVA solves sufficient access to the lit. If the aff has a K of the topic, that's great offense that negs need to have an answer. I don't think that debate is just a game. Its a competitive activity that does shape our political subjectivity. And, despite all that, I often vote aff on these debates - so negs should make sure that they are engaging why their model creates better skills than the affs.
T - if you have a good violation and reasons why an aff should be excluded, by all means read it. If you are just reading it as a "time suck" then, meh, read more substance. And, an argument that ends in -spec is usually an uphill battle unless it's clever [this cleverness standard does preclude generally a- and o-]
Impact turns - topic specific one = good; generic ones - more meh
New affs are good - and don't need to be disclosed before a debate if it's truly the very first time that someone at your school has read the argument. But new affs may justify theoretically sketchy args by the neg - you can integrate that into the theory debate, you don't need a new affs bad 1nc arg to do that.
Be nice to each other - it's possible to be competitive without being overly sassy.
Modality matters - when you are debating in person, remember that people can hear you talk to your partner and you should have a line of sight with the judge. If you are online, make sure that your camera is on when possible to create some engagement with the judge.
Debated for UWG ’15 – ’17; Coaching: Notre Dame – ’19 – Present; Baylor – ’17 – ’19
email: joshuamichael59@gmail.com
Online Annoyance
"Can I get a marked doc?" / "Can you list the cards you didn't read?" when one card was marked or just because some cards were skipped on case. Flow or take CX time for it.
Policy
I prefer K v K rounds, but I generally wind up in FW rounds.
K aff’s – 1) Generally have a high threshold for 1ar/2ar consistency. 2) Stop trying to solve stuff you could reasonably never affect. Often, teams want the entirety of X structure’s violence weighed yet resolve only a minimal portion of that violence. 3) v K’s, you are rarely always already a criticism of that same thing. Your articulation of the perm/link defense needs to demonstrate true interaction between literature bases. 4) Stop running from stuff. If you didn’t read the line/word in question, okay. But indicts of the author should be answered with more than “not our Baudrillard.”
K’s – 1) rarely win without substantial case debate. 2) ROJ arguments are generally underutilized. 3) I’m generally persuaded by aff answers that demonstrate certain people shouldn’t read certain lit bases, if warranted by that literature. 4) I have a higher threshold for generic “debate is bad, vote neg.” If debate is bad, how do you change those aspects of debate? 5) 2nr needs to make consistent choices re: FW + Link/Alt combinations. Find myself voting aff frequently, because the 2nr goes for two different strats/too much.
Special Note for Settler Colonialism: I simultaneously love these rounds and experience a lot of frustration when judging this argument. Often, debaters haven’t actually read the full text from which they are cutting cards and lack most of the historical knowledge to responsibly go for this argument. List of annoyances: there are 6 settler moves to innocence – you should know the differences/specifics rather than just reading pages 1-3 of Decol not a Metaphor; la paperson’s A Third University is Possible does not say “State reform good”; Reading “give back land” as an alt and then not defending against the impact turn is just lazy. Additionally, claiming “we don’t have to specify how this happens,” is only a viable answer for Indigenous debaters (the literature makes this fairly clear); Making a land acknowledgement in the first 5 seconds of the speech and then never mentioning it again is essentially worthless; Ethic of Incommensurability is not an alt, it’s an ideological frame for future alternative work (fight me JKS).
FW
General: 1) Fairness is either an impact or an internal link 2) the TVA doesn’t have to solve the entirety of the aff. 3) Your Interp + our aff is just bad.
Aff v FW: 1) can win with just impact turns, though the threshold is higher than when winning a CI with viable NB’s. 2) More persuaded by defenses of education/advocacy skills/movement building. 3) Less random DA’s that are basically the same, and more internal links to fully developed DA’s. Most of the time your DA’s to the TVA are the same offense you’ve already read elsewhere.
Reading FW: 1) Respect teams that demonstrate why state engagement is better in terms of movement building. 2) “If we can’t test the aff, presume it’s false” – no 3) Have to answer case at some point (more than the 10 seconds after the timer has already gone off) 4) You almost never have time to fully develop the sabotage tva (UGA RS deserves more respect than that). 5) Impact turns to the CI are generally underutilized. You’ll almost always win the internal link to limits, so spending all your time here is a waste. 6) Should defend the TVA in 1nc cx if asked. You don’t have a right to hide it until the block.
Theory - 1) I generally lean neg on questions of Conditionality/Random CP theory. 2) No one ever explains why dispo solves their interp. 3) Won’t judge kick unless instructed to.
T – 1) I’m not your best judge. 2) Seems like no matter how much debating is done over CI v Reasonability, I still have to evaluate most of the offense based on CI’s.
DA/CP – 1) Prefer smart indicts of evidence as opposed to walls of cards (especially on ptx/agenda da's). Neg teams get away with murder re: "dropped ev" that says very little/creatively highlighted. 2) I'm probably more lenient with aff responses (solvency deficits/aff solves impact/intrinsic perm) to Process Cp's/Internal NB's that don't have solvency ev/any relation to aff.
Case - I miss in depth case debates. Re-highlightings don't have to be read. The worse your re-highlighting the lower the threshold for aff to ignore it.
LD
All of my thoughts on policy apply, except for theory. More than 2 condo (or CP’s with different plank combinations) is probably abusive, but I can be convinced otherwise on a technical level.
Not voting on an RVI. I don’t care if it’s dropped.
Most LD theory is terrible Ex: Have to spec a ROB or I don’t know what I can read in the 1nc --- dumb argument.
Phil or Tricks (sp?) debating – I’m not your judge.
she/her
Woodward Academy '23
Georgetown University '27
Please put me on the email chain: 23cmitchell@woodward.edu
For camp debates: I have no topic knowledge, so please overexplain any jargon/complex topics
*Maggie Berthiaume and Bill Batterman have influenced a lot of my opinions and personal philosophies about debate, so feel free to look at their paradigms as well*
(https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=maggie&search_last=berthiaume)
(https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=bill&search_last=batterman)
General:
- Please be nice to opponents! Respect is important...
- Will not tolerate any racism/homophobia/sexism/etc.
- Send analytics!! It's better for you too
- Don't clip
- Clarity > speed (especially for online debate)
- Clash is key in a good debate
- Please have cameras on if possible
- Give road maps before speeches and effectively sign post
- Make sure to effectively kick off-case
- +.1 speaks for jokes in your speeches :), +.2 if you consistently open source (please let me know before RFD)
- for speaks: 28.5 is average, anywhere 29 and above is very good
- Most importantly, HAVE FUN!!!
Case
Case debates are very important and often underutilized. If you are going for a counterplan or kritik, good case debating is essential to win any solvency. Same goes for aff - if you want to win a debate in front of me, good case debating is a must.
DAs
Please do not read any DA's (and any offcase for that matter) that is not winnable coming out of the 1NC. I expect a full shell (uniqueness, SPECIFIC link, and impact) and will not weigh the DA if the shell is not complete. Impact calc is essential for both sides when debating disadvantages - make sure to effectively compare case and DA impacts.
CPs
I will not weigh any CP without a solvency advocate in the 1NC. I love a good CP + DA debate though, especially if it is specific to the aff.
Ks
I have found myself gravitating towards kritiks on the NATO topic, but I am much better for topic related kritiks rather than Baudrillard/Deleuze/etc. If you run a k, please articulate the alternative well or make it clear that you are going for framework/reps based impacts.
Make sure you have specific links to the aff and these links are thoroughly explained! Best way to win a K in front of me is an effective link explanation.
T
Topicality is usually not my favorite position, going for it usually leads to low clash final rebuttals with just blocks. However, I feel like a lot of affs on the NATO topic are extremely untopical so good T interpretations are always welcome.
T vs. K Affs
I think fairness is an external impact and is very persuasive. Make sure you specify blocks with specifics to whatever is happening in the round.
Theory
Condo good (except with 5 or more condo offcase)
Neg does have fiat
PIKs are fine, unless warranted reasons otherwise
Neutral on PICs
Please feel free to ask any questions before or after round! I will happily answer.
Information:
Shivan Moodley
Alpharetta '20, Emory '24
J.W. Patterson Foundation Fellow 2019-2020
Currently debating for Emory.
Disclaimer: These are just my general thoughts about debate; anything in here can be changed by the quality of debating done in the round. Tech > Truth, unless you're argument is morally repugnant, racist, or incoherent. I am not as familiar with the specific topic language and/or acronyms so explain them.
K Affs and Framework:
Good K Affs should be related to the topic in some way and have central offense/defense centered around the mechanism defended in the 1AC. I like Framework debates on both sides. My gut reaction is that fairness is an impact but 2Ns are getting worse and worse at explaining why so I can be persuaded otherwise. Teams that impact turn procedural fairness have a better shot at winning my ballot. Larger overviews are acceptable in these debates but do not lose the line by line. I am probably better at judging KAffs vs T over KAffs vs Ks.
K's:
Do not assume I will know your literature base if you are going for high theory or K's that are not commonly read (Capitalism, Security, Settler Colonialism, Antiblackness etc,) then the K will require an extra level of analysis/thesis explanation because I will not vote for arguments I cannot explain back in the RFD. Teams that go the extra step to explain the link-level will be rewarded. This means pulling direct quotes from opponents' evidence, highlighting cards, and pointing out lapses in tags. It truly filters the threshold for the impact and framework debate. In a close debate, I am likely to let the Aff weigh their impacts, but the technicalities of the K can mitigate how relevant the case is - Does the Alt solve the case? Does the K access a specific root cause claim? Does the link turn the case? These are central.
Theory Leanings: Conditionality is good unless it's egregious. 2NC CPs are usually good, especially to get out of add-ons. Creative PICs will be rewarded, but the more generic it gets, the more abusive. Most Process CPs can be beaten by a well-articulated Perm or a heavy theory push.
CPs/DAs/Impact Turns/Case Debate/T:
- CPs - Read them, go for them. Smart, analytical CPs are fun but make sure you have a good defense of them or the threshold for solvency deficits will be low.
- DAs - Turns Case can change the game, but can also easily be answered by smart analytics. Neg teams that have carded turns case need to be handled properly by the Aff. Aff teams should identify the weak spots and exploit them, instead of trying to cover every single portion.
- Impact Turns - Good stuff, can be a game changer for both the Aff and the Neg. Impact Comparison and Evidence Comparison will win these debates so do that.
- Case - Has quickly become my favorite type of debate. Asserting "Presumption" without a clear reason means nothing, explain the reasoning. Neg teams that go the extra step to indict authors, answer specific I/Ls, and read multilayered defense to Aff impacts will make me happy. Aff teams that do not fold, are efficient, and smart on case questions also impress me equally.
- T - I like it a lot when it is done well. Both teams NEED to give me a clear picture of what the topic looks like under their interpretation, I will almost always default to competing interpretations because teams are just bad at going for reasonability these days. Limits are the controlling I/L for the Neg. Aff teams that choose one central piece of offense and explain how that implicates the Limits DA are doing something right.
Speaker Points: I reward clarity, speed, and efficiency. I also reward smart, strategic decisions. I will likely adjust speaker points relative to the tournament and entries. I find myself giving higher speaker points to people who are confident but not cocky, mean, or rude (That will drop your speaks). Also if you are funny, be funny, I like to laugh. If you are not funny, please don't try and make jokes it'll be awkward.
If you disagree or have problems with any decisions I have made or my paradigm, please feel free to ask questions.
Other Things:
- Clipping is maximum penalty.
- Anything unethical is maximum penalty.
- Speed is good, but make sure you are clear or it will be reflected in your speaks.
- Final rebuttals need to answer the key questions of the round - tell me why you win.
- Don't waste time - show up to the round on time, send the chain on time, finish on time.
ctrl + f "Planless Affs v. T", “Policy Aff v. T”, "Policy Aff v. CP/DA", "Policy Aff v. K", or "K v. K" for relevant sections
Cambridge '20
Georgia '23 (https://comm.uga.edu/debate/recrutiment or email jstupek8@gmail.com) Go Debate Dawgs!
they/them. ask your opponents what pronouns they prefer before the round and stick to them. pls call me jack or big dawg not judge
jackmdebate@gmail.com - please have the 1ac sent by the round start time.
mc hammer reads philosophy, you should too
i am autistic, don't read into my facial expressions as a reliable predictor of the ballot. apologies in advance for any confusion
IF YOU READ GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF VIOLENCE, INCLUDE A TRIGGER WARNING AND HAVE A VERSION OF THE CARDS OMITTING THE GRAPHIC DETAILS READY IF SOMEONE INDICATES IT'S AN ISSUE. I DON'T WANT ANYONE TO HAVE TRAUMATIC FLASHBACKS BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO LAZY TO TYPE OUT A SENTENCE ON THE WIKI/AT THE TOP OF THE DOC.
*i have hearing difficulties, please either send the doc you're reading from or SLOW DOWN. i.e. you probably don't need to send your T-USfg 2NC analytics but make sure you're reading them at a speed that people that don't have the exact blocks you're looking at in front of them can still understand
**LD/PF - i only competed in policy and i'm unfortunately unfamiliar with the particular nuances of LD/PF debate so i am more likely to vote for substantive arguments than procedurals that rely on an understanding of LD/PF debate norms.
Top Level
- debate is too serious. i enjoy fun rounds, i greatly appreciate jokes. kindness is underrated - opponents are (most likely) not your enemy but rather fellow participants in an extracurricular activity who have decided to spend their weekend debating with you instead of doing literally anything else. please treat them that way.
- you get three perms per arg. new 1AR articulation of the perm warrants new 2NR responses.
- i am uncomfortable with being asked to adjudicate things that occurred outside of the round. (note: i consider the round to start when the pairing comes out, so disclosure theory etc. are still fair game i just have the same institutional (lack of) capability to handle things like Title IX violations as you). i take ethics violations very seriously. if you believe your opponents have behaved in a manner inconsistent with ethical participation in this activity, let me know and i'll contact tab instead of starting the round.
- racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anything that makes the round unsafe is a quick way to earn an instant L and zero speaker points. i will not hesitate to intervene.
- speaker points: my range is generally high-27s to mid-29s. i would probably be considered a point fairy but occasionally it goes the opposite way so warning you in advance. making and executing strategic decisions in rebuttals is the best way to get higher speaks in front of me. i reward taking risks. while i try to hold the line on new args, most judges are inherently suckers for a lying 2A. contextualizing your arguments to the other side’s will earn you more points than just spreading through a K or CP explanation written by coaches four years ago devoid of context or specificity. i.e. "CP solves advantage 1 because [warrant], solves advantage 2 because [warrant]" as opposed to "CP solves entire topic because [warrant]" or "K solves our links and case because [warrant]" and not "THEY DROPPED THE ALT (they probably didn't if we're being honest), WE WIN BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW THAT'S JUST HOW DEBATE WORKS I GUESS".
Scale based on my immediate reaction after the speeches:
30 - Perfect. I do not want anyone I coach to hit you in elim rounds because it's gg.
29.9-29.5 - Woah. You're almost done! The summit is near and you'll be there with a few more practice speeches.
29.4-29 - Yo that was fire. Y'all did your thing and executed well. Good job!
28.9-28.5 - Nice!
28.4-28 - Pretty Good.
27.9-27.5 - Needs some work.
<27.5 - If I've given you this, you know what you did.
- the roughly two hours that i am in the room are your time. if you want to post-round me, go for it (although once i submit the ballot there's nothing i can do to change the decision) but please be courteous regarding your opponents' desires and make sure any more immediate concerns they may have have been resolved before we get into it
- read whatever you want. although i personally lean in certain directions on common debate args, i try to check as many biases as possible at the door and base my decisions on the actual debating done. i want to limit judge intervention as much as possible so comparison and telling me how i should resolve the debate is very important. if i don't have judge instruction coming out of the 2XR, i intervene to resolve the round the best i can. condo is probably the arg you are least likely to win in front of me but i'll vote for it if it's mishandled
- the status quo is always a logical option unless you tell me it isn't
- 2xr should start with: "[Our arg] outweighs [their arg] because"
- dropped args are true, it's up to you to make that matter though
- rather than tell you what i think about specific issues, i think it may be more helpful to disclose how i come to decisions. in the absence of a clear dub for either team, i evaluate the flow. if i can't come to a decision based purely on my flow and memory of the round, i read the ev for each arg and decide whether the cards support the args that are being made as well as which team has better ev for each specific arg. if i still can't come to a decision based on reading cards, i'll reconstruct the debate and necessarily fill in gaps for both sides based on my understanding of the best version of each team's args. YOU DO NOT WANT THIS. there is a non-zero probability that your cards are not as good as you think and potentially a very large probability that filling in the gaps works out better for the other team. to avoid this, DO GOOD COMPARISON. compare ev quality, risk of impact scenarios, EVERYTHING. i understand how frustrating it is when you catch an L after a super close debate because it feels like the judge did slightly more work for the other side. i do not want this for you. you do not want this for you. work with me and you'll probably be much happier with the result. in the absence of judge instruction, i will intervene as necessary to resolve the round.
Planless Affs v. T
- planless affs typically beat T in front of me with nuanced impact turns or a C/I based on counter-definitions of words in the resolution with a DA. i am not a good judge for C/Is that aren’t based in definitions of words in the rez as i am typically persuaded by the 2NR argument that it’s arbitrary and self-serving (which is irrelevant/actually good if you go for the impact turn to T). i'm most persuaded by fairness and clash as impacts to T. TVAs are defense, i won't vote on that alone so make sure you have offense against the aff's model (even if it's just that the TVA is good and the aff's model precludes reading it). i believe that procedural fairness is a terminal impact although i can be persuaded that it’s only an i/l if you make the arg
- i will vote on presumption if the neg proves that the aff just results in the squo
- i went double 2s most of my debate career. my favorite neg rounds in college were 2NC T/1NR Case but i read planless affs my senior year and prepped against T so i think i'm pretty 50/50 in these debates when equally debated
Policy Aff v. CP/DA
- affs typically beat the CP/DA strategy in front of me by either winning a solvency deficit to the CP that outweighs the DA or proving that the CP is not competitive. I will vote on zero risk of the DA but only if there's offense against the CP.
- probably a better judge for theory than most against CPs. i default to believing that CPs must be textually and functionally competitive but can be convinced otherwise absent aff warranted argumentation
- note for soft-left/K affs with a plan - although i am convinced by framing that says we should prioritize structural violence or reject util/extinction logic, you're not going to win on that alone if the neg has a CP that resolves the aff's impacts especially if the neg is winning that i should view CP solvency through sufficiency framing
Policy Aff v. T
- i am a grammar nerd, args that are based on grammatically incorrect definitions are unlikely to win in front of me i.e. i can't vote for "United States" is an adjective because that's wrong
- models are important
- i tend to do the most intervention in these debates. absent a 2NR/2AR that completely writes my ballot, i find myself resolving the round by going through my flow and the docs and reconstructing the debate with the best version of both sides' arguments.
Policy Aff v. K
- 2AR should be either fwk + case outweighs/offense OR fwk + perm + no link/alt fails. if the negative wins framework but the affirmative wins that the aff is a good idea it likely means that the aff's knowledge production is good which often solves the link.
- specificity is the most important thing is these debates. well-warranted analytics contextualized to your argument as well as the other team's will get you further than shotgunning cards with no explanation.
- if your 1AR/2AR framework explanation is entirely "you link, you lose bad" but they're going for links that have uniqueness you are probably going to lose.
- the vast majority of my college debate rounds involved cap sustainability debates so i am very familiar with the args made and ev read by both sides. although i personally believe that the cap bad cards are better, i've always cut the cap good file and will vote happily for McAfee (despite my personal belief that the card is garbage) if the other side doesn't explain their offense adequately.
- i tend to be persuaded by smart turn args regarding trivialization or cruel optimism when links seem especially contrived i.e. it's bad to say a team reading a soft left aff on a reform vs. rev topic is literally enacting physical violence against marginalized peoples "outside of the debate space" (this isn't to say i'm not persuaded by those same link args as i have and will continue to vote for "you link you lose" logic when it's debated well despite 2As whining)
K v. K
- these are the rounds i judge the least (although i find them to be interesting and wish i got to judge more) so i don't have many predisposed biases aside from defaulting to allowing the aff to read perms until the neg convinces me they shouldn't get them.
- i (believe i) am familiar with most lit bases, although this might work against you. for example, i do not want to vote for you if you read ev by José Esteban Muñoz and then claim that he makes a blanket "utopia bad" arg because that's the literal opposite of everything the author has written.
- if the neg wins the alt solves the aff, i vote neg.
- 2N - do not forget that the squo is a logical option. i.e. if you're winning that the aff doesn't solve and that there's risk of a link (for example, that the aff would cause backlash against [x] people), the squo is probably better than the aff regardless of whether or not you're winning alt solvency.
Theory
- condo is a yes/no question (i am unlikely to vote for "the negative gets [x] number of conditional advocacies", you should instead say "the negative gets NO conditional advocacies or dispositional advocacies etc"). i default to weighing the aff against the alt/squo but can be convinced to disregard the theoretical implementation of either of those options. probably not going to convince me that the neg should not get to read a K wholesale but that's more logical than some of the fw interps i've seen so ????...
- you probably should not read conflicting interps in the 1NC. 2AC to "T-read a plan" and "fiat bad" is really easy which negates any of the time skew benefits
- fiat - both sides get it until someone tells me they don't or wtv idk no neg fiat never really made sense to me but i'd vote on it if it's mishandled
authors whose work i found enjoyable or informative in no particular order: sylvia wynter, nietzsche, toni morrison, enriqué dussel, dahlma llanos-figueroa, judith butler, karl marx, gilles deleuze, felix guattari, jafari s. allen, josé esteban muñoz, reinaldo arenas, nina maria lozano, vine deloria jr., guy hocquenghem, desiree c. bailey, langston hughes, manuel zapata olivella, nicholas guillén, josé martí, colin dayan, kit heyam, ishmael reed, maggie nelson, viola f. cordova
helpful notes on a few of these authors: http://www.protevi.com/
Please add me to the email chain:
Affiliations and History
Director of Debate at Westminster. Debated in college between 2008 and 2012. Actively coaching high school debate since 2008.
Debate Views
I am not the kind of judge who will read every card at the end of the debate. Claims that are highly contested, evidence that is flagged, and other important considerations will of course get my attention. Debaters should do the debating. Quality evidence is still important though. If the opposing team's cards are garbage, it is your responsibility to let that be known. Before reading my preferences about certain arguments, keep in mind that it is in your best interest to do what you do best. My thoughts on arguments are general predispositions and not necessarily absolute.
T – Topicality is important. The affirmative should have a relationship to the topic. How one goes about defending the topic is somewhat open to interpretation. However, my predisposition still leans towards the thought that engaging the topic is a good and productive end. I find myself in Framework debates being persuaded by the team that best articulates why their limit on the topic allows for a season's worth of debate with competitively equitable outcomes for both the aff and the neg.
Disads/Case Debate – While offense is necessary, defense is frequently undervalued. I am willing to assign 0% risk to something if a sufficient defensive argument is made.
Counterplans – Conditionality is generally fine. Functional competition seems more relevant than textual competition. If the affirmative is asked about the specific agent of their plan, they should answer the question. I increasingly think the affirmative allows the negative to get away with questionable uses of negative fiat. Actual solvency advocates and counterplan mechanisms that pass the rational policy option assumption matter to me.
Kritiks – I teach history and economics and I studied public policy and political economy during my doctoral education. This background inherently influences my filter for evaluating K debates. Nonetheless, I do think these are strategic arguments. I evaluate framework in these debates as a sequencing question regarding my resolution of impact claims. Effective permutation debating by the aff is an undervalued strategy.
Theory – A quality theory argument should have a developed warrant/impact. “Reject the argument, not the team” resolves most theory arguments except for conditionality. Clarity benefits both teams when engaging in the substance of theory debates.
Speaker Points
(Scale - Adjective - Description)
29.6-30 - The Best - Everything you could ask for as a judge and more. (Top 5 speaker award)
29-29.5 - Very, Very good - Did everything you could expect as a judge very, very well.
28.6-28.9 - Very Good - Did very well as a whole, couple moments of brilliance, but not brilliant throughout.
28.3-28.5 - Good - Better than average. Did most things well. Couple moments of brilliance combined with errors.
28-28.2 - OK - Basic skills, abilities, and expectations met. But, some errors along the way. Very little to separate themselves from others. Clearly prepared, just not clearly ahead of others.
Below 28 - OK, but major errors - Tried hard, but lack some basic skills or didn’t pay close enough attention.
Alpharetta '23 & Emory '27
Debated at Alpharetta for 4 years as a 2A and qualified to the TOC. Currently not debating in college.
Email chain: anishnayak34@gmail.com
Most of this paradigm is in line with / adapted from my school's debate alum / people I have debated with: Jordan Di, Hargunn Sandhu, Anish Thatiparthi, Eshan Momin.
General
1) I have little-to-no knowledge of the topic. Therefore, explain acronyms and don't assume I know the limits/community consensus on Topicality or Theory.
2) "Tech > Truth but the less truth, the easier the argument is to answer. Meanwhile, the implication of concessions is only what you make it." - Jordan Di
3) Good debating requires quality evidence, strong logical explanations, aff-specific strategies, and contextualization. Detailed language > debate buzz words.
4) Online debate - please slow down and enunciate more than you normally would. Clarity should definitely not be sacrificed for speed. Sending analytics might be useful in case the Internet cuts out. Please keep your camera on unless you absolutely cannot.
5) Racism, sexism, discrimination, or any other problematic actions will result in a loss, the lowest speaks, and a written report to Tab.
6) Speaks - if you opensource, let me know, + .1
CPs
Aff -
- Insert perm texts.
- Solvency deficits need impacts.
- I am receptive to intrinsic perms if argued well.
Neg -
- I'll judge kick the CP by default.
- I'll use sufficiency framing by default (it's just cost-benefit analysis)
- I won't reject the team if the aff wins a theory argument unless it's conditionality.
- Not the best with really intricate competition debates
DAs
Neg -
- The bar for going for a DA alone in the 2NR is high - links must be specific and well-explained and the case must be debated
- Turns case is great and makes DA-debating a whole lot better
Aff -
- Use your 1AC!
- 0% risk is a thing, but hard to get to.
Theory
- Conditionality is generally good.
- International CPs, Devolution CPs, and Ctrl + F Word PICs are generally bad. I lean neg on most other theory.
T
- Competing interps is generally > reasonability. However, the more ridiculous your interpretation is, the more I am likely to buy reasonability.
- Predictable limits > other internal links. Cards that define words > cards that just use them in context.
- Internal link debating/comparison is crucial. Both sides usually share the same impact.
Planless affs
- Fairness is an impact.
- I'm more inclined to vote on T-usfg/framework since I have mostly been on this side of the debate. Heg good, cap good, etc are all good 2nr options. However, I do think the aff can win with impact turns to the negative's model.
- Good K affs have a connection to the topic and a clear offense/defense mechanism in the 1AC.
- Not the best at adjudicating these debates
Ks
- Leaning towards aff gets to weigh the plan
- Don't care if fiat isn't real
- Drawing specific links, quoting the 1AC, and making in-depth explanations at all levels of the debate are important.
- Line-by line > overviews. Turns case/root cause/alt solves > fw 2nrs. Extinction ow/impact turn > permutation 2ars.
RETIRED FROM DEBATE COACHING/JUDGING AS OF FALL 2024. WAHOOOO!!!!
Please put me on the email chain:eriodd@d219.org.
Experience:
I'm currently an assistant debate coach for Niles North High School. I was the Head Debate Coach at Niles West High School for twelve years and an assistant debate coach at West for one year. I also work at the University of Michigan summer debate camps. I competed in policy debate at the high school level for six years at New Trier Township High School.
Education:
Master of Education in English-Language Learning & Special Education National Louis University
Master of Arts in School Leadership Concordia University-Chicago
Master of Arts in Education Wake Forest University
Juris Doctor Illinois Institute of Technology-Chicago Kent College of Law
Bachelor of Arts University of California, Santa Barbara
Debate arguments:
I will vote on any type of debate argument so long as the team extends it throughout the entire round and explains why it is a voter. Thus, I will pull the trigger on theory, agent specification, and other arguments many judges are unwilling to vote on. Even though I am considered a “politics/counter plan” debater, I will vote on kritiks, but I am told I evaluate kritik debates in a “politics/counter plan” manner (I guess this is not exactly true anymore...and I tend to judge clash debates). I try not to intervene in rounds, and all I ask is that debaters respect each other throughout the competition.
Identity v. Identity:
I enjoy judging these debates. It is important to remember that, often times, you are asking the judge to decide on subject matter he/she/they personally have not experienced (like sexism and racism for me as a white male). A successful ballot often times represents the team who has used these identity points (whether their own or others) in relationship to the resolution and the debate space. I also think if you run an exclusion DA, then you probably should not leave the room / Zoom before the other team finishes questions / feedback has concluded as that probably undermines this DA significantly (especially if you debate that team again in the future).
FW v. Identity:
I also enjoy judging these debates. I will vote for a planless Aff as well as a properly executed FW argument. Usually, the team that accesses the internal link to the impacts (discrimination, education, fairness, ground, limits, etc.) I am told to evaluate at the end of the round through an interpretation / role of the ballot / role of the judge, wins my ballot.
FW v. High Theory:
I don't mind judging these debates. The team reading high theory should do a good job at explaining the theories / thesis behind the scholars you are utilizing and applying it to a specific stasis point / resolutional praxis. In terms of how I weigh the round, the same applies from above, internal links to the terminal impacts I'm told are important in the round.
Policy v. Policy:
I debated in the late 90s / early 2000s. I think highly technical policy v. policy debate rounds with good sign posting, discussions on CP competition (when relevant), strategic turns, etc. are great. Tech > truth for me here. I like lots of evidence but please read full tags and a decent amount of the cards. Not a big fan of "yes X" as a tag. Permutations should probably have texts besides Do Both and Do CP perms. I like theory debates but quality over quantity and please think about how all of your theory / debate as a game arguments apply across all flows. Exploit the other team's errors. "We get what we get" and "we get what we did" are two separate things on the condo debate in my opinion.
Random comments:
The tournament and those judging you are not at your leisure. Please do your best to start the round promptly at the posted time on the pairing and when I'm ready to go (sometimes I do run a few minutes late to a round, not going to lie). Please do your best to: use prep ethically, attach speech documents quickly, ask to use bathroom at appropriate times (e.g. ideally not right before your or your partner's speech), and contribute to moving the debate along and help keep time. I will give grace to younger debaters on this issue, but varsity debaters should know how to do this effectively. This is an element of how I award speaker points. I'm a huge fan of efficient policy debate rounds. Thanks!
In my opinion, you cannot waive CX and bank it for prep time. Otherwise, the whole concept of cross examination in policy debate is undermined. I will not allow this unless the tournament rules explicitly tell me to do so.
If you use a poem, song, etc. in the 1AC, you should definitely talk about it after the 1AC. Especially against framework. Otherwise, what is the point? Your performative method should make sense as a praxis throughout the debate.
Final thoughts:
Do not post round me. I will lower your speaker points if you or one of your coaches acts disrespectful towards me or the opponents after the round. I have no problem answering any questions about the debate but it will be done in a respectful manner to all stakeholders in the room. If you have any issues with this, please don't pref me. I have seen, heard and experienced way too much disrespectful behavior by a few individuals in the debate community recently where, unfortunately, I feel compelled to include this in my paradigm.
Woodward Academy '23, Northwestern '27
I would like to be on the email chain. My email is haarikapalacharla2027@u.northwestern.edu
Topic Experience: Very minimal. These are the first rounds I am judging on this topic.
My coaches are Maggie Berthiaume and Bill Batterman, so feel free to look at their paradigms as they've influenced my philosophies about debate significantly.
(https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=maggie&search_last=berthiaume)
(https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=&search_last=batterman)
Top Line:
Be nice to your opponents.
Try your best to have educated, fun debates.
Be clear over speedy.
Give road maps before you start.
Don't go overboard with offcase. If you're planning to read more than 7 offcase, you might want to reconsider.
Best way to win in front of me: line by line and good judge instruction in the final rebuttals.
Online Stuff:
Try to debate with your camera on, but if that's not possible, just tell me.
Make sure that everyone is ready before you start your speech.
Also be extra clear.
Case:
I really like in depth case debates.
I'm willing to vote on just case defense if there's minimal risk of aff solvency.
Disadvantages:
Read a complete shell in the 1NC.
Try to have specific links to the AFF.
Do impact calc.
Prove that the DA impact outweighs case in order to win.
Counterplans:
Need a solvency advocate to be winnable.
Also needs a net benefit to be winnable.
Critiques:
Be able to explain it in simple terms.
Try to have aff specific links.
Not the best person for these debates usually.
Be conscious of what you are running especially if it is identity based
Topicality:
Pretty impartial. Make sure to have impacts.
I tend to like limits more than ground usually.
Theory:
I'm pretty impartial on theory. I'll vote for whatever side does the better debating which means do line by line even in theory rounds!!!!
But usually condo good (unless more than 2 conditional off case), agent cps are sometimes good, process cps are eh, and aspec is not a voter.
Feel free to ask me questions before the round if needed.
Overview
E-Mail Chain: Yes, add me (chris.paredes@gmail.com) & my school mail (damiendebate47@gmail.com). I do not distribute docs to third party requests unless a team has failed to update their wiki.
Experience: Damien '05, Amherst College '09, Emory Law '13L. This will be my third year coaching full time; eighth year at Damien and my third year at St. Lucy's Priory. While I consider myself fluent in debate, my debate preferences (both ideology and mechanics) are influenced by debating in the 00s.
Topic Knowledge: I do not teach at camp, so I will be a very poor judge for arguments that rely on following "meta norms" established by camp. I should be a pretty good judge for evaluating topic specific arguments; I studied IP law while at Emory and was the recipient of an IP law scholarship.
Debate: I believe that the point of the resolution is to force debaters to learn about a different topic each year, so debaters who develop good topic knowledge generally out-debate their opponents. That being said, I am open to voting for almost any argument or style so long as I have an idea of how it functions within the round and it is appropriately impacted. Debate is a game. Rules of the game (the length of speeches, the order of the speeches, which side the teams are on, clipping, etc.) are set by the tournament and left to me (and other judges) to enforce. Comparatively, standards of the game (condo, competition, limits of fiat) are determined in round by the debaters. Framework is a debate about whether the resolution should be a rule and/or what that rule looks like. Persuading me to favor your view/interpretation of debate is accomplished by convincing me that it is the method that promotes better debate compared to your opponent's. What counts as better (more fair or more pedagogically valuable) is something determined in round itself. My ballot always is awarded to whoever debated better. I will not adjudicate a round based on any issues external to the round (whether that was at camp or a previous round).
I run a planess aff; should I strike you?: As a matter of truth I am predisposed to the neg, but I try to leave bias at the door. I end up voting aff about half the time. I will hold a planless aff to the same standard as a K alt; I absolutely must have an idea of what the aff (and my ballot) does and how/why that solves for an impact. If you do not explain this to me, I will "hack" out on presumption. Performances (music, poetry, narratives) are non-factors until you contextualize and justify why they are solvency mechanisms for the aff in the debate space.
Evidence and Argumentative Weight: Tech over truth, but it is easier to debate well when using true arguments and better cards. In-speech analysis goes a long way with me; I am much more likely to side with a team that develops and compares warrants vs. a team that extends by tagline/author only. I will read cards as necessary, including explicit prompting, however I read critically. Cards are meaningless without highlighted warrants; you are better off with one painted card than several under-highlighted cards. Well-explained logical analytics, especially if developed in CX, can beat bad/under-highlighted cards.
Debate Ideologies: I think that judges should reward good debating over ideology, so almost all of my personal preferences can be overcome if you debate better than your opponents. You can limit the chance that I intervene by 1) providing clear judge instruction and 2) justifications for those judge instructions. The best 2NRs and 2ARs are pitches that present a fully formed ballot that I can metaphorically sign off on.
Accommodations: External to any debate about my role that happens on framework, I treat my function in the room as judge first and facilitator of education second. Therefore, any accommodation that has potential competitive implications (limiting content or speed, etc.) should be requested either with me CC'd or in my presence so that tournament ombuds mediation can be requested if necessary. Failure to adhere to proper accommodation request procedure heavily impacts whether I give credence to in-round voters.
Argument by argument breakdown below.
Topicality
Debating T well is a question of engaging in responsive impact debate. You win my ballot when you are the team that proves their interpretation is best for debate -- usually by proving that you have the best internal links (ground, predictability, legal precision, research burden, etc.) to a terminal impact (fairness and/or education). I love judging a good T round and I will reward teams with the ballot and with good speaker points for well thought-out interpretations (or counter-interps) with nuanced defenses. I would much rather hear a well-articulated 2NR on why I need to enforce a limited vision of the topic than a K with state/omission links or a Frankenstein process CP that results in the aff.
I default to competing interpretations, but reasonability can be compelling to me if properly contextualized. I am more receptive when affs can articulate why their specific counter-interp is reasonable (e.g., "The aff interp only imposes a reasonable additional research burden of two more cases") versus vague generalities ("Good is good enough").
I believe that many resolutions (especially domestic topics) are sufficiently aff-biased or poorly worded that preserving topicality as a viable generic negative strategy is important. I have no problem voting for the neg if I believe that they have done the better debating, even if I think that the aff is/should be topical in a truth sense. I am also a judge who will actually vote on T-Substantial (substantial as in size, not subsets) because I think there should be a mechanism to check small affs.
Fx/Xtra Topicality: I will vote on them independently if they are impacted as independent voters. However, I believe they are internal links to the original violation and standards (i.e. you don't meet if you only meet effectually). The neg is best off introducing Fx/Xtra early with me in the back; I give the 1ARs more leeway to answer new Fx/Xtra extrapolations than I will give the 2AC for undercovering Fx/Xtra.
Framework / T-USFG
For an aff to win framework they must articulate and defend specific reasons why they cannot and do not embed their advocacy into a topical policy as well as reasons why resolutional debate is a bad model. Procedural fairness starts as an impact by default and the aff must prove why it should not be. I can and will vote on education outweighs fairness, or that substantive fairness outweighs procedural fairness, but the aff must win these arguments. The TVA is an education argument and not a fairness argument; affs are not entitled to the best version of the case (policy affs do not get extra-topical solvency mechanisms), so I don't care if the TVA is worse than the planless version from a competitive standpoint.
For the neg, you have the burden of proving either that fairness outweighs the aff's education or that policy-centric debate has better access to education (or a better type of education). I am neutral regarding which impact to go for -- I firmly believe the negative is on the truth side on both -- it will be your execution of these arguments that decides the round. Contextualization and specificity are your friends. If you go with fairness, you should not only articulate specific ground loss in the round, but why neg ground loss under the aff's model is inevitable and uniquely worse. When going for education, deploy arguments for why plan-based debate is a better internal link to positive real world change: debate provides valuable portable skills, debate is training for advocacy outside of debate, etc. Empirical examples of how reform ameliorates harm for the most vulnerable, or how policy-focused debate scales up better than planless debate, are extremely persuasive in front of me.
Procedurals/Theory
I think that debate's largest educational impact is training students in real world advocacy, therefore I believe that the best iteration of debate is one that teaches people in the room something about the topic, including minutiae about process. I have MUCH less aversion to voting on procedurals and theory than most judges. I think the aff has a burden as advocates to defend a specific and coherent implementation strategy of their case and the negative is entitled to test that implementation strategy. I will absolutely pull the trigger on vagueness, plan flaws, or spec arguments as long as there is a coherent story about why the aff is bad for debate and a good answer to why cross doesn't check. Conversely, I will hold negatives to equally high standards to defend why their counterplans make sense and why they should be considered competitive with the aff.
That said, you should treat theory like topicality; there is a bare amount of time and development necessary to make it a viable choice in your last speech. Outside of cold concessions, you are probably not going to persuade me to vote for you absent actual line-by-line refutation that includes a coherent abuse story which would be solved by your interpretation.
Also, if you go for theory... SLOW. DOWN. You have to account for pen/keyboard time; you cannot spread a block of analytics at me like they were a card and expect me to catch everything. I will be very unapologetic in saying I didn't catch parts of the theory debate on my flow because you were spreading too fast.
My defaults that CAN be changed by better debating:
- Condo is good (but should have limitations, esp. to check perf cons and skew).
- PICs, Actor, and Process CPs are all legitimate if they prove competition; a specific solvency advocate proves competitiveness while the lack of specific solvency evidence indicates high risk of a solvency deficit and/or no competition.
- The aff gets normal means or whatever they specify; they are not entitled to all theoretical implementations of the plan (i.e. perm do the CP) due to the lack of specificity.
- The neg is not entitled to intrinsic processes that result in the aff (i.e. ConCon, NGA, League of Democracies).
- Consult CPs and Floating PIKs are bad.
My defaults that are UNLIKELY to change or CANNOT be changed:
- CX is binding.
- Lit checks/justifies (debate is primarily a research and strategic activity).
- OSPEC is never a voter (except fiating something contradictory to ev or a contradiction between different authors).
- "Cheating" is reciprocal (utopian alts justify utopian perms, intrinsic CPs justify intrinsic perms, and so forth).
- Real instances of abuse justify rejecting the team and not just the arg.
- Teams should disclose previously run arguments; breaking new doesn't require disclosure.
- Real world impacts exist (i.e. setting precedents/norms), but specific instances of behavior outside the room/round that are not verifiable are not relevant in this round.
- Condo is not the same thing as severance of the discourse/rhetoric. You can win severance of your reps, but it is not a default entitlement from condo.
- ASPEC is checked by cross. The neg should ask and if the aff answers and doesn't spike, I will not vote on ASPEC. If the aff does not answer, the neg can win by proving abuse. Potential ground loss is abuse.
Kritiks
TL;DR: I would much rather hear a good K than a bad politics disad, so if you have a coherent and contextualized argument for why critical academic scholarship is relevant to the aff, I am fine for you. If you run Ks to avoid doing specific case research and brute force ballots with links of omission and reusing generic criticisms about the state/fiat, I am a bad judge for you.If I'm in the back for a planless aff vs. a K, reconsider your prefs/strategy.
A kritik must be presented as a comprehensible argument in round. To me, that means that a K must not only explain the scholarship and its relevance (links and impacts), but it must function as a coherent call for the ballot (through the alt). A link alone is insufficient without a reason to reject the aff and/or prefer the alt. I do not have any biases or predispositions about what my ballot does or should do, but if you cannot explain your alt and/or how my ballot interacts with the alt then I will have an extremely low threshold for disregarding the K as a non-unique disad. Alts like "Reject the aff" and "Vote neg" are fine so long as there is a coherent explanation for why I should do thatbeyond the mere fact the aff links (for example, if the K turns case). If the alt solves back for the implications of the K, whether it is a material alt or a debate space alt, the solvency process should be explained and contrasted with the plan/perm. Links of omission are very uncompelling. Links are not disads to the perm unless you have a (re-)contextualization to why the link implicates perm solvency. Ks can solve the aff, but the mechanism shouldn't be that the world of the alt results in the plan (i.e. floating PIK).
Affs should not be afraid of going for straight impact turns behind a robust framework press to evaluate the aff. I'm more willing than most judges to weigh the impacts vs. labeling your discourse as a link. Being extremely good at historical analysis is the best way to win a link turn or impact turn. I am also particularly receptive to arguments about pragmatism on the perm, especially if you have empirical examples of progress through state reform that relates directly to the impacts.
Against K affs, you should leverage fairness and education offensive as a way to shape the process by which I should evaluate the kritik. I would much rather, and am more likely to, give you "No perms without a plan text" because cheating should be mutual than weeding through the epistemology and pedagogy debate to determine that your theory of power comes first.
Counterplans
I think that research is a core part of debate as an activity, and good counterplan strategy goes hand-in-hand with that. The risk of your net benefit is evaluated inversely proportional to the quality of the counterplan is. Generic PICs are more vulnerable to perms and solvency deficits and carry much higher threshold burden on the net benefit. PICs with specific solvency advocates or highly specific net benefits are devastating and one of the ways that debate rewards research and how debate equalizes aff side bias by rewarding negs who who diligent in research. Agent and process counterplans are similarly better when the neg has a nuanced argument for why one agent/process is better than the aff's for a specific plan.
- Process CPs: I am extremely unfriendly to process counterplans where the process is entirely intrinsic; I have a very low threshold for rejecting them theoretically or granting the aff an intrinsic perm to test opportunity cost. I am extremely friendly to process counterplans that test a distinct implementation method compared to the aff. There are differences in form and content between legislative statutes, administrative regulations, executive orders, and court cases. The team that understands these differences and can impact them is usually the team that wins my ballot. Intentionally vague plan texts do not give the aff access to all theoretical implementations of the plan (Perm Do the CP). The neg can define normal means for the aff if the aff refuses to, but the neg has an equally high burden to defend the competitiveness of the CP process vs. normal means. The aff can win an entire solvency take out if there is a structural defect created by deviating from normal means.
I do not judge kick by default, but 2NRs can easily convince me to do so as an extension of condo. Superior solvency for the aff case alone is sufficient reason to vote for the CP in a debate that is purely between hypothetical policies (i.e. the aff has no competition arguments in the 2AR).
I am very likely to err neg on sufficiency framing; the aff absolutely needs either a solvency deficit or arguments about why an appeal to sufficiency framing itself means that the neg cannot capture the ethic of the affirmative (and why that outweighs).
Disadvantages
I value defense more than most judges and am willing to assign minimal ("virtually zero") risk based on defense, especially when quality difference in evidence is high or the disad scenario is painfully artificial. I can be convinced by good analysis that there is always a risk of a DA in spite of defense, but having a good counterplan is the way the neg has to leverage itself out of flawed disads.
Nuclear war probably outweighs the soft left impact in a vacuum, but not when you are relying on "infinite impact times small risk is still infinity" to mathematically brute force past near zero risk.
Misc.
Speaker Point Scale: I feel speaker points are arbitrary and the only way to fix this is standardization. Consequently I will try to follow any provided tournament scale very closely. In the event that there is no tournament scale, I grade speaks on bell curve with 30 being the 99th percentile, 27.5 being as the median 50th percentile, and 25 being the 1st percentile. I'm aggressive at BOTH addition and subtraction from this baseline since bell curves are distributed around the average and not everyone being actually average. Elim teams should be scoring above average by definition. The scale is standardized; national circuit tournaments have higher averages than local tournaments. Points are rewarded for both style (entertaining, organized, strong ethos) and substance (strategic decisions, quality analysis, obvious mastery of nuance/details). I listen closely to CX and include CX performance in my assessment. Well contextualized humor is the quickest way to get higher speaks in front of me, e.g. make a Thanos snap joke on the Malthus flow.
Delivery and Organization: Your speed should be limited by clarity. I reference the speech doc during the debate to check clipping, not to flow. You should be clear enough that I can flow without needing your speech doc. Additionally, even if I can hear and understand you, I am not going to flow your twenty point theory block perfectly if you spit it out in ten seconds. Proper sign-posted line by line is the bare minimum to get over a 28.5 in speaks. I will only flow straight down as a last resort, so it is important to sign-post the line-by-line, otherwise I will lose some of your arguments while I jump around on my flow and I will dock your speaks. If online please keep in mind that you will, by default, be less clear through Zoom than in person.
Cross-X, Prep, and Tech: Tag-team CX is fine but it's part of your speaker point rating to give and answer most of your own cross. I think that finishing the answer to a final question during prep is fine and simple clarification and non-substantive questions during prep is fine, but prep should not be used as an eight minute time bank of extra cross-ex. I don't charge prep for tech time, but tech is limited to just the emailing or flashing of docs. When you end prep, you should be ready to distribute.
Strategy Points: I will reward good practices in research and preparation. On the aff, plan texts that have specific mandates backed by solvency authors get bonus speaks. I will also reward affs for running disads to negative advocacies (real disads, not solvency deficits masquerading as disads -- Hollow Hope or Court Politics on a Courts CP is a disad; "CP gets circumvented" is not a disad). Negative teams with case specific strategies (i.e. hyper-specific counterplans or a nuanced T or procedural objection to the specific aff plan text) will get bonus speaks.
RVP
Westminster 2025
He/Him
ravivparikh@gmail.com/wildcatdebatedocs@gmail.com
T/L
I really do not like interventionist judges. I have heard many decisions where judges hear all the argument and proceed to make a decision to make with external evidence not extended in the final rebuttals. I will make a decision objectively from the flow.
If I hear anything remotely racist, homophobic, sexist, death good, etc. I reserve the right to give you an L, and the lowest speaks.
I have read and debated nearly every argument that exists. In doing so, I have come to respect nearly ever vein of argumentation. My exceptions to this are any arguments that claim death/suicide good, racism/sexism good, etc.
Tech > Truth
Most of these are slight ideological aspects of my personality to be aware of, but do what you do, and you will be just fine.
If you want to know my ideological dispositions quickly:
People who were teachers in my debate education: Jordana Sternberg, Munday, BK, Ed Williams, Kurt Fifelski, Emory GK, Westminster SB, Margaret Hecht.
People who I hope to model as I judge: Anthony Trufanov, Brett Bricker, Will Katz, Shreyas Rajagopal, Eu Giampetruzzi, Sam Church
Specifics
I think this topic is very complicated, so I will be very happy if teams impact out their arguments with specificity and remove unnecessary buzzwords.
DA's - I think DA's are tough on the topic - so I respect anything that is aff specific. That being said, I understand the necessity for generic DA's.
CP's - One of my favorite arguments. I can evaluate competition well - and I don't have any preferences over what types of counterplans can be read. Conditionality is generally good.
T - I evaluate T like most other judges - I think. I like good contextualized arguments about limits and ground.
K - I think I can evaluate K's well, and I have executed cap, set col, cybernetics, abolition, security, fem ir, and debated most everything. That being said, if you go for postmodernism K's - I'm probably not the judge for you.
K AFFs - I don't mind debating or judging K AFF's, to be honest. I like framework answers that are well contextualized to this topic. I like framework interpretations that explain why the affirmative's method are uniquely good for this debate and debate in general. I think that debate fundamentally changes our subjectivities to a minor extent. As an example, at the conclusion of the NATO topic, I left with the notion that cooperating with NATO was neutrally a positive concept. I think K AFFs and kritiks read on the negative need to have very comprehensive explanations for why their method is net good for both the round and the season.
Impact Turns - Impact turns are good. I will evaluate any but death good.
Claire Park (she/they)
Email: claireparkdebate@gmail.com
Short Version
- Read whatever you want
- tech = truth
- I like good evidence, I like spins more
- "status quo is always an option" means judge kick
- Judge direction is always good
I prefer to evaluate the debate on what is said in the debate, and I can vote for any argument. I think slight judge intervention is inevitable, but l do my very best to limit it as much as I can.
Online debating
- If I can't hear you or if my wifi is bad, I'll verbally let you know
- My camera will be on, if it is off I am not ready
Background Info
- Georgetown '25: not debating
- Major: Science, Technology, and International Affairs concentrating in Security, especially with AI.
- Notre Dame ‘21: 2N/1A
Case
Please use your 1AC
Disadvantages
Turns case is good
Impact calculus is close to essential
Topicality
Case lists and TVAs are really persuasive to me
Usually, competing interpretations > reasonability
Counterplans
As a 2N, I love a good cheaty and tricky counterplan, so I'll consider it more than the average judge.
Kritiks
Honestly, you can read any K in front of me
Specific links can only help you
K affs
The aff
- I'm fine with them - the closer you are to the topic the better
- I'm more inclined to say that you get a perm
the neg [overview]
Framework [neg]
- Same thing as topicality portion
- I've voted for framework and I've voted against framework - as long as you debate it well I'm all for it
K v K
- My favorite debates to judge when done well, and my least favorite when done messily
Theory
- Similar to the topicality paradigm
- I don't really have a strong opinion on condo
- I'm inclined to think that perf con isn't a voting issue
Miscellaneous
*I'm fine with tag-team cross-x, as long as you give the person who's supposed to question and/or answer the chance to do so
*Also if an argument is dropped, I won't give it weight unless you extend the argument. Don't just point out it's dropped
- I don't really have that many strong opinions on debate that'll affect the decision. I prefer to be convinced of your argument despite my opinion.
SPEECH PARADIGM
wsd & extemp
I've judged only some wsd & speech, BUT I have done some debates in wsd and know a bit about speech and understand the structure. Honestly, just debate, argue, and convince well and I will judge to the best of my abilities.
Julia Pearson
Northview '24
juliaweipearson@gmail.com ; northviewcxspeechdocs@gmail.com
TL;DR:
If you have any questions, ask me before the round.
These are just my thoughts on debate. These won't interfere with the ballot.
If you tell me to read a piece of evidence, I'll read it - chances are I will read it anyway.
Policy/Case:
I would like to see some impact turn debates.
I think that impact calculus and framing the debate for the judge is amazing.
All debate is just impact calculus. Do it, do it well, and most likely you will win.
Topicality
i've started liking topicality debates more and more. i'm very familiar with t-usfg and t-oasdi.
CPs
Especially for novices, I think that you should read a cp with a solvency advocate. I'm open to voting on theory if you win that there's abuse. I think condo is overall good to test the AFF but i can be convinced otherwise in round. I think PICs are great unless you just read it as a time skew.
DAs
I'm not a fan of DA's either - again, don't change what you read for that. As far as politics goes, I think that you need good evidence and I definitely think that fiat solves the link is a true argument (doesn't mean i'll vote on it every time). DA's should have a uniqueness, link + IL, and impact card.
K- affs
interact with the resolution
Novices, if you debate a K-aff well, you will be rewarded.
Flipside, please don't debate a K-aff bad, its really annoying
Tell me what the aff does, have an advocacy. Or something to defend.
I'll vote on straight impact turns or a counterinterp
Also cool with K v. K debates
FW
procedural fairness is an impact not just an internal link
it can also be impact turned
impact comparison in the last speeches can go a long way.
read a TVA
K
Read whatever you want, and i'll go with the flow.
I'll vote on fiat bad, i'll also vote on links specific to the plan, debate it out well.
i’ve spent most of my time in debate with k’s
I don't lean either way on FW, if you win that your model of debate is better or if you win the ROJ/ROB, i'll evaluate that to the extent that you tell me to.
i default to you link you lose good unless you tell me otherwise. i don’t think a reps K needs an alt to win but i do think K's should win that the affirmative makes the status quo worst not describe the status quo and say the affirmative is part of it.
if you’re going to perm shot gun, be clear.
Familiarity:
1) Set Col, Generics (Security, Abolition), Psychoanalysis, Academy, White Reconstruction (or any Rodriguez)
2) Capitalism, Queer, eh some Baudrillard
3) Bataille, Afropess, Deleuze, Agamben, more POMO people
Theory/Procedurals
I like theory debates, I dislike generic theory debates that have no clash, but rather only use backfiles and blocks. I can be convinced that anything is a reason to reject the team if the other team just straight-up drops it or you've proven a large extent of in-round abuse. As far as procedurals go, I think A-SPEC is dumb and absent a large technical succession it will be hard to convince me to vote on it.
Ayush Potdar
Northview PC
Georgia IP
I will make my decision based off the flow. I don’t care what arguments you go for. I will evaluate anything as long as it’s not harmful to any of the debaters in the room. If you disagree with my decision don’t hesitate to post round.
This is my twenty sixth year as an active member of the policy debate community. After debating in both high school and college I immediately jumped into coaching high school policy debate. I have been an argument coach, full time debate instructor, program director, and argument coach again for Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Miami, FL for the past seventeen years.
I become more convinced every year that the switch side nature of policy debate represents one of the most valuable tools to inoculate young people against dogmatism. I also believe the skills developed in policy debate – formulating positions using in depth research that privileges consensus, expertise, and data and the testing of those positions via multiple iterations—enhance students’ ability to think critically.
I am particularly fond of policy debate as the competitive aspect incentivizes students to keep abreast of current events and use that information to formulate opinions regarding how various levels of government should respond to societal needs.
Equipping students with the skills to meaningfully engage political institutions has been incredibly valuable for me. Many of my debate students have been Latina/Latinx. Witnessing them develop an expert ability to navigate institutions, that were by design obfuscated to ensure their exclusion, continues to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I am constantly grateful for that privilege.
Delivery and speaker pointsI am deeply concerned by the ongoing trend toward clash avoidance. This practice makes debate seem more trivial each year and continues to denigrate our efforts in the eyes of the academics we depend on for funding and support.
Affirmatives continue to lean into vague plan writing and vague explanations of what they will defend. This makes for late breaking and poorly developed debates. I understand why students engage in these practices (the competitive incentive I lauded above) I wish instructors and coaches understood how much more meaningful their contributions would be if they empowered students to embrace clash over gimmicks.
I will be less persuaded by your delivery if you choose to engage in clash avoidance. Actions such as deleting analytics, refusal to specify plans, cps, and K alts, allowing your wiki to atrophy, and proliferating stale competition style and Intrinsicness arguments will result in my awarding fewer speaker points.
Remember your friends’ hot takes and even your young coaches/lab leaders’ hot takes are just that – they are likely not the debates most of your critics want to adjudicate.
If you are not flowing during the debate, it will be difficult to persuade me that you were the most skilled debater in the room.
Be “on deck.” By that I mean be warmed up and ready for your turn at bat. Have your table tote set up, the email thread ready, you pens/paper/timer out, your laptop charged, go to the restroom before the round, fill up your water bottle, etc. I don’t say all this to sound like a mean teacher – in fact I think it would be incredibly ableist to really harp on these things or refuse to let students use the facilities mid-round – but being ready helps the round proceed on time and keeps you in the zone which helps your ability to project a confident winning persona. It also demonstrates a consideration for me, your opponents, your coaches and teammates and the tournament staffs’ time.
Be kind and generous to everyone.
Argument predispositionsYou can likely deduce most of this from the discussion of clash avoidance and why I value debate above.
I would prefer to see a debate wherein the affirmative defends the USFG should increase security cooperation with the NATO over AI, Biotech, and/or cybersecurity.
I would like to see the negative rejoin with hypothetical disadvantages to enacting the plan as well as introducing competing proposals for resolving the harms outlined by the affirmative.
One of the more depressing impacts to enrolling in graduate school has been the constant reminder that in truth impact d is >>> than impact ev. A few years ago, I was increasingly frustrated by teams only extending a DA and impact defense vs. the case – I thought this was responsible for a trend of fewer and fewer affirmatives with intrinsic advantages. I made a big push for spending at least 50% of the time on each case flow vs the internal link of the advantage. My opinion on this point is changing. Getting good at impact defense is tremendously valuable – you are likely examining peer reviewed highly qualified publications and their debunking of well…less than qualified publications.
I find Climate to be one of the most strategic and persuasive impacts in debate (life really). That said, most mechanisms to resolve climate presented in debates are woefully inadequate.
I am not averse to any genre of argument. Every genre has highs and lows. For example, not all kritiks are generic or have cheating alternatives, not all process counterplans are unrelated to the topic, and not all politics disadvantages are missing fundamental components but sometimes they are and you should work to avoid those deficiencies.
Like mindsThe folks with whom I see debate similarly:
Maggie Berthiaume
Dr. Brett Bricker
Anna Dimitrijevic
David Heidt
Fran Swanson
Suffolk SW
Northview IS, MS
Assistant Coach - Suffolk University
Top
**If I look confused, I am confused, please make me not confused.
**Yes you can read the K in front of me HOWEVER reading the K in front of me on either side IS NOT a guaranteed ballot. Quite frankly I've grown frustrated with the K especially when it's poorly debated.
**Novices: "I’m a firm believer in flowing and I don’t see enough people doing it. Since I do think it makes you a better debater, I want to incentivize it.So if you do flow the round, feel free to show me your flows at the end of the debate, and I’ll award up to an extra .3 points for good flows.I reserve the right not to give any points (and if I get shown too many garbage flows maybe I’ll start taking away points for bad ones just so people don’t show me horrible flows, though I’m assuming that won’t happen much), but if you’ve got the round flowed and want to earn extra points, please do!By the way you can’t just show one good flow on, lets say, the argument you were going to take in the 2nc/2nr – I need to see the round mostly taken down to give extra points" - Ben Schultz
**LD folks scroll to the bottom for specific LD stuff
General
1—Please don't call me judge. Makes me feel hella old. Just call me Juliette.
2—Tech over truth to its logical extent. Debate is not about solely the truth level of your arguments but your ability to substantially defeat the other team’s claims with your technical ability.
3—When debating ask the question of Why? Technical debating is not just realizing WHAT was dropped but WHY what was dropped matters and how important it is in the context of the rest of the debate. “If you start thinking in these terms and can explain each level of this analysis to me, then you will get closer to winning the round. In general, the more often this happens and the earlier this happens it will be easier for me to understand where you are going with certain arguments. This type of analysis definitely warrants higher speaker points from me and it helps you as a debater eliminate my predispositions from the debate."- Matt Cekanor
4—For those curious, I mainly debated the K in high school (on both sides). I'm usually good with most Ks, even so, you still have the burden of explaining it to me well as I vote off the flow and won't do additional work for you even if I read the lit. (Excuse the rant but...) I think most POMO arguments in debate are stupid and for some reason every POMO debate I've judged the team has double turned themselves (lowk probably cuz most (if not all) POMO is ridiculous to read in this activity). Then again, debate it well and yes I will vote on whatever POMO stuff you throw my way.
K-Affs
Yes, I read a K aff. Yes, I will vote on them. No, I don't think a majority of these affs solve any of the impacts they claim to solve. I think a key thing that most of these affs lack is proper solvency. If you're going to convince me that you solve things, I need a good reason to either why your method is good (i.e. give me concrete examples of what your aff looks like) and/or tell me why an aff ballot in this debate solves. That being said, for the negative, I often find a good presumption push to be a solid strat.
Framework
1. No preference on what impact you go for (but come on, clash is not an impact... alas, if you debate it well I will vote on it). Some impacts require more case debating than others. For example, if going for fairness, you need to spend more time winning the ballot portion of your offense and defense against the other team’s theory of how debate operates. If going for clash, you need to spend more time winning how your model over a year’s worth of debates can solve their offense and spend more time with defense to the affirmative.
2. I have spent a large part of my high school career thinking about arguments for the negative and the affirmative in these debates. To put it into perspective, almost 90% of my debates over a given season are framework debates, on the neg and the aff. For a large amount of framework debates, the better-practiced team always wins.
3. Use defense to your advantage. Nebulous claims of inserting the affirmative can be read on the negative with no specific internal link or impact debating will largely not factor in my decision. However, there are fantastic ways to use defense like switch side debate and the TVA.
4. Very specific TVA’s can work against very specific types of framework arguments. If the affirmative has forwarded a critique of debating the topic then TVA’s can mitigate the affirmative’s DAs. However, if the affirmative team has forwarded an impact turn to the imposition of framework in the round, they are less useful.
5. Impact turning topicality - Do it. Do it well and you'll be rewarded.
6. Often times when starting out, 2AR's go for too much in the 2AR. If you are impact turning T, go for one DA's and do sufficient impact comparison. Your 2AR should answer the questions of how T is particularly violent or links to your theory of power and most importantly HOW MY BALLOT CAN RESOLVE THOSE THINGS. Your impact only matters as much as its scope of solvency. You must also do risk comparison. Most neg framework teams are better at this. The way the aff loses these debates is when there's a DA with substantive impact turn and there's a negative impact that is explained less but is paired with substantively more internal link work and solvency comparison.
If going for a CI, focus on one impact turn and focus on how the CI solves it and how the DA links to their interp. Think of it like CP, your CI should include some aspects of their interpretation but avoids the risk of your DAs.
K v Policy AFF
Two types of 2NRs. Ones that go for in round implications and ones that go for out of round implications.
A)In Round—In round route requires a larger push on framework and a higher level of technical debating on the level of the standards but is usually much easier if you’re a practiced K 2NR. 2NC will usually have like 10 arguments on framework, 1AR extends their standards and answers like 2 arguments. 2NR just goes for the DA and all conceded defense, GGs. In addition, the best K 2NRs going for the in round version will have a link to the “plan or the effects of the plan”. What this means in this sense is that they will tie affirmative implementation to a link that proves their ethic mobilizes bad subjects IN DEBATE.
B)Out of Round—Out of round requires like close to 0 time on framework. Most policy 2As now just grant the K links but just say affirmative vs the alternative. Thus, if you are going for the alternative with links to the plan, just spend time winning the link debate, explaining why the affirmative doesn’t happen in the way they think. Most times these Ks will have a substantial impact turn debate so winning that is essential.
K v K Debates
1. Technical Debating is often lost in these debates but this necessarily happens due to the nature of K v K debates as theory of power debating is often the most important part. That being said, vague link debating will mitigate you winning your theory of power.
2. You need to pick something and defend it. The neg team will ask about the affirmative in 1AC CX, that explanation should stay consistent throughout the round. Lack of a consistent explanation will lower my threshold for buying a risk of a link and higher the burden for you to win the permutation.
3. Use links to implicate solvency. Often times its hard to make a K aff stick to in round or out of round solvency. Use links in the 2NC and 2NR to mitigate parts of both so even if the 2AR consolidates to one, you still have defensive arguments.
4. K affs have built in theory of power and solvency that's inherently offensive. I'll be grumpy if you jettison the aff but will not if you provide extrapolated offensive explanations in the 2AR using your affirmative and pieces of offense that they dropped. 2AR's that do this will be rewarded with higher speaks.
Topicality (Policy v Policy)
1. Fine judge for these debates. T can lower your burden of prepping out some affirmatives that are inherently untopical and it's a good strat to have in your back pocket. However, for this topic the caselists and violations are pretty overlimiting.
2. Caselists are always useful for understanding these arguments.
3. Impact debating doesn't matter much in these debates but internal link debating does. Make sure to indict and compare interps and both sides. Predictability is the IL to all impacts.
4. The best 2AR's in these debates are ones that pick through negative evidence and identify no intent to define, arbitrariness, and combine that with reasonability
Counterplans
1. Probably err negative on theory concerns but if there's a technical crush I will certainly vote affirmative.
2. My predisposition toward counterplans is that they must be both textually and functionally competitive but always up to interpretation by the theory debate in round.
3. The best counterplans are PICs and other counterplans that are cut to beat specific affs. That being said, I do find some PICs to be extremely abusive so I will be sympathetic towards the aff on a PICs bad theory debate.
4. Presumption flips aff when you read a CP.
5. Affirmatives always freak out when they hit a CP they don't have blocks to but your advantages are there for a reason, its not hard to write specific deficits during the 1NC.
Theory
I dislike generic theory debates. I do not think anything but condo/extremely abusive PICs is a reason to reject the team but I can be persuaded otherwise if there is extreme in-round abuse or the other team straight-up drops it.
It will take a lot to convice me to vote aff on condo in a one/two conditional off debate. Three conditional off can start getting more legit in novice. Four and plus and sure I'll listen.
DA
1. Risk matters most when evaluating a DA. The affirmative arguments are made to give me skepticism in the internal links and the negatives job is to mitigate that by link work and turns case debating implicating affirmative solvency.
2. DA is not a full DA until a uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact arguments are presented. If not present in the block, the 1AR will get new answers. I also need a full scenario in the 2NR for me to vote on.
3. When the DA is the best utilized is the 1NR. Very hard for the 1AR when 1NR gets 5 minutes to read a slew of cards answering all 2AC claims.
Case
1. Yes you can win on a straight-up presumption ballot. This type of ballot is not popular anymore but it should be. Too many teams get away with reading an affirmative with no specific evidence or internal links. This was especially prevalent on the criminal justice reform topic but it is still a problem on the water topic too. Teams will highlight evidence terribly and act like the solve it even though it makes no sense, especially against the K. K teams should take advantage of this. Ex. aff that talks about financing technologies- solvency advocates will mention one type of technology but the advantage area will be about a different kind. Neg teams call this out and go for presumption.
2. Affirmative teams must answer all case arguments not merely by extending their impact again but by answering the warrants in the card. Most policy teams just say "doesn't assume our x" without refuting the warrants in the card.
Argument Preferences
1. Don't really care what you read in front of me. Though I've spent the vast majority of my high school career in the K realm, and probably because of that, I've thought about most policy answers to the K so either side can make sense to me. However, it is your job as debaters to ensure a technical win, and ensure my job is to solely evaluate the flow.
2. If you are going to read the K in front of me, please do it well. Because I've seen the K debated at some of the highest levels, it's annoying to see it butchered.
3. I'm fine for policy v policy throw-downs. These debates are often much easier to resolve as one team almost always clearly wins on the flow and are much easier to understand.
Speaker Points
I find myself giving speaks on the higher end. Ways to improve your speaks include:
Being funny, making smart arguments, having fun, being clear, not saying your opponent conceded/dropped something when they didn't, talking about penguins, make fun of anyone I know.
Cross-ex can be a great way to improve speaks, however, there's a thin line between being competetive and just being rude and I have no shame in docking speaks if you choose to be a jerk.
It irks me when debaters claim their opponents "dropped" something when I have it on my flow. I understand that sometimes mistakes happen and you don't flow an argument or something similar. However (comma) if it becomes a recurring problem in a speech I will dock speaks each time it happens.
Also, I will yell "clear" three times, if you choose not to slow down or be clear I will start docking speaks. If you are speaking faster than I can move my pen or type then don't complain when I didn't catch something on my flow. "I don’t care how fast or unclear you are on the body of cards b/c it is my belief that you will extend that body text in an intelligent manner later on. However, if you spread tags as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If you read analytics as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If I do not flow an argument, you’re not going to win on it." - Blake Deng
LD
I’m not an LD person, so keep things as simple and direct as possible.
I sorta know what a value criterion is.
You gotta do more weighing in phil debates.
Now on a technicality I’m probably best for the K, however, because policy speech times are longer, I tend to look for more warranted comparisons by the end of the debate. Also, I just have high standards for explanations.
I refuse to vote on something I don’t comfortably understand.
Important thing to remember is I was a policy debater NOT and LD debater. Lucky for you, my face says it all, if I look confused, I am confused, please just make me not confused. Also, NO TRICKS.
Alpharetta 21. Emory 25.
Email chain: hargunn.sandhu03@gmail.com
Note:
I have ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE. Explain acronyms and don't assume I know the limits/consensus on T.
General:
1. Tech > Truth. Better debating can easily overcome any of the preferences I have below. Judge instruction is key, especially in the final rebuttals.
2. Good debating requires quality evidence; strong logical explanation, and contextualization.
3. Online debate: please slow down and enunciate more than you normally would. Clarity should not be sacrificed for speed. Sending analytics might be useful in case internet cuts out. Try to keep your camera on at least during speeches and CX.
4. Racism, sexism, discrimination, or any other problematic actions will result in an L and the lowest speaks.
5. Clipping = L and lowest speaks. If you accuse someone of clipping you must have evidence, if you fail to prove they clipped then you get an L.
Specifics:
1. K:
a. K Affs: Clash > Fairness > Education/Skills. I'm more inclined to vote on t usfg/framework since I have mostly been on this side of the debate. Heg good, cap good, etc are all good 2nr options. However, I do think the aff can win with impact turns to the negative's model. Good K affs have a connection to the topic and a clear offense/defense mechanism in the 1AC.
b. Ks: Leaning towards aff gets to weigh the plan. Who cares if fiat isn't real. Specific links, pulling quotes from the 1AC, and in-depth explanation at every level are very important. Avoid large overviews. Turns case/root cause/alt solves > fw 2nrs. Extinction ow/impact turn > permutation 2ars.
2. CPs/DAs:
a. CPs: Cool. If undebated, I'll judge kick the CP. I might be a little more receptive to intrinsic perms than most.
b. DAs: Turns case is crucial. Politics DAs are good, spin is important. 0% risk is a thing, but hard to get to.
3. Theory:
a. Conditionality: Good. Worth noting that I think aff teams rarely capitalize on neg teams' poor defense of condo.
b. International CP and Ctrl + f word PICs are bad assuming even debating. Neg leaning on most other theory.
4. T - Assuming even debating, competing interps > reasonability. Precise, contextual evidence is key to winning these debates, for both the aff and the neg, but especially the aff if there's a substantial limits differential. Read cards. Both sides should be clashing over their visions of the topic and the impacts to it.
5. Case: Not a fan of framing pages. Impact Turns are fantastic. Good case debating is underutilized. Presumption is possible.
6. Misc:
- Speaks: I'm prolly a little above average giving them out. Specific strategies are good. It always helps to make the round fun. Quality evidence is good. If you opensource, let me know, + .1
- Insert perm texts
- I'm usually not expressive, and anything I do express is usually not your fault.
- Things I prolly won't vote on: ASPEC, death good, and out of round issues
Debated 4 years Marquette University HS (2001-2004)
Assistant Coach – Marquette University HS (2005-2010)
Head Coach – Marquette University HS (2011-2012)
Assistant Coach – Johns Creek HS (2012-2014)
Head Coach – Johns Creek HS (2014-Current)
Yes, put me on the chain: bencharlesschultz@gmail.com
No, I don’t want a card doc.
Its been a long time since I updated this – this weekend I was talking to a friend of mine and he mentioned that I have "made it clear I wasn’t interested in voting for the K”. Since I actually love voting for the K, I figured that I had been doing a pretty bad job of getting my truth out there. I’m not sure anyone reads these religiously, or that any paradigm could ever combat word of mouth (good or bad), but when I read through what I had it was clear I needed an update (more so than for the criticism misconception than for the fact that my old paradigm said I thought conditionality was bad – yeesh, not sure what I was thinking when I wrote THAT….)
Four top top shelf things that can effect the entire debate for you, with the most important at the top:
11) Before I’m a debate judge, I’m a teacher and a mandatory reporter. I say this because for years I’ve been more preferred as a critical judge, and I’ve gotten a lot of clash rounds, many of which include personal narratives, some of which contain personal narratives of abuse. If such a narrative is read, I’ll stop the round and bring in the tournament director and they will figure out the way forward.
22) I won’t decide the debate on anything that has happened outside of the round, no matter the quality of evidence entered into the debate space about those events. The round starts when the 1AC begins.
33) If you are going to the bathroom before your speech in the earlier speeches (constructives through 1nr, generally) just make sure the doc is sent before you go. Later speeches where there's no doc if you have prep time I can run that, or I'll take off .4 speaks and allow you to go (probably a weird thing, I know, but I just think its stealing prep even though you don't get to take flows or anything, just that ability to settle yourself and think on the positions is huge)
44) No you definitely cannot use extra cross-ex time as prep, that’s not a thing.
5
55) Finally, some fun. I’m a firm believer in flowing and I don’t see enough people doing it. Since I do think it makes you a better debater, I want to incentivize it. So if you do flow the round, feel free to show me your flows at the end of the debate, and I’ll award up to an extra .3 points for good flows. I reserve the right not to give any points (and if I get shown too many garbage flows maybe I’ll start taking away points for bad ones just so people don’t show me horrible flows, though I’m assuming that won’t happen much), but if you’ve got the round flowed and want to earn extra points, please do! By the way you can’t just show one good flow on, lets say, the argument you were going to take in the 2nc/2nr – I need to see the round mostly taken down to give extra points
Top Shelf:
This is stuff that I think you probably want to know if you’re seeing me in the back
· I am liable probably more than most judges to yell “clear” during speeches – I won’t do it SUPER early in speeches because I think it takes a little while for debaters to settle into their natural speed, and a lot of times I think adrenaline makes people try and go faster and be a little less clear at the start of their speeches than they are later. So I wait a bit, but I will yell it. If it doesn’t get better I’ll yell one more time, then whatever happens is on you in terms of arguments I don’t get and speaker points you don’t get. I’m not going to stop flowing (or at least, I never have before), but I also am not yelling clear frivolously – if I can’t understand you I can’t flow you.
· I don’t flow with the doc open. Generally, I don’t open the doc until later in the round – 2nc prep is pretty generally when I start reading, and I try to only read cards that either are already at the center of the debate, or cards that I can tell based on what happens through the 2ac and the block will become the choke points of the round. The truth of the debate for me is on the flow, and what is said by the debaters, not what is said in their evidence and then not emphasized in the speeches, and I don’t want to let one team reading significantly better evidence than the other on questions that don’t arise in the debate influence the way I see the round in any way, and opening the doc open is more likely than not to predispose me towards one team than another, in addition to, if I’m reading as you go, I’m less likely to dock you points for being comically unclear than if the only way I can get down what I get down is to hear you say it.
Argumentative Stuff
Listen at the end of the day, I will vote for anything. But these are arguments that I have a built in preference against. Please do not change up your entire strategy for me. But if the crux of your strategy is either of these things know that 1 – I probably shouldn’t be at the top of your pref card, and 2 – you can absolutely win, but a tie is more likely to go to the other side. I try and keep an open mind as much as possible (heck I’ve voted for death good multiple times! Though that is an arg that may have more relevance as you approach 15 full years as a public school DoD….) but these args don’t do it for me. I’ll try and give a short explanation of why.
1. I’m not a good judge for theory, most specifically cheap shots, but also stuff seen as more “serious” like conditionality. Its been a long long time since anyone has gone for theory in front of me – the nature of the rounds that I get means there’s not usually a ton of negative positions – which is good because I’m not very sympathetic to it. I generally think that the negative offense, both from the standpoint of fairness and education, is pretty weak in all but the most egregious rounds when it comes to basic stuff like conditionality. Other counterplan theory like no solvency advocate, no international fiat, etc I’m pretty sympathetic to reject the argument not the team. In general, if you’re looking at something like conditionality where the link is linear and each instance increases the possibility of fairness/education impacts, for me you’ve got to be probably very near to, or even within, double digits for me to think the possible harm is insurmountable in round. This has come up before so I want to be really clear here – if its dropped, GO FOR IT, whether alone or (preferably) as an extension in a final rebuttal followed by substance. I for sure will vote for it in a varsity round (in novice rounds, depending on the rest of the round, I may or may not vote on it). Again – this is a bias against an argument that will probably effect the decision in very close rounds.
2. Psychoanalysis based critical literature – I like the criticism, as I mentioned above, just because I think the cards are more fun to read and more likely to make me think about things in a new way than a piece of counterplan solvency or a politics internal link card or whatever. But I have an aversion to psychoanalysis based stuff. The tech vs truth paragraph sums up my feelings on arguments that seem really stupid. Generally when I see critical literature I think there’s at least some truth to it, especially link evidence. But
3. Cheap Shots – same as above – just in general not true, and at variance with what its fun to see in a debate round. There’s nothing better than good smart back and forth with good evidence on both sides. Cheap shots (I’m thinking of truly random stuff like Ontology Spec, Timecube – stuff like that) obviously are none of those things.
4. Finally this one isn’t a hard and fast thing I’m necessarily bad for, but something I’ve noticed over the years that I think teams should know that will effect their argumentative choices in round – I tend to find I’m less good than a lot of judges for fairness as a standalone impact to T-USFG. I feel like even though its never changed that critical teams will contend that they impact turn fairness, or will at least discuss why the specific type of education they provide (or their critique of the type of education debate in the past has provided), it has become more in vogue for judges to kind of set aside that and put sort of a silo around the fairness impact of the topicality debate and look at that in a vacuum. I’ve just never been good at doing that, or understanding why that happens – I’m a pretty good judge still for framework, I think, but youre less likely to win if you go for a fairness impact only on topicality and expect that to carry the day
Specific Round Types:
K Affs vs Framework
Clash rounds are the rounds I’ve gotten by far the most in the last 5-8 years or so, and generally I like them a lot and they consistently keep me interested. For a long time during the first generation of critical affirmatives that critique debate/the resolution I was a pretty reliable vote for the affirmative. Since the negative side of the no plan debate has caught up, I’ve been much more evenly split, and in general I like hearing a good framework press on a critical aff and adjudicating those rounds. I think I like clash rounds because they have what I would consider the perfect balance between amount of evidence (and specificity of evidence) and amount of analysis of said evidence. I think a good clash round is preferable than almost any round because there’s usually good clash on the evidentiary issues and there’s still a decent amount of ev read, but from the block on its usually pure debate with minimal card dumpage. Aside from the preference discussed above for topicality based framework presses to engage the fairness claims of the affirmative more, I do think that I’m more apt than others to vote negative on presumption, or barring that, to conclude that the affirmative just gets no risk of its advantages (shoutout Juliette Salah!). One other warning for affirmatives – one of the advantages that the K affords is that the evidence is usually sufficiently general that cards which are explained one way (or meant to be used one way) earlier in the round can become exactly what the negative doesn’t need/cant have them be in the 2ar. I think in general judges, especially younger judges, are a little biased against holding the line against arguments that are clearly new or cards that are explained in a clearly different way than they were originally explained. Now that I’m old, I have no such hang ups, and so more than a lot of other judges I’ve seen I’m willing to say “this argument that is in the 2ar attached to (X) evidence is not what was in the 1ar, and so it is disallowed”. (As an aside, I think the WORST thing that has happened to, and can happen to, no plan teams is an overreliance on 1ar blocks. I would encourage any teams that have long 1ar blocks to toss them in the trash – if you need to keep some explanations of card warrants close, please do, but ditch the prewritten blocks, commit yourself to the flow, and listen to the flow of the round, and the actual words of the block. The teams that have the most issue with shifting argumentation between the 1ar and the 2ar are the teams that are so obsessed with winning the prep time battle in the final 2 rebuttals that they become over dependent on blocks and aren’t remotely responsive to the nuance of a 13 minute block that is these days more and more frequently 13 minutes of framework in some way shape or form)
K vs K
Seems like its more likely these days to see clash rounds for me, and next up would be policy rounds. I’d actually like to see more K v K rounds (though considering that every K team needs to face framework enough that they know exactly how to debate it, and its probably more likely/easier to win a clash round than a K v K round on the negative, it may be more strategic to just go for framework on the neg if you don’t defend the USFG on the aff), and I’d especially love to see more well-argued race v high theory rounds. Obviously contextualization of very general evidence that likely isn’t going to be totally on point is the name of the game in these rounds, as well as starting storytelling early for both sides – I’d venture to say the team that can start telling the simple, coherent story (using evidence that can generally be a tad prolix so the degree of difficulty for this is high) early will be the team that generally will get the ballot. The same advice about heavy block use, especially being blocked out into the 1ar, given above counts here as well.
Policy v policy Rounds
I love them. A good specific policy round is a thing of beauty. Even a non-specific counterplan/DA round with a good strong block is always great. As the season goes on its comparatively less likely, just based on the rounds I usually get, that I’ll know about specific terminology, especially deeply nuanced counterplan terminology. I honestly believe good debaters, no matter their argumentative preference or what side of the (mostly spurious) right/left divide in debate you’re on, are good CASE debaters. If you are negative and you really want to back up the speaker point Brinks truck, a 5+ minute case press is probably the easiest way to make that happen.
Individual argument preferences
I’ll give two numbers here – THE LEFT ONE about how good I think I am for an argument based on how often I actually have to adjudicate it, and THE RIGHT ONE will be how much I personally enjoy an argument. Again – I’ll vote for anything you say. But more information about a judge is good, and you may as well know exactly what I enjoy hearing before you decide where to rank me. 1 being the highest, 10 being the lowest.
T (classic) --------------------------------------- 5/4
T (USFG/Framework) ------------------------ 1/1
DA ------------------------------------------------ 3/2
CP ------------------------------------------------- 4/2
Criticism ----------------------------------------- 1/2
Policy Aff --------------------------------------- 2/2
K Aff ---------------------------------------------- 1/3
Theory ------------------------------------------- 8/9
Cheap Shots ------------------------------------ 10/10
Post Round:
I feel like I’ve gotten more requests lately to listen to redos people send me. I’m happy to do that and give commentary if folks want – considering I saw the original speech and know the context behind it, it only makes sense that I would know best whether the redo fixes the deficiencies of the original. Shoot me an email and I’m happy to help out!
Any other questions – just ask!
Introduction
Call me Sam, Oak Park River Forest '21 & Emory '25, coach for Pace Academy, yes email chain oprfgs@gmail.com, I know absolutely nothing about this topic...
In my mind there are two serious reasons you might be reading my paradigm: either 1. you are determining prefs before a tournament or 2. you are determining how I will respond to your strategy before the round. I have organized my paradigm accordingly.
Listed below are the things I think are most important to point out about the way I judge, and the places where I might differ from the "consensus" of the debate community. If I do not bring up a certain issue, you should assume that I adopt the general "consensus view." If there is a particularly question that is important to you that I do not mention, you should absolutely feel free to email me before a tournament or even before a round. I will not write you an essay on what arguments to go for but I will answer straightforward yes or no questions like "is inserting a card ok if it was read in cx" (yes) or "when debated equally, do you think a textually legitimate but functionally illegitimate perm is valid if both teams agree a counterplan must be textually and functionally competitive" (also yes). If you are unsure whether your question is appropriate, ask anyway.
For Prefs
General
-I like smart arguments. I like line by line. I like spreading (while being clear) and reading lots of cards and comparing evidence.
-I put substantial effort into evaluating every debate I judge to the best of my ability. That being said, the following is a ranking from most to least of my average confidence in evaluating each type of debate: DA/CP/Case Turn v Policy Aff, T v Policy Aff, K v Policy Aff, T/FW/DA v K Aff, K v K Aff.
FW/K
-Debate is a competitive research game with a winner and a loser. It is my job to determine who the winner and the loser are based on who does the better debating in the round. It is very difficult to convince me to vote for something outside of the round (however, a team responding to "out-of-round" arguments should still defend why these arguments exceed the ballot's purview).
-I have not judged many T-USFG/FW debates, so I am not sure how idiosyncratic my approach of them is compared to common community practices. However, all else being equal, I have yet to see a convincing argument for why the affirmative should not have to defend a topical plan.
For Pre- (and Post-) round
General Notes
-Do not over-adapt. Do what you do, do it well, and you will get my ballot.
-I am easily impressed by debaters who demonstrate that they command an extensive but approachable understanding of American foreign policy, the internal politics of other countries, "critical" debates in academia, etc. I am easily depressed by debaters who's knowledge of these subject is superficial or who can not describe these things in a way that is easily digestible. The best way to prove to me your quality as a speaker is to debate an important area of study both in-depth and in a way that a non-expert could understand.
-Read re-highlightings.
-Have perm texts (it's ok to insert them).
-I generally flow in-person debates on paper. If you think you are going too fast you are. If you think you are unclear you are. Please slow down when you are making a lot of non-carded arguments in constructives, especially on T/Theory/K OVs.
-Generally, after the debate ends, I will create a list of the questions I need to resolve to determine which side won. If the answers to any of these questions can clearly be determined based on my flow I will resolve them in the appropriate way. Finally, I will read the evidence presented by both teams on the more ambiguous questions on my list, and incorporate evidence, spin, and analytical arguments into evaluating them. Therefore, while good evidence is always important, evidence quality begins to matter a lot more to me if you have done less work with spin/analytics/etc, which is something you should keep in mind in how you approach your 2nr/2ar.
-Online: I highly encourage you to turn on your video if you are able to do so. Debate is a communicative activity and seeing you speak significantly helps me understand you on a psychological level.
T
-If the most precise reading of the resolution results in a bad topic, that's a gripe for the topic comity, not a justification for trying to re-define the topic (on either the aff or the neg). Is it possible to win my ballot on debatability? Yes. Does it require a lot of impact work? Also yes.
-Instead of focusing on only winning I should look at debatiability, predictability, or any of their component parts, consider how I will evaluate the round after it ends. Often times both teams have offered multiple lenses that modify one or more of these categories and how they interact. The teams that win T debates in front of me are usually the ones who come closest to identifying all the impacts and framing devices in the debate and explaining how they resolve.
DAs
-I love the politics DA. However, politics DAs require a story. The words "strong-arming moderates" in your uq ev + an "aff requires PC" card do not a story make. I will give good points for (decent) innovative politics strategies because I think they get at the heart of what makes debate fun and the ambiguities that fiat creates.
-There is a direct, positive, linear relationship between the amount of impact calc you do and how likely I am to vote for you. I know that's a cliché and I'm still including it here which should clue you in to how important this is. This also means that I am not a fan of framing contentions, and I only think they are useful in so far as you impact out and do impact calc with the applicable arguments on the appropriate DA or counterplan page. This is not to say I will throw out framing contentions; I will still try to adjudicate the debate as fairly as possible, just know that all else being equal I lean negative on theses issues and if you are running a framing contention you are better off convincing me the neg's impacts are securitized and bad then you are convincing me that DAs are fake.
CPs
-I default to counterplans needing to be functionally and textually competitive. However, the way the affirmative determines if the CP meets that burden is the permutation. Therefore, when debated equally, a textually legitimate but functionally illegitimate perm is valid.
-I am sympathetic to being time pressed in the 2AC and think the threshold for a sufficient explanation for a perm or solvency deficit in the 2AC is that I am able to reasonably predict the subsequent 1AR explanation. However, I am a lot less sympathetic to perms and solvency deficits (especially impacts to solvency deficits) that sound substantially different in the 2AR then they do in the 1AR (or that barely feature in the 1AR but feature prominently in the 2AR). While this is opposite to your strategic incentives, the earlier you explain your arguments the better for me as a judge, and perms or solvency deficits that are explained thoroughly in the 2AC require less time investment to explain in the 1AR, so there is a cost/benefit calculus you have to take on.
-In my mind, perms are a yes/no question. My default way to evaluate perms is to look at each one, see if it clearly establishes that the counterplan is not an opportunity cost the the plan, and depending on if the answer is yes or no discard the counterplan or move on to other arguments respectively. One implication of this is that I am generally unsympathetic to "any risk of a link to the net benefit" answers to the perm. Nevertheless, my stance on perms as a yes/no question is somewhat malleable if debaters make explicit arguments for why I should understand the perm in a different way.
-I view CPs through the lens of negation theory. The negative is, first and foremost, responsible for giving me a reason the aff is bad (not just a reason the aff is less good than it could be). That means all counterplans must have offensive net benefits. I will never vote for a counterplan whose net benefit is better aff solvency. Even if the counterplan solves the aff better, and is mutually exclusive with the aff, it has not provided a reason the aff is bad.
-By default neg leaning on theory. The two most important things to my ballot on a theory argument: 1. Win topic side bias AND/OR how this theory argument implicates this topic specifically AND explain the implications of this. 2. Do impact calc. These debates often get messy, so being simple and formulaic is to your benefit.
-If judge kick is not brought up in the debate, I will kick the CP for you if it has been clearly designated as conditional/dispositional. Otherwise, I will evaluate the arguments for/against judge kick presented in the debate. If the counterplan has not been clearly designated as conditional I will not kick it.
Ks
-If neither team forwards a "middle ground" fw interpretation, like "weigh the advantage but also weigh reps links," I will not intervene and make one for you. I will only decide between the fw interpretations forwarded by either side, but a team can make arguments that modifying its fw interpretation in later speeches to attempt to take the "middle of the road" and capture the other team's offense.
-I am uncomfortable adjudicating anything other than the debating that took place within the round I am assigned. If there is harassment within the round, I hold the appropriate course of action to be stopping the debate and going to tab, where I am happy to argue that the team doing the harassment should be expelled from the tournament and talk to the team's coaches about the debaters facing repercussions. If there is harassment outside the round, talk to me and/or send me an email and we can go to tab and/or try to determine an appropriate course of action.
Final thoughts
-I think debate is no fun when everyone is up-tight and being a little fun and/or silly is a good thing. However, this should never come at the expense of debating well.
-I am probably a better judge for arguments like death good than the rest of this paradigm makes it seem.
-If you feel unsafe during a round for any reason, send me an email.
-I am still paying attention even I am staring off into the distance, especially if I am flowing on my computer.
Jared Shirts (he/him)
Gunn '22
Emory '25
Email Chain - Put me on the email chain. My email is jshirtsdebate@gmail.com.
Background - I did four years of policy at Gunn High School as a 1A/2N. I ran primarily policy strategies on both the aff and the neg during my time in high school. I now debate at Emory University.
Lay Debate Tourneys - I love lay debate. If this is a CFL League tourney or NSDA, I'm happy to judge as a parent judge. If there is a lay judge on the panel, adapt to them, not to me.
General Thoughts - I've been told I'm not very expressive during debates. This doesn't mean I think your arguments are bad---I just typically don't make facial expressions during speeches. Judge instruction is everything. Don't over-adapt to anything below, my preferences will always be overcome by effective debating. Just debate your strengths, and I'll try not to let my predispositions shape my view of your arguments.
T - A case list is necessary. I default to competing interpretations. Don't assume I know the topic intricacies.
DA - Like them. Impact calculus is critical.
CP - Don't speed through analytic blocks on competition debates - explanation is critical. I'll judge kick if you tell me to.
Theory - Slow down on theory debating. I lean aff on international and multi-actor fiat. I lean neg on every other theory violation, and heavily neg when against new affs. Numerical interpretations for # of condo are arbitrary - condo is either good or bad.
Case - Love case strategies. DA Case 2NRs are severely underutilized, and strategies that rely on case pushes in the 2NR will be rewarded with speaks. Presumption exists, although it relies on either exceptional case debating or severe technical concessions.
K's - I have at least a basic understanding of most K literature. Historical examples and in-depth explanations are very valuable. Not a fan of giant overviews.
K Affs - Go for it. I typically went for FW against K affs. Fairness can be an impact if explained well, but it's a debate to be had.
Framing - I ran soft left affs most of high school, so I'm receptive to framing pages. Framing pages based on risk analysis and serial policy failure are significantly more persuasive to me than "structural violence first always" framing.
Speaks - Average debate will be around 28.8. Above 29.1 means I think you deserve to break, below 28 means there is something that needs to be improved upon.
Misc - Many of my thoughts on debate are influenced byWill Halverson and Evan Alexis. Natural Vikram Valame references will boost your speaks.
Please add me to the email chain; my email is: kabir.singh23@paceacademy.org
Clarity > Speed
Tech > Truth (to an extent)
Tag teaming in cross-x is fine generally fine but overdoing it = - speaks
General Aff stuff:
2AC - don't mindlessly read blocks to arguments the opponent didn't read... it hurts... please don't do it
1AR - be STRATEGIC! Pick one (or a couple) arguments that you foresee the 2AR to be if the neg extends that off-case.
2AR - don't do too much. You won't be developing your arguments enough. Feel free to kick an advantage if it is not important to the debate at that given moment (eg: it is not a solvency deficit to a CP).
-- be smort, strategic, etc and your speaks will be stonks.
K-Affs - To put it bluntly, these are my least favorite debates. If you are reading a K-Aff, just explain your arguments well and you'll be fine. I won't be happy, sure, but you will be fine.
General Neg Stuff:
T, DAs, CPs: these are all fine. Do whatever you want, I like these args
Theory stuff: Condo is a viable 2AR; other theory args... not so much (unless severely mishandled by the other team).
Ks - I don't understand many of these, so please explain them well (like dumb it down enough for a toddler to understand). I am most familiar with Cap, Security, and Set Col. Have fun explaining the rest to me.
Case: please do it. I love a good impact turn... j don't double-turn yourself
Misc.
Tech time and bathroom breaks are facades for teams to steal prep... figure out your stuff before the round so that you don't hold up the entire tournament. If the round has to be paused for any reason, I am chill with that, but if we start running behind, I'm going to start subtracting prep time.
Debate is supposed to be fun... make jokes, etc
Coach at Alpharetta High School 2006-Present
Coach at Chattahoochee High School 1999-2005
Did not debate in High School or College.
E-mail: asmiley27@gmail.com
General thoughts- I expect debaters to recognize debate as a civil, enjoyable, and educational activity. Anything that debaters do to take away from this in the round could be penalized with lower speaker points. I tend to prefer debates that more accurately take into account the types of considerations that would play into real policymakers' decision making. On all arguments, I prefer more specifics and less generics in terms of argument choice and link arguments.
The resolution has an educational purpose. I prefer debates that take this into account and find ways to interact with the topic in a reasonable way. Everything in this philosophy represents my observations and preferences, but I can be convinced otherwise in the round and will judge the arguments made in the round. I will vote on most arguments, but I am going to be very unlikely to vote on arguments that I consider morally repugnant (spark, wipeout, malthus, cancer good, etc). You should avoid these arguments in front of me.
Identity arguments- I do not generally judge these rounds and was traditionally less open to them. However, the methods and messages of these rounds can provide important skills for questioning norms in society and helping all of us improve in how we interact with society and promote justice. For that reason, I am going to work hard to be far more open to these arguments and their educational benefits. There are two caveats to this that I want you to be aware of. First, I am not prima facie rejecting framework arguments. I will still be willing to vote on framework if I think the other side is winning that their model of debate is overall better. Second, I have not read the amount of literature on this topic that most of you have and I have not traditionally judged these rounds. This means that you should not assume that I know all of the terms of art used in this literature or the acronyms. Please understand that you will need to assist in my in-round education.
K- I have not traditionally been a big fan of kritiks. This does not mean that I will not vote for kritiks, and I have become much more receptive to them over the years. However, this does mean a couple of things for the debaters. First, I do not judge as many critical rounds as other judges. This means that I am less likely to be familiar with the literature, and the debaters need to do a little more work explaining the argument. Second, I may have a little higher threshold on certain arguments. I tend to think that teams do not do a good enough job of explaining how their alternatives solve their kritiks or answering the perms. Generally, I leave too many rounds feeling like neither team had a real discussion or understanding of how the alternative functions in the round or in the real world. I also tend towards a policy framework and allowing the aff to weigh their advantages against the K. However, I will look to the flow to determine these questions. Finally, I do feel that my post-round advice is less useful and educational in K rounds in comparison to other rounds.
T- I generally enjoy good T debates. Be sure to really impact your standards on the T debate. Also, do not confuse most limiting with fair limits. Finally, be sure to explain which standards you think I as the judge should default to and impact your standards.
Theory-I am willing to pull the trigger on theory arguments as a reason to reject the argument. However, outside of conditionality, I rarely vote on theory as a reason to reject the team. If you are going for a theory arg as a reason to reject the team, make sure that you are impacting the argument with reasons that I should reject the team. Too many debaters argue to reject the team without any impact beyond the argument being unfair. Instead, you need to win that it either changed the round in an unacceptable way or allowing it changes all future rounds/research in some unacceptable way. I will also tend to look at theory as a question of competing interpretations. I feel that too many teams only argue why their interpretation is good and fail to argue why the other team’s interpretation is bad. Also, be sure to impact your arguments. I tend towards thinking that topic specific education is often the most important impact in a theory debate. I am unlikely to do that work for you. Given my preference for topic specific education, I do have some bias against generic counterplans such as states and international actor counterplans that I do not think would be considered as options by real policymakers. Finally, I do think that the use of multiple, contradictory neg advocacies has gotten out of hand in a way that makes the round less educational. I generally believe that the neg should be able to run 1 conditional CP and 1 conditional K. I will also treat the CP and the K as operating on different levels in terms of competition. Beyond that, I think that extra conditional and contradictory advocacies put too much of a burden on the aff and limit a more educational discussion on the merits of the arguments.
Disads- I generally tend towards evaluating uniqueness as the most important part of the disad debate. If there are a number of links and link turns read on a disad debate, I will generally default towards the team that is controlling uniqueness unless instructed by the debaters why I should look to the link level first. I also tend towards an offense defense paradigm when considering disads as net benefits to counterplans. I think that the politics disad is a very educational part of debate that has traditionally been my favorite argument to both coach and judge. I will have a very high threshold for voting on politics theory. Finally, teams should make sure that they give impact analysis that accounts for the strong possibility that the risk of the disad has been mitigated and tells me how to evaluate that mitigation in the context of the impacts in round.
Counterplans-I enjoy a good counterplan debate. However, I tend to give the aff a little more leeway against artificially competitive counterplans, such as consult counterplans. I also feel that a number of aff teams need to do more work on impacting their solvency deficits against counterplans. While I think that many popular counterplans (especially states) are uniquely bad for debate, I have not seen teams willing to invest the time into theory to help defeat these counterplans.
Reading cards after the round- I prefer to read as few cards post round as possible. I think that it is up to the debaters to give clear analysis of why to prefer one card over another and to bring up the key warrants in their speeches.
Coach for St. Paul Central from 2021(water)->present
Pronouns are they/she
I would like to be on the email chain stpaulcentralcxdebate@gmail.com
Email for questions / contact: marshall.d.steele@gmail.com
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Quick and easy for prefs/strikes
Clash judge that appreciates good judge instruction and is neutral on most things. Good judge for k/fw debates and probably not the best for lots of pics without solvency advocates. If you just wanna know my K aff thoughts I will happily vote on em but am friendly to TVAs and skeptical of a lot of SSD claims. Be nice and run arguments you like and we'll get along fine.
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Paradigm In progress, feel free to ask anything not yet answered here.
"My ideal round is one where both teams are cordial and having fun. I think too often we attach our self-worth to the activity. My favorite thing about debate is the people I've met along the way. I hope that the trophies and placements at the end of the tournaments don't hurt our ability to appreciate the genius of ourselves and the people next to us. If any part of my paradigm limits your ability to enjoy the round, please let me know." - Melekh Akintola
Judging Takes:
PLEASE ACTUALLY LABEL YOUR FLOWS IN DOC AND IN SPEECH: I will dock points if you don't. its an accessibility issue not a personal thing -- I wont be checking it until the end of the round.
Tech V Truth:Tech over truth but making overtly untrue arguments to get the other side to drop them isn't gonna be great for your speaks and doesn't make for persuasive argumentation.
Speed - I don't think judge lines on speed effect much. Just here to say I don't mind speed and can flow very fast rounds. If you are fast and unclear I will drop args off the flow and will feel 0 remorse. speed is a choice one that comes with the responsibility to still communicate your ideas. Not sure where else to put this but I will put something as new the first time I hear a warrant. i.e unwarranted claim from the bottom of the 1nc dropped in the 2ac still needs explanation in the block to win in the 2nr.
Kritikal Affs- go for it. I like them, probably don't admit debate is just a game in cx and you'll have a better time. Don't assume I'll automatically understand your lit or import my analysis - same standard as any policy arg. If fairness is bad what offensive reason do I have to not flip a coin and vote how I feel?
Topicality - I'm pretty neutral on T. just please don't forget to at minimum say "voter for xyz" and I'm open to hear your interp of the topic.
Counterplans - I think a lot of counterplans really test the limits of tech>truth with the actual text / claimed solvency mechanism. that said if the 2ac doesn't say anything I'll buy it. I don't have many strong opinions on counterplans. default to perms as a test of competition. Am generally not a fan of counterplans with 5+ (functionally contradictory) planks.
Kritiks - I like kritiks, I don't like how they tend to get argued. TLDR is please give me specific links and an articulation of the alt if you want me to vote on it. If not please actually give instruction on how you get a ballot. Generally a big fan of framework vs kritiks as I think a lot of kritiks tend to make valid analysis and give little reason to vote. The specificity of your arguments and how much you elaborate on them is gonna be big in front of me. Also like, probably don't read a K against an aff your authors are on record supporting(looking at you biopower teams).
Anything not listed above you can assume im mostly neutral on. As a final note on my judging philosophy, debate whatever you feel most comfortable with in front of me. An argument I don't like debated well is better than one I do debated poorly. Plus we all have more fun if your debating what you actually enjoy debating/feel comfortable with and that genuinely supersedes pretty much everything else listed on this paradigm.
Current Associate Director of Debate at Woodward Academy
Former Associate Director of Debate at Emory University
Former graduate student coach at University of Georgia, Wake Forest University, University of Florida
Create an email chain for evidence before the debate begins. Put me on it. My email address is lace.stace@gmail.com
Do not trivialize or deny the Holocaust
Online Debates:
Determine if I am in the room before you start a speech. "Becca, are you ready?" or "Becca, are you here?" I will give you a thumbs up or say yes (or I am not in the room and you shouldn't start).
I get that tech issues happen, but unnecessary tech time hurts decision time.
Please have one (or all) debaters look periodically to make sure people haven't gotten booted from the room. The internet can be unreliable. You might get booted from the room. I might get booted from the room. The best practice is to have a backup of yourself speaking in case this occurs. If the tournament has rules about this, follow those.
DA’s:
Is there an overview that requires a new sheet of paper? I hope not
Impact turn debates are fine with me
Counterplans:
What are the key differences between the CP and the plan?
Does the CP solve some of the aff or all of the aff?
Be clear about which DA/s you are claiming as the net benefit/s to your CP
"Solving more" is not a net benefit
I lean neg on international fiat, PICS, & agent CP theory arguments
I am open minded to debates about conditionality & multiple conditional planks theory arguments.
Flowing:
Make flowing easier for me (ex. debating line by line, signposting, identifying the other team’s argument and making direct answers, answer arguments individually rather than “grouping”)
Cross-X:
"What cards did you read?" "What cards did you not read?" "Did you read X off case position?" "Where did you stop in this document?" - those questions count as cross-x time! If a speech ends and you ask these, you should already be starting your timer for cross-x!
Avoid intervening in your partners cross-x time, whether asking or answering. Tag team is for professional wrestling, not debate.
Public forum debate specific thoughts:
I am most comfortable with constructive speeches that organize contentions using this structure: uniqueness, link, and impact.
I am comfortable with the use of speed.
From my experience coaching policy debate, I care a lot about quantity and quality of evidence.
I am suspicious of paraphrased evidence.
I like when the summary and final focus speeches make the debate smaller. If your constructive started with 2 or 3 contentions, by the summary and final focus your team should make a choice of just 1 contention to attempt winning.
Because of my background in policy debate, it takes me out of my comfort zone when the con/neg team speaks first.
E-Mail: cstewart[at]gallowayschool[dot]org
Disclaimer #1:I am a mandatory reporter under Georgia law. If you disclose a real-world risk to your safety, or if I believe there is an imminent threat to your well-being, I will stop the debate and contact the Tabroom. Arguments that talk generally about how to engage systems of power in the debate space are more than okay and do not violate this.
Disclaimer #2: I am partially deaf in my left ear. While this has zero impact on my ability to flow in 99.9% of debates, exceptionally bad acoustics may force me to be closer than usual during speeches.
Speaker Points Update (November 2023):Moving forward, I will be following Regnier's speaker points distribution (see below). This should align my points with national trends and ensure I am not unfairly penalizing (or rewarding) debaters I am judging.
--- Fabulous (29.7 - 29.9) / Excellent (29.4-29.6)
--- Good (29.1 - 29.3) / Average (28.7 - 29)
--- Below Average (28.4 - 28.6) / Poor (28 - 28.3) / Very Poor (27.6 - 27.9)
Experience
Debate Experience
--- Lincoln-Douglas: 3 Years (Local / National Circuit)
--- Policy Debate: 4 Years of College Policy Debate (Georgia State University)
-- 2015 NDT Qualifier
-- Coached By: Joe Bellon, Nick Sciullo, Erik Mathis
-- Argument Style: Kritik (Freshman / Sophomore Year) & Policy (Junior / Senior Year)
-- Caselist Link (I Was A 2N My Senior Year): https://opencaselist.com/ndtceda14/GeorgiaState/StNa/Neg
Coaching Experience
--- Lincoln-Douglas: 4 Years (Local / National Circuit)
--- Policy Debate
-- University of Georgia - Graduate Assistant (3 Years)
-- Atlanta Urban Debate League (3 Years)
-- The Galloway School - Head Coach (3 Years)
Preferences - General
Overview:
Debate is a game; my strongest belief is that debaters should be able to play the game however they want to play it. I remain committed to Tabula Rasa judging, and have yet to see an argument (claim/ warrant) I would not pull the trigger on. The only exception to this is if I could not coherently explain to the other team the warrant for the argument I'm voting on. Unless told otherwise, I will flow the debate, and vote, based on the line-by-line, for whomever I thought won the debate.
What follows are my general thoughts about arguments, because for some reason that's what counts as a "judging paradigm" these days. Everything that follows WILL be overridden by arguments made in the debate.
Evidence:
Evidence is important, but not more than the in-round debating. Substantial deference will be given to in-debate spin. Bad evidence with spin will generally be given more weight than good evidence without.
Theory:
No strong predispositions. Run theory if that's your thing, there's actual abuse, or it's the most strategic way out of the round. I have no default conception of how theory functions; it could be an issue of competing interpretations, an issue of reasonability, an RVI, or a tool of the patriarchy. Given my LD background, I likely have a much lower threshold for pulling the trigger than other judges. Defaults such as X is never a reason to reject the team, RVIs bad, and a general disregard of Spec arguments aren't hardwired into me like the majority of the judging pool.
If you're going for theory, easiest thing you can do to win my ballot is to slow down and give an overview that sets up a clear way for me to evaluate the line-by-line.
Counterplans:
Read 'em. While I'm personally a big fan of process CPs/ PICs, I generally default to letting the literature determine CP competition/ legitimacy. If you have a kickass solvency advocate, then I will probably lean your way on most theoretical issues. On the other hand, as a former 2A, I sympathize with 2AC theory against CPs against which it is almost impossible to generate solvency deficits. 2ACs should not be afraid to bow up on CP theory in the 1AR.
DAs:
Specific DAs/ links trump generic DAs/ links absent substantial Negative spin. Love DAs with odd impact scenarios/ nuanced link stories.
Politics:
I functionally never read this as a debater, but my time coaching at UGA has brought me up to speed. Slow down/ clearly flag key points/ evidence distinctions in the 2NR/ 2AR.
Topicality:
Read it. Strategic tool that most 2Ns underutilize. Rarely hear a nuanced argument for reasonability; the T violation seems to prove the 1AC is unreasonable...
Kritiks:
I do not personally agree with the majority of Kritiks. However, after years of graduate school and debate, I've read large amount of Kritikal literature, and, if you run the K well, I'm a good judge for you. Increasingly irritated with 2ACs that fail to engage the nuance of the K they're answering (Cede the Political/ Perm: Double-Bind isn't enough to get you through a competently extended K debate). Similarly irritated with 2NCs that debate the K like a politics DA. Finally, 2ACs are too afraid to bow up on the K, especially with Impact Turns. I often end up voting Negative on the Kritik because the 2AC got sucked down the rabbit hole and didn't remind there was real-world outside of the philosophical interpretation offered by the K.
Framework (2AC):
I am generally unpersuaded by theoretical offense in a Policy AFF v. Kritik debate. You're better off reading this as policymaking good/ pragmatism offense to defend the method of the AFF versus the alternative. Generally skeptical of 2ACs that claim the K isn't within my jurisdiction/ is super unfair.
Framework (2NC):
Often end up voting Negative because the Affirmative strategically mishandles the FW of the K. Generally skeptical of K FW's that make the plan/ the real-world disappear entirely.
Preferences - "Clash" Debates
Clash of Civilization Debates:
Enjoy these debates; I judge alot of them. The worst thing you can do is overadapt. DEBATE HOWEVER YOU WANT TO DEBATE. My favorite debate that I ever watched was UMW versus Oklahoma, where UMW read a giant Hegemony advantage versus Oklahoma's 1-off Wilderson. I've been on both sides of the clash debate, and I respect both sides. I will just as easily vote on Framework as use my ballot to resist anti-blackness in debate.
Traditional ("Policy" Teams):
DO YOU. Traditional teams should not be afraid to double-down against K 1ACs,/ Big K 1NCs either via Framework or Impact Turns.
Framework (As "T"):
Never read this as a debater, but I've become more sympathetic to arguments about how the the resolution as a starting point is an important procedural constraint that can capture some of the pedagogical value of a Kritikal discussion. As a former 2N, I am sympathetic to limits arguments given the seemingly endless proliferation of K 1ACs with a dubious relationship to the topic. Explain how your interpretation is an opportunity cost of the 1ACs approach, and how you solve the 2ACs substantive offense (i.e. critical pedagogy/ our performance is important, etc.).
Non-Traditional ("Performance"/ "K" Teams):
As someone who spent a semester reading a narrative project about welcoming veterans into debate, I'm familiar with the way these arguments function, and I feel that they're an integral part of the game we call debate. However, that does not mean I will vote for you because you critiqued X-ism; what is your method, and how does it resolve the harms you have isolated? I am greatly frustrated by Kritik Teams that rely on obfuscation as a strategic tool---- even the Situationist International cared deeply about the political implications of their project.
AT: Framework
The closer you are to the topic/ the clearer your Affirmative is in what it defends, the more I'm down with the Affirmative. While I generally think that alternative approaches to debate are important discussions to be had, if I can listen to the 1AC and have no idea what the Affirmative does, what it defends, or why it's a response to the Topic beyond nebulous claims of resisting X-ism, then you're in a bad spot. Explain how your Counter-Interp solves their theoretical offense, or why your permutation doesn't link to their limits/ ground standards.
Fairness/ Education:
Are important. I am generally confused by teams that claim to impact turn fairness/ education. Your arguments are better articulated as INL-turns (i.e. X-ism/ debate practice is structurally unfair). Debate at some level is a game, and you should explain how your version of the game allows for good discussion/ an equal playing field for all.
Misc. - Ethics Violations
Ethics Violations:
After being forced to decide an elimination debate on a card-clipping accusation during the 2015 Barkley Forum (Emory), I felt it necessary to establish clarity/ forewarning for how I will proceed if this unfortunate circumstance happens again. While I would obviously prefer to decide the debate on actual substantive questions, this is the one issue where I will intervene. In the event of an ethics accusation, I will do the following:
1) Stop the debate. I will give the accusing team a chance to withdraw the accusation or proceed. If the accusation stands, I will decide the debate on the validity of the accusation.
2) Consult the Tabroom to determine any specific tournament policies/ procedures that apply to the situation and need to be followed.
3) Review available evidence to decide whether or not an ethics violation has taken place. In the event of a clipping accusation, a recording or video of the debate would be exceptionally helpful. I am a personal believer in a person being innocent until proven guilty. Unless there's definitive evidence proving otherwise, I will presume in favor of the accused debater.
4) Drop the Debater. If an ethics violation has taken place, I will drop the offending team, and award zero speaker points. If an ethics violation has not occurred, I will drop the team that originally made the accusation. The purpose of this is to prevent frivolous/ strategic accusations, given the very real-world, long-lasting impact such an accusation has on the team being accused.
5) Ethics Violations (Update): Credible, actual threats of violence against the actual people in the actual debate are unacceptable, as are acts of violence against others. I will drop you with zero speaker points if either of those occur. Litmus Test: There's a difference between wipeout/ global suicide alternatives (i.e. post-fiat arguments) and actually punching a debater in the face (i.e. real-world violence).
Terrell Taylor
add me to doc chains: terrell taylor at gmail dot com. No punctuation, no space, no frills.
Debated at Mary Washington from 2007-2011
Debate is an intellectual activity where two positions are weighed against each other. A part of this is making clear what your position is (plan, cp, alt, advocacy, status quo etc.) and how it measures up against the other team’s position. Arguments consist of a claim (the point you want to make), warrant (a reason to believe it), and an impact (reason why it matters/way it functions within the debate). Evidence is useful when trying to provide warrants, but is ultimately not necessary for me to evaluate an argument. Debates get competitive and heated, but staying polite and friendly and remembering that the name of the game is fun at the end of the day makes for a more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
Disads/Case and Advantages
These arguments should be stressed in terms of a coherent story of what the world looks like in terms of the status quo, affirmative plan or alternative option. These positions should be attacked from a variety points including the link and internal link chain, impact and uniqueness level. When it comes to link turning, my default thought is that uniqueness determines the direction; if you have an alternative understanding that is particular to a scenario, be sure to explain why it is that the direction of the link should be emphasized or what have you. Impacts should be compared not only in terms of timeframe, probability and magnitude, but in terms of how these issues interact in a world where both impact scenarios take places (the popular "even if.." phrase comes to mind here). Also, keep in mind that I have not kept up with the trends in disads and such within the topic, so explaining specifics, acronyms and otherwise is useful for me. I prefer hearing case specific scenarios as opposed to generic politics and similar positions. This does not mean I will not vote for it or will dock your speaker points, just a preference.
Counterplans and Counterplan Theory
Counterplans should be functionally competitive; textual competition doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me (see later section on theory). I think that perms can be advocated, but am more than willing to hear reasons why they shouldn’t be and why that is a bad way to frame debates. When it comes to agent counterplans, I tend to think that topic specific education should trump generic presidential powers or judicial independence debates. Consult and condition cps just make the logician inside my head painfully confused (not sure why a reason to talk to X country is also a reason why the plan is bad). International fiat is suspect to me, and I tend to think that limiting the discussion to US policy (including its international relevance) is a good thing.
All of this being said, I am open to voting for any of the above arguments. These are merely my general theoretical leanings, and I will certainly flow, listen to, and evaluate arguments from the other side.
Topicality
I haven’t seen many debates on this topic, so if a debate comes down to T, don’t be surprised if you see me googling to find the resolution to check the words. In general I think Topicality is important for two reasons. One is the general reason that most people think it’s good, being that we need to be prepared/have set limits and parameters for debate. The second is that I think each year presents an opportunity to gain in depth education on an issue, even if it's not a policy perspective of that issue. I feel that competing interpretations is generally the default for T, but I am open to defenses of reasonability and in fact, think that there are cases where this is the best means of evaluation. Standards should be impacted in terms of education and fairness, and the debate should come down to the best internal links between the standards and these terminal values. If you are the type to critique T, your critique needs to come down to these terms (education and fairness). RVIs don’t make sense to me. If you want to take the challenge of trying to make one make sense, be my guest, but it’s an uphill battle.
General Theory
As mentioned, I am not wedded to any particular frame or “rulebook” for debate. Part of the beauty of debate to me is that debaters get to be both the players and referee. As such, I enjoy theory and think that such discussions can be fruitful. The flipside to this is that most theory debates devolve into tagline debating, shallow and repetitive arguments, and a race to see who can spit their block the fastest. These debates are 1) hard to flow and 2) not really a test or display of your ability so much as a test of your team’s theory block writer. I reward argumentation that is clear, comprehensible and complete in terms of theory debates, and urge debaters to these opportunities seriously.
I’ve laid out most of my theoretical dispositions in the counterplan section. Conditionality to me is like siracha sauce: a little bit heats up the debate, too much ruins it. I don’t know why three or four counterplans or alternatives along with the status quo is key to negative flex or good debating (one is good, two is ok). Also, if you want to use a status other than conditional or unconditional, (like the imaginary “dispo”) you should be ready to explain what that means. Again, I think that it is okay to advocate permutations as positions in the debate.
In terms of alternate frameworks for the debate (i.e. anything other than policy making) I’m honest when I say I’m not extraordinarily experienced in these areas as I’d like to be. I’ve seen a decent few of these debates and think that they provide some nuance to an otherwise stale activity. That being said (and this is true for all theory positions) you should try and weigh the educational and competitive equity benefits of your position versus the other teams proposed framework the debate. I debated for a squad that saw framework as a strategic and straightforward approach to most alternative forms of debate, so those arguments make sense to me. On the other hand, especially when it comes to arguments concerning structural issues in society/debate, if argued well, and with relevance to the topic in some way, I am willing to listen and evaluate.
Critical arguments (Kritiks/K-affs)
Much of what I just said applies here as well. I had the most success/felt most comfortable debating with these types of arguments as a debater (I did, however, spend most of my career debating with “straight-up” affs and disads that claimed nuclear war advantages). I studied English and Philosophy in undergrad and am pursuing a MA in English with a focus on critical theory, so there’s a decent chance that my interests and background might lean more towards a topic oriented critique than a politics Da.
I will avoid following the trend of listing the genres of critiques and critical literature with which I am familiar with the belief that it shouldn't matter. Running critiques shouldn't be about maintaining a secret club of people who "get it" (which often in debates, is construed to be a club consisting of the critique friendly judge and the team running the argument, often excluding the other team for not being "savy"). In other words, Whether I've read a great deal of the authors in your critique or not, should not give you the green light to skimp on the explanation and analysis of the critique. These debates are often about making the connections between what the authors and literature are saying and the position of the other team, and hence put a great burden on the debater to elucidate those connections. A shared appreciation or research interest between a team and a judge does not absolve you of that burden, in my opinion.
I agree with many recent top tier collegiate debaters (Kevin Kallmyer, Gabe Murillo, etc.) that the difference between policy and critical arguments is overstated. An important piece of reading critical arguments with me in the back of the room is explaining what your arguments mean within the context of the aff/da. If you read a no value to life impact, what about the affs framing makes it so that the people involved see their lives differently; if the critiqued impact is a merely constructed threat, reveal to me the holes in the construction and explain how the construction came to be. Doing that level of analysis (with any argument, critical or policy) is crucial in terms of weighing and relating your arguments to the other teams, and engaging in a form of education that is actually worthwhile. This probably entails removing your hypergeneric topic link and replacing with analysis as to the links that are within the evidence (and therefore, the assumptions, rhetoric, methodology, so and so forth) of your opponents. In terms of vague alts and framework, I have mixed feelings. The utopian fiat involved in most alts is probably abusive, but there is something to be said for making the claim that these arguments are vital to thorough education. On the framework question, gateway issue is probably a poor way to go. I don’t understand why the fact that your K has an impact means that you get to suck up the entire debate on this one issue. Instead, a framing that opens the door to multiple ways of critiquing and evaluating arguments (both on the aff and the neg, or in other words, doesn’t hold the aff as a punching bag) is preferable.
Performance
I didn’t do a whole lot of handling with this genre of argument, but have debated semi-frequently and enjoy the critical aspects of these arguments. I think that there is a difference between the type of critical debater that reads a couple of disads along with a K and case args, and a team that reads a indictment of the topic or reads narratives for nine minutes. If you read a poem, sing, recite a story or anything of that nature, I will be more interested in observing your performance than trying to flow or dictate it on my flow (my reasoning for this is that, unlike a speech organized for the purpose of tracking argument development and responses, I don't think flowing a poem or song really generates an understanding of the performance). More importantly, framing should be a priority; give me a reason why I should look at the debate through a certain lens, and explain why given that framing you have done something either worth affirming your advocacy. I think that these types of debates, especially if related to the topic, can be fruitful and worthwhile. Performance affirmatives should try to find some in road to the topic. If your argument is pervasive and deep enough to talk about, I generally think it probably has a systemic implication for the resolution in some way, even if that doesn’t manifest as a topical plan or even agreeing with the resolution.
For teams going against performance strategies, Framework based arguments are options in front of me. A good way to frame this argument is in terms of what is the best method to produce debates that create the most useful form of education, as opposed to just reading it like a procedural argument. I do think it is important to engage the substantive portion of their arguments as well, (there are always multiple dimensions to arguments of these forms) even if it happens to be a critical objection to their performance or method. Many policy based strategies often want to avoid having to engage with the details involved, and in doing so often fail to rigorously challenge the arguments made in the debate.
Good luck, and have fun. I spent a great deal of my debate career stressing out and losing sleep, instead of experiencing the challenge and fun of the activity; Enjoy your time in the activity above everything else.
Alpharetta 23, Michigan 27
Email: anish.thatiparthi@gmail.com
Debated at Alpharetta for 4 years as a 2N. Not debating in college.
Top Level:
I do not know anything about the topic. Please keep that in mind if you choose to go for any arguments centered around community consensus (topicality, various competition arguments, etc.).
The debate should look like what the debaters want it to be . Anything not in this section can be changed through good debating. My paradigm is intentionally brief to prevent debaters from over adapting. Anything is fair game barring blatant instances of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. and any other actions that make someone in the room feel unsafe. Such instances will be an auto L + report to tab.
"Tech > truth but the less truth, the easier the argument is to answer. Meanwhile, the implication of concessions is only what you make it." - Jordan Di
Out of round actions have no implication on my ballot.
Rehighlightings can be only inserted if it is using the ALL of the same words highlighted by the opponent. I will disregard it otherwise.
If you do not explicitly stake the debate (i.e., stop the round and provide proof) on an evidence ethics violation, the most I will do is reject the piece of evidence in question.
Topicality:
Plan text in a vacuum is dumb but it still needs a counter interpretation to answer it.
Precision is irrelevant without context.
No solvency advocates and/or specific examples with a case list make me think you are making stuff up.
Predictable limits matter a lot to me.
Theory:
Neg terrorism is usually good but I recognize when it leaves the Aff with no other choice but theory.
It's hard to a win a "reject the team" argument for anything but conditionality.
2NRs get a lot more leeway for answering theory if the 2ACs theory argument was barely a sentence long.
A lot of creative counter-interpretations can solve Neg offense.
Planless Affs:
I have exclusively gone for T-USFG against every planless aff and have never defended a planless aff.
Fairness is an impact.
Most planless affs lack a solid answer to predictability.
Counter interpretation + explaining a model of debate > impact turning everything.
T-USFG is a substantive disagreement with the 1AC.
Ks:
Extinction outweighs + impact turning links is an easy way out against a lot of Ks.
K tricks are good but must be somewhat fleshed out in the block.
Links to the implementation of the plan are always better than links to the 1AC.
Ontological arguments do not eliminate the necessity for an actual link argument.
Evidence is under utilized by both sides in these debates.
CPs:
I have never been comfortable in super intricate competition debates and will probably be bad at judging these type of debates.
2NC CPs are awesome and should be used more.
Send perm texts.
**LAKELAND: prep time ends when you send out the email or are ready to start your speech! **
Cornell '27, Mamaroneck '23
She/Her
Email: kiraptretiak@gmail.com & mhsdebatedocs@googlegroups.com
!! Limited topic knowledge (include what acronyms stand for in tags & don't assume any knowledge of topic norms) !!
My priority is always making the debate a safe space. If you do not feel comfortable debating your opponent, please let me know before the round starts and I'll talk to Tabroom with you.
Should go without saying but don't be racist, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, etc. - L + lowest speaks + email to coach. If you have a Title IX allegation against you, strike me. Use content warnings when necessary - both before & during round.
Tech > Truth to the extent that an argument is fully developed and expressed in a logically sound way. For instance, "they dropped T, vote neg" (the novice special) isn't enough to get my ballot even if technically true because it lacks warrants and requires me to do too much work on the neg's behalf.
Read whatever you want. I think reading what you think aligns best with my personal argumentative preferences will probably hurt you more than help you if that strategy is not generally your preferred strategy i.e. read what you feel comfortable reading. I have a lot of respect for policy debate kids because I know how much effort it takes just to be able to attend a tournament!
Misc preferences:
- Name the email chain with useful info (tournament, round #, teams)
- If you're sending a marked doc, don't take out stuff you didn't read & mark it during the speech - questions about what cards were read go in cross-ex or prep time
- For online debate, turn on your camera or lmk if you can't
- Don't delete tags
- Novices - closed cross-ex
- I like jokes but pls be creative if you want to read a joke type argument (no a-z spec) - jokes abt mamaroneck debaters appreciated. If you don't know any, just name drop Jordan Davis (my former partner) or Jake Lee in your speech and I will be amused
-Director of Debate at Little Rock Central High School
-Yes, email chain and sure, questions. Please put BOTH of these on chains: rosalia.n.valdez@gmail.com and lrchdebatedocs@gmail.com.
Virtual Debate Updates:
I am almost always using two computers so I can watch you speak and flow/look at docs. I would prefer that you debate with your camera on so that I can watch you speak, but PLEASE do feel free to turn it off if doing so stabilizes your audio.
Do NOT start at top speed. You should start a little slower anyway to allow judges to get acclimated to your speaking style, but I think this is especially important in virtual debate.
Do I understand why you don't want to flash theory/overviews/analytics? Of course. Do you have to do it? No. Will I be mad at you if you don't? Of course not. Would it help me flow better in many virtual debates? YES.
TL;DR
Do what you do and do it well. I will vote for who wins. Over-adaptation is exhausting and I can smell your soft-left add-ons a mile away. My voting record is a pretty clear indication that I judge a wide variety of debates. Who/what I coach(ed) are generally good indications of what I am about. Update: I've found myself recently in some seven off rounds. I really hate to say I am bad for any kind of debate, but I am bad for these rounds. Late-breaking debates make me tired and grumpy, and I find myself having to do way too much work in these debates to resolve them. If seven off is your thing, and I am your judge, do what you do I guess, but know this is probably the only explicit "don't pref me" in this whole paradigm.
Evidence/Argumentation/General
I care a lot about quality of evidence. I would much rather hear you read a few well-warranted cards than a wave of under-highlighted evidence. Same goes for redundant evidence; if you need six cards that “prove” your claim with the same words interchanged in the tag, your claim is probably pretty weak. Evidence does not (alone) a (winning) argument make.
I think I flow pretty throughly. I often flow in direct quotes. I do this for me, but I feel like it helps teams understand my decision as we talk after a round. I reward organized speakers and meaningful overviews. I am easily frustrated by a messy card doc.
I listen closely to cross-ex.
Ks
Neg teams lose when they don’t demonstrate how their arguments interact with the 1AC. Winning that the affirmative is “flawed” or “problematic” does not guarantee a neg ballot. In my mind, there are two ways to win the k versus a policy aff: either win that the effects of the plan make the world significantly worse OR win framework and go for epistemology/ontology links. Know when framework is important and when it’s not. Give analysis as to how your links implicate the world of the aff. This is where case mitigation and offense on why voting affirmative is undesirable is helpful. These debates are significantly lacking in impact calculus. Also - the alt needs to solve the links, not the aff - but if it does, great! If you win framework, this burden is lessened. Don’t spread through link explanations. I am seeing more debates where teams kick the alt and go for the links as disads to the aff. This is fine, but be wary of this strategy when the alt is what provides uniqueness to the link debate.
Conversely, affs typically lose these debates when there is little press on what the alternative does and little analysis of perm functions. However, some teams focus on the alt too much and leave much to be desired on the link debate (especially important for soft-left affs). Defend your reps. Your framework shell should also include a robust defense of policymaking, not just procedural fairness. The 1AR should actually answer the block’s framework answers. More impact turning rather than defensive, no-link arguments.
Also, running to the middle will not save you. Some Ks are going to get a link no matter what, and tacking on a structural impact to your otherwise straight policy aff will likely only supercharge the link. So. Read the aff you'd read in front of anybody in front of me. You're probably better at that version anyway.
K Affs vs. FW
For affs: I’m good for these although I do think that oftentimes the method is very poorly explained. Neg teams should really press on this and even consider going for presumption. Side note: I absolutely do not think that critical affs should have to win that the ballot is key for their method. Against framework, I most frequently vote aff when the aff wins impact turns that outweigh the neg’s impacts and have a counter-interp that resolves the majority of their offense. I can still vote for you if you don’t have a counter-interp in the 2AR but only if the impact work is exceptional. I prefer affs that argue that the skills and methods produced under their model inculcate more ethical subjectivities than the negative’s. The best aff teams I’ve seen are good at contextualizing their arguments, framing, and justifying why their model and not their aff is uniquely good. I am most frequently preffed for K v K debates. Judge instruction is extremely important I would rather evaluate those rounds based on whose method is most relevant to the debate rather than k tricks.
For neg teams: I like to see framework deployed as debate methodologies that are normatively good versus debate methodologies that are undesirable and should be rejected. Framework debates should center on the impact of certain methodologies on the debate space. “Your argument doesn’t belong in debate” is not the same thing as “your argument is hindered by forum” or “your argument makes it functionally impossible to be negative.” (fun fact: I read a lot of judges' paradigms/preferences..."debate is a game" does not = debate is a good game, and participation in that "game" does not = can't say the game is bad). I prefer more deliberation & skills-based framework arguments rather than procedural fairness, but I will vote on either as long as you have warrants and comparative impact analysis. If going for skills & research impacts, the internal link debate is most important. TVAs are great as defense against the aff’s impact turns. They do not have to solve the aff but should address its central controversy.
I feel similarly about theory debates in that they should focus on good/undesirable pedagogical practices. Arguments that explain the role of the ballot should not be self-serving and completely inaccessible by a particular team.
Topicality
Topicality is a voting issue and never a reverse voting issue. T debates are won and lost on the standards level. If the affirmative wins that their interpretation solves the impact of topicality, then I see no reason to vote negative. Thorough T debates are about more than fairness. The idea that you have no game on an aff in this era is just not as persuasive as the idea that the aff’s interpretation negatively impacts future debates.
Disadvantages/Counterplans
No real issues here. Specific links to case obviously preferred to generic arguments. Give me good impact analysis. As a debater, counterplans weren’t really my jam. As a judge, I can’t say that I get to vote on CPs often because they are typically kicked or are not competitive enough to survive an affirmative team well-versed in permutations. A CP should be something to which I can give thoughtful consideration. Don’t blow through a really complicated (or long) CP text. Likewise, if the permutation(s) is intricate, slow down. Pretty sure you want me to get these arguments down as you read them, not as I reconstruct them in cross. I vote for theory as much as I don’t vote for theory. No real theoretical dispositions.
Arkansas Circuit
1. I’m not going to bump your speaks for thanking me and taking forever to start the round because you’re asking “opponent ready? judge ready? partner ready? observers ready?” for the first 20 minutes.
2. If you do not take notes during my RFD, I will leave.
3. Don’t clip. Why do debaters in Arkansas clip so much? Answer: Because I don’t judge very much in Arkansas.
4. Keep your own time.
Put me on the email chain jackwalsh01@g.ucla.edu
THE IMPORTANT PART: I try to be totally agnostic when reaching decisions, but in terms of my experience I will probably be the most effective judge for clash of civs and kritik debates. I mostly answered framework and kritiks as a 1A and my neg debates were almost exclusively 1-off settler colonialism. Still, I will absolutely vote on framework against a k aff, and my experience in technical framework debates can probably help you because I can understand how your arguments interact. Trying to win framework versus a k aff in front of me means that a switch side claim or a TVA (the TVA probably being more persuasive) is very important, as aff teams tend to win some amount of "our critique/scholarship is valuable" in front of me, and I need a response to that.
And a bit about me, and how I judge:
I'm Jack, I was a 1A/2N. I judged all last year, planning on judging quite a bit this year too. I debated for three years for Davis Senior High in CX, I attended the TOC my senior year. Did NPDA for two years for UCSD with no major accomplishments, I graduated UCLA this year. I currently coach for the Sac Urban Debate League doing policy coaching and some non-policy stuff as well. If you have questions about debating and growing at a team without debate infrastructure I have a LOT of experience with that, having had to do that in both high school and college. I read queerness arguments on the aff and settler colonialism on the neg.
I'll be able to understand pretty much any rate of speed but I can only write so fast, so slow down a little bit on your very technical and in-depth analytic shells. The average number of times I call clear per tournament is zero, it really probably won't come up. I just don't want you to go top speed through your analytical framework shell so I can get everything down.
I have not yet voted for a kritik that did not win either the efficacy of their alt or their framework interpretation, I could see voting for such a kritik only if your link card is particular spicy and turns case-y (and even then it's still helpful to have framework).
I don't like having to reread speech docs. I will default to the contextualization that I hear in the round of cards, interpretations, linear disadvantages, and advocacies. This means that you have substantial latitude to spin your arguments, but also that I will hold you to a high standard for explanation and cross-application. The way that different arguments implicitly interact will very rarely come into my decision.
When I reach a decision, the first place I look is the 2NR and 2AR. The role of these last two speeches is to explain how I write my ballot for each side. The 2NR should tell me where to look on my flow when crafting a negative decision, and the inverse for the affirmative. I will probably first try to evaluate the relative impacts of the affirmative and negative, based off of the framework/impact debate. Additionally, when reaching my decision I will try to look at the round through both the viewpoint of the affirmative and negative as they portray it in their final rebuttal.
In the last year or so, I have given speaks in the range of 28.4-29.4 about 80% of the time. Above that ~10% of the time, below that ~10% of the time.
I'll probably inflate your speaker points, just don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.
4x debater @Georgia, 2x NDT Attendee
Please send your hate mail to --> jhweintraub@gmail.com
I was a 2a for my entire 8 yr debate career, so i'm also willing to do the work to protect the aff from what I see as abusive strategies.
I think I get a reputation for being a hack judge because I end up resolving debates by doing work for either team to try and untangle messy parts at the end, usually by reading a lot of evidence. My biggest issue is in these complex and messy debates when neither side is really making an attempt to clarify the story of what's going on and just speed through the line by line, so the debate ends and I have to make arbitrary decisions on evidence and internal link chains because neither side has told me what the ballot ought to be for. If you can do that I'm significantly more likely to vote for a scenario that is illucidated well and untangled for me.
Ex: Willing to vote on theory against arbitrary and contrived CPs that don't have a solvency advocate or try to skirt clash on the core issue. Willing to vote for the Aff on framework against the K because even though fiat isn't real the game of debate itself is useful.
I like good mechanism debates. Process CP's not my favorite cup of tea but if you've got a CP that you think does actually solve better than the aff i'd be pretty interested in hearing it.
Framework makes the game work and fairness is an impact. If the game isn't fair and both sides don't stand an equal chance of winning what's even the point of playing. At that point we're basically playing blackjack but one side gets to be the house and the other the player, and Idk about you, but I don't wanna play that game.
Coaching is not my full time job so I'm not as tuned in to everything going on on this topic as I would like to be, which means that if you wanna go for T It might be useful to do a little extra work to explain why the aff is far outside the bounds of what we know the topic is. That being said though, i'm definitely willing to pull the trigger on it if I think the aff is overly contrived in an attempt to skirt the core neg ground.
The aff almost always gets to weigh its implementation against the K. The neg gets to link representations but you also need to justify why that matters against the aff or some tangible impact of that.
My background and day job is in cybersecurity (blockchain and encryption engineering) so if you're gonna read arguments about technology i'm gonna expect you to have at least some understanding of how tech works and will almost certainly not be persuaded by tech > truth. Most cyber arguments are stupid and completely miss the nuance of the tools. If you want more explanation i am happy to explain why.
For Novice Only: To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.
add me to the email chain: whit211@gmail.com
Do not utter the phrase "plan text in a vacuum" or any other clever euphemism for it. It's not an argument, I won't vote on it, and you'll lose speaker points for advancing it. You should defend your plan, and I should be able to tell what the plan does by reading it.
Inserting things into the debate isn't a thing. If you want me to evaluate evidence, you should read it in the debate.
Cross-ex time is cross-ex time, not prep time. Ask questions or use your prep time, unless the tournament has an official "alt use" time rule.
You should debate line by line. That means case arguments should be responded to in the 1NC order and off case arguments should be responded to in the 2AC order. I continue to grow frustrated with teams that do not flow. If I suspect you are not flowing (I visibly see you not doing it; you answer arguments that were not made in the previous speech but were in the speech doc; you answer arguments in speech doc order instead of speech order), you will receive no higher than a 28. This includes teams that like to "group" the 2ac into sections and just read blocks in the 2NC/1NR. Also, read cards. I don't want to hear a block with no cards. This is a research activity.
Debate the round in a manner that you would like and defend it. I consistently vote for arguments that I don’t agree with and positions that I don’t necessarily think are good for debate. I have some pretty deeply held beliefs about debate, but I’m not so conceited that I think I have it all figured out. I still try to be as objective as possible in deciding rounds. All that being said, the following can be used to determine what I will most likely be persuaded by in close calls:
If I had my druthers, every 2nr would be a counterplan/disad or disad/case.
In the battle between truth and tech, I think I fall slightly on side of truth. That doesn’t mean that you can go around dropping arguments and then point out some fatal flaw in their logic in the 2AR. It does mean that some arguments are so poor as to necessitate only one response, and, as long as we are on the same page about what that argument is, it is ok if the explanation of that argument is shallow for most of the debate. True arguments aren’t always supported by evidence, but it certainly helps.
I think research is the most important aspect of debate. I make an effort to reward teams that work hard and do quality research on the topic, and arguments about preserving and improving topic specific education carry a lot of weight with me. However, it is not enough to read a wreck of good cards and tell me to read them. Teams that have actually worked hard tend to not only read quality evidence, but also execute and explain the arguments in the evidence well. I think there is an under-highlighting epidemic in debates, but I am willing to give debaters who know their evidence well enough to reference unhighlighted portions in the debate some leeway when comparing evidence after the round.
I think the affirmative should have a plan. I think the plan should be topical. I think topicality is a voting issue. I think teams that make a choice to not be topical are actively attempting to exclude the negative team from the debate (not the other way around). If you are not going to read a plan or be topical, you are more likely to persuade me that what you are doing is ‘ok’ if you at least attempt to relate to or talk about the topic. Being a close parallel (advocating something that would result in something similar to the resolution) is much better than being tangentially related or directly opposed to the resolution. I don’t think negative teams go for framework enough. Fairness is an impact, not a internal link. Procedural fairness is a thing and the only real impact to framework. If you go for "policy debate is key to skills and education," you are likely to lose. Winning that procedural fairness outweighs is not a given. You still need to defend against the other team's skills, education and exclusion arguments.
I don’t think making a permutation is ever a reason to reject the affirmative. I don’t believe the affirmative should be allowed to sever any part of the plan, but I believe the affirmative is only responsible for the mandates of the plan. Other extraneous questions, like immediacy and certainty, can be assumed only in the absence of a counterplan that manipulates the answers to those questions. I think there are limited instances when intrinsicness perms can be justified. This usually happens when the perm is technically intrinsic, but is in the same spirit as an action the CP takes This obviously has implications for whether or not I feel some counterplans are ultimately competitive.
Because I think topic literature should drive debates (see above), I feel that both plans and counterplans should have solvency advocates. There is some gray area about what constitutes a solvency advocate, but I don’t think it is an arbitrary issue. Two cards about some obscure aspect of the plan that might not be the most desirable does not a pic make. Also, it doesn’t sit well with me when negative teams manipulate the unlimited power of negative fiat to get around literature based arguments against their counterplan (i.e. – there is a healthy debate about federal uniformity vs state innovation that you should engage if you are reading the states cp). Because I see this action as comparable to an affirmative intrinsicness answer, I am more likely to give the affirmative leeway on those arguments if the negative has a counterplan that fiats out of the best responses.
My personal belief is probably slightly affirmative on many theory questions, but I don’t think I have voted affirmative on a (non-dropped) theory argument in years. Most affirmatives are awful at debating theory. Conditionality is conditionality is conditionality. If you have won that conditionality is good, there is no need make some arbitrary interpretation that what you did in the 1NC is the upper limit of what should be allowed. On a related note, I think affirmatives that make interpretations like ‘one conditional cp is ok’ have not staked out a very strategic position in the debate and have instead ceded their best offense. Appeals to reciprocity make a lot sense to me. ‘Argument, not team’ makes sense for most theory arguments that are unrelated to the disposition of a counterplan or kritik, but I can be persuaded that time investment required for an affirmative team to win theory necessitates that it be a voting issue.
Critical teams that make arguments that are grounded in and specific to the topic are more successful in front of me than those that do not. It is even better if your arguments are highly specific to the affirmative in question. I enjoy it when you paint a picture for me with stories about why the plans harms wouldn’t actually happen or why the plan wouldn’t solve. I like to see critical teams make link arguments based on claims or evidence read by the affirmative. These link arguments don’t always have to be made with evidence, but it is beneficial if you can tie the specific analytical link to an evidence based claim. I think alternative solvency is usually the weakest aspect of the kritik. Affirmatives would be well served to spend cross-x and speech time addressing this issue. ‘Our authors have degrees/work at a think tank’ is not a response to an epistemological indict of your affirmative. Intelligent, well-articulated analytic arguments are often the most persuasive answers to a kritik. 'Fiat' isn't a link. If your only links are 'you read a plan' or 'you use the state,' or if your block consistently has zero cards (or so few that find yourself regularly sending out the 2nc in the body rather than speech doc) then you shouldn't be preffing me.
LD Specific Business:
I am primarily a policy coach with very little LD experience. Have a little patience with me when it comes to LD specific jargon or arguments. It would behoove you to do a little more explanation than you would give to a seasoned adjudicator in the back of the room. I will most likely judge LD rounds in the same way I judge policy rounds. Hopefully my policy philosophy below will give you some insight into how I view debate. I have little tolerance and a high threshold for voting on unwarranted theory arguments. I'm not likely to care that they dropped your 'g' subpoint, if it wasn't very good. RVI's aren't a thing, and I won't vote on them.
Background:
USN head coach 2012-present
MBA assistant coach 2000-2002
The stuff you are looking for:
email chain: bwilson at usn.org
K Aff: Defend a hypothetical project that goes beyond the 1AC.
Framework: My general assumption is that predictable limits lead to higher quality debates. Aff, how does your method/performance center on the resolutional question in a way that adds value to this year's topic education? Why does the value of your discussion/method outweigh the benefits of a predictable, topic-focused debate?
Topicality: I am agnostic when it comes to the source of your definitions. Just tell me why they are preferable for this debate. Aff reasonability defense must be coupled with an interpretation, and RTP that interpretation. I will be honest, when it's a T round against an aff that was cut at workshop and has been run all year, I have a gut-check lean to reasonability. Competing interps becomes more compelling when there is significant offense for the interpretation.
Theory: Other than condo, a theory win means I reject the argument unless you do work explaining otherwise. For condo debates, please have a clear interpretation and reasons to reject. I am more open to theory when it is about something particular to the round and is not read from pre-written blocks.
CP's: I prefer CP's that have a solvency advocate. I think a well articulated/warranted perm can beat most plan plus, process CP's.
Politics: I like it better on topics without other viable DAs, but I am fine for these debates.
DAs: I find "turns the case" analysis more compelling at the internal link level.
Cheating: If you are not reading every word you are claiming through underlining or highlighting, that is clipping. If it seems like a one time miscue I will yell something, and unless corrected, I'll disregard the evidence. If it is egregious/persistent, I will be forced to intervene with an L.
If the other team raises a dispute. I will do my best to adjudicate the claim and follow the above reasoning to render a penalty either to dismiss the evidence in question or reject the team. I think I have a fairly high threshold for rendering a decision on an ethics challenge.
RIP wiki paradigms, or how my paradigm started for years but is now showing its age:
I like it when debaters think about the probability of their scenarios and compare and connect the different scenarios in the round. If it is a policy v critical debate, the framing is important, but not in a prior question, ROB, or "only competing policy options" sense. The better team uses their arguments to access or outweigh the other side. I think there is always a means to weigh 1AC advantages against the k, to defend 1AC epistemology as a means to making those advantages more probable and specific. On the flip side, a thorough indictment of 1AC authors and assumptions will make it easier to weigh your alternative, ethics, case turn, etc. Explain the thesis of your k and tell me why it it is a reason to reject the affirmative.
pronouns: she/her/hers
Hey! I'm a fourth year at Emory University, and I did PF for four years in high school on the national and local NC circuit. I'm now a Policy debater on Emory's team. Debate is absolutely my favorite activity, and it makes me happy. Overall, I hope you enjoy the round/have fun.
Include me in the email chain! mirandawwilson@gmail.com
Policy:
-Ks: I do not think I am very good for the K because most of the literature is unfamiliar to me. Feel free to strike me. However, I will vote for the K if it is well-explained and well argued. I really value a detailed/comprehensive explanation of the alt and why that is better than the plan. If I don't understand what your alt does, I prob won't vote for the K.
Taken from @Emilyn Hazelbrook's paradigm (which I largely agree with in it's entirety):
-K Affs: Your reason for not defending the resolution should be built into your 1ac. You should prioritize line by line over extensive overviews. Impact turns are more persuasive than counter-interp debating, and clash makes a bit more sense as an impact over fairness, although I will vote on either.
-Topicality: I default to competing interps. Make sure to explain what debates would look like under your interp and theirs in rebuttals and read case lists.
-Theory: Condo is good until you read 4+ advocacies. Everything but condo is a reason to reject the argument, and I can’t see myself voting on most procedurals unless they're egregiously mishandled. Please slow down on theory standards—you're only speaking as fast as I can flow.
-Counterplans: I lean neg on most questions of competition (minus consult cps). If you're aff, read solvency deficits specific to your aff’s mechanism and smart perms. I default to judge kick if the neg says the cp is conditional, but I also think that smart 2nrs won't spend 2 minutes extending a losing cp.
-Disadvantages: Actually compare the aff and disad impacts in rebuttals and read turns case arguments. I prefer topic-specific disads, but enjoy politics disads when debated with very specific links.
-Case: Debates where neg teams invest time into picking apart the 1ac are my favorite to judge. Impact turns, circumvention, and analytics pressing the internal links/aff mechanism are much better than generic impact defense.
Public Forum:
-I will vote off the flow, but I have to buy your argument. For example, if you extend something all the way into final but it's not warranted/explained I won't vote off of it. Rather than "tech over truth" or "truth over tech", I'm more of a tech should equal truth (if that makes sense?).
-The flow is important to me but so is narrative. When determining speaks, I will look at how effectively you combined evidence with rhetoric.
-I can handle speed, but do not spread.
-Please frontline in second rebuttal!
-I will not flow disads in second rebuttal. Rebuttal is not the time to add in a third contention or argument, it is a time for defense.
-The same cards/arguments/weighing need to be extended in both summary and final focus. Please give me a clear weighing mechanism and explain it! It will make my job much easier.
-Signpost!!!!!!!!!
-I find historical precedent extremely important and love when it's argued in round. I also love framework debates; I think good framework can be used really effectively (same thing as above though, I have to buy it).
-I love unique arguments!! However, I do not have much experience with theory, and I don't think PF is necessarily the place for it. I'm willing to hear it, but I can't promise you'll be happy with how I evaluate it.
-Please don't misinterpret evidence. I'm begging you. There are so many articles out there. Find a piece of evidence that says what you want it to say instead of misconstruing. Don't be surprised if I call for evidence at the end of a round, especially if it gets indicted.
-To extend evidence you don't necessarily have to extend the citation, just make sure the content of the card stays consistent.
-I hate when arguments get muddled. If you don't have a good response, then just try to outweigh: don't muddle.
-I don't mind if you skip grand cross because it's awkward if no one has any questions. I won't flow first and second cross, but I will consider it for speaks, etc.
Miscellaneous:
-Be respectful. I have dealt with a lot of sexism during my time in debate, and if you are condescending in anyway I will dock your speaks. Any racist, homophobic, or sexist arguments and you will automatically lose.
-If you don't know someone's pronouns in round (they have not explicitly said them), it's probably best to default to they/them. I do appreciate when debaters post their pronouns before round in the chat.
-I will disclose and give an RFD if both teams want/the tournament allows.
-If your opponent didn't drop an argument, then don't say they dropped it. Also, don't extend through ink.
-Feel free to ask any questions after the round!
-Have fun:)
Email: womboughsam36@gmail.com
UGA Law '28
Georgia Tech '23 (History and Sociology)
Woodward Academy ’20
Topic Knowledge: Only from judging.
Last Substantively Updated: 1/7/24
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Short Version + Novices (est. 45 sec. to read)
"Debate like an adult. Show me the evidence. Attend to the details. Don't dodge, clash. Great research and informed comparisons win debates." — Bill Batterman
Flow.
Be nice.
Be clear.
Have fun!
Time yourselves.
It’s probably not a voting issue.
If you read a plan, defend and clarify it.
Do not request a marked copy in lieu of flowing.
Be an evidenced, well-reasoned critic, not a cynic.
If you stop prep and then re-start prep, take off 10 seconds of prep.
If you don't have your video on in online debate, I will struggle to stay engaged.
An argument must be complete and comprehensible before there is a burden to answer it.
Focus on depth in argument. It's more engaging and is the only reliable way to beat good teams.
Write my ballot for me at the top of your late rebuttals, without using any debate jargon or hyperbole.
"Marking a card" means actually clearly marking that card on your computer (e.g. multiple Enter key pushes).
If you advocate something, at some point in the debate, you need to explain the tangible results of your advocacy without relying on any debate or philosophy jargon.
There has been a significant decline in the quality of speaking since online debate started because debaters became less familiar with speaking directly to the judge and because judges gave more leeway to the absence of clarity due to the computer instrument. Judges should never have to rely on reading along with the speech document in order to flow tags/analytics. If you have no intonation nor emphasis during tags/analytics/rebuttals, you are a bad speaker.
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More Stuff (est. 1:30 min. to read)
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Debate
I really enjoy debate. Debate is the most rewarding activity I have ever done. But debate didn't always feel rewarding while I was doing it. Accordingly, I hope that everybody prioritizes having fun, and then learning and improving.
From Johnnie Stupek's paradigm: "I encourage debaters to adopt speaking practices that make the debate easier for me to flow including: structured line-by-line, clarity when communicating plan or counterplan texts, emphasizing important lines in the body of your evidence, and descriptively labelling off-case positions in the 1NC."
Purging your speech documents of analytics and then rocking through them will be just as likely to "trick" me into not flowing an argument as it will be your opponents.
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Case
I will vote on absolute defense.
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Critiques
Explain; don’t confuse.
It is anti-black for debaters that are not black (team) to present afropessimist arguments. This practice exists because of the anti-blackness or cowardice of some non-black educators in debate. Frank Wilderson III claims that he "grieves over" debate's appropriation of his work (“Staying Ready for Black Study: A Conversation”).
Radical thought is born from specific context, and that specific context is often very important. I appreciate when debaters understand the context of their scholarship and/or their opponents' scholarship. For example, many radical affirmations of identity from 30 years ago are now mainstream to people in the average policy debate. Some mainstream economic theories 70 years ago are treated as much more radical today. Perhaps any progressive policy-making at all would be highly radical for our present moment.
I've seen a few debates exclusively about personal identity that were extremely distressful for both sides. I think it's really weird when a high school student prompts a rejoinder from their peers to a pure affirmation of their identity. Please don't make me adjudicate it.
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Non-Topical Debates
"No" to aff conditionality. Defend your aff and comparatively weigh offense.
Please stop referencing specific college debate rounds that you only know about thirdhand.
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Theory
The more conditional advocacies there are in the 1NC, the worse the debate usually is.
I am sympathetic to affirmative complaints about process counterplans and agent counterplans that do nearly all of the affirmative. These counterplans, with the States-multi-plank CP in mind, tend to stagnate negative topic innovation and have single-handedly ruined some topics (Education).
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Extra
I almost always defer to technical debating, but in close debates:
I am a degrowth hack. T: Substantial against a quantifiably small aff is fun.
I am easily convinced that Bostrom-esque "extinction first" is incoherent and can justify repulsive ideologies.
I strongly believe that China is not militarily revisionist. I think Sinophobic scholarship is festering in debate.
With respect to "Catastrophe Good" arguments, "we must die to destroy a particle accelerator that will consume the universe" is less convincing to me than a nihilism or misanthropy argument. I value accurate science.
Lastly, don't purposefully try to fluster the judge if you want quality post-round answers.
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Cheating
In the instance that a team accuses the other of clipping, I will follow the NDCA clipping guidelines (2).
Strawmanning is an ethics violation as per the NSDA guidelines.
(1) https://the3nr.com/2014/08/20/how-to-never-clip-cards-a-guide-for-debaters/
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More References
https://the3nr.com/2009/11/03/judging-methodologies-how-do-judges-reach-their-decisions/
https://the3nr.com/2016/04/15/an-updated-speaker-point-scale-based-on-2015-2016-results/ (I inflate this).
he/him, freshman at Columbia, debated 4 yrs at Westminster
add me to the chain: brandonyao21@gmail.com
T/L
Please do line by line, flow, and answer arguments in the order presented
Clarity, judge instruction, and not being mean are good
You should probably also do disclosure
Anything below can be reversed if one side is more technically proficient than the other. I will try to intervene as little as possible and remove my opinions from the round as much as possible. Unfortunately, no judge is a blank slate and I try to make my argumentative proclivities as transparent as possible.
If you have any other questions about things that aren't covered here, feel free to ask :)
K stuff
On the Neg
---I don't care what the substance of your argument is, all I care about is that you do line by line and explain how the K interacts with the Aff.
---I'm not going to list literature bases I'm familiar with because that shouldn't change how much you explain stuff.
---I will probably be more likely to vote for a strategy that centers on the alt/links turning the case than a "you link you lose" approach, but the second is possible if there's a big asymmetry in how the debate plays out.
---Framework, I try to resolve this first because it frequently determines how the rest of the debate is evaluated so I will never say "framework was a wash" unless neither team explains what their interpretation means. I don't really have any revolutionary thoughts here. However, I do think if the neg is trying to go for a you link, you lose/don't weigh the plan framework, there needs to be offense other than "caring about rhetoric is good". I've never heard a great reason that an Aff middle ground interpretation along the lines of "reps can be a basis for making the alt competitive but you should still weigh the case" doesn't solve this. Offense along the lines of "policymaking/fiat bad", or really good cards establishing a tradeoff between analyzing policy outcomes and analyzing rhetoric both seem fine.
---Framework for the Aff, the fastest way to lose a framework debate in front of me is to drop a series of the defensive arguments at the bottom of any framework 2nc/1nr.
---Specific impact explanation/how the K interacts with the case is also vital. Saying the word "militarism" or an analogy to the iraq war aren't impacts.
---Going to be honest, in a debate setting, trying to convince me utilitarianism is bad might be an uphill battle given I haven't heard any great alternative ethical frameworks that don't rely on utilitarian justifications. That’s not to say "extinction outweighs" is unbeatable in front of me, i just think I'll be persuaded better by other approaches to mitigating the Affs extinction impact including: answering the case, a plan exclusive framework interpretation, turns case arguments, having your own extinction impact, some sort of risk analysis argument (predictions fail, conjunctive fallacy etc.) a root cause claim (securitization makes threats inevitable etc.).
On the Aff
---The 2AR I am most likely to vote on has a counter interp that defines words in the resolution in an attempt to solve some neg offense (doesn't necessarily mean traditional definitions) or at the very least, a clear vision of what the topic looks like. Establishing a role for the neg beyond "you can read baudrillard" will help you a lot. Fairness is an impact (if the neg takes the time to explain why), clash might be a better one though.
Policy stuff
I care about evidence quality but only insofar as its debated out, i.e If the neg's politics uniqueness cards are far better than the Aff's but only the Aff is doing evidence comparison/spin, I'll probably end up Aff.
Absolute defense/presumption is a thing.
I'll go either way on judge-kick.
I think predictable limits matter a lot and that unpredictable but limiting interpretations don't solve anything. I can be convinced that small differences in card quality/predictability are outweighed by a big limits DA though.
The neg probably needs a counter interpretation in plan text in a vacuum debates.
theory predispositions (none of these are strongly held).
---I find the argument that competition determines legitimacy fairly persuasive. It seems to me that going for theory while conceding the CP competes is analogous to ASPEC or going for T without reading any definitions of words in the resolution.
---For process cps, there is a big difference between CPs that solve by causing the Aff via follow on, and CPs that fiat the plan but said action is conditioned on X. I.e a CP that has Mexico recommend the plan but doesn't fiat anything else is way more competitive/legitimate than a CP that fiats the plan if Mexico agrees.
---Condo debates---I think that debates where the Aff defends 2 condo and the neg defends 3 are kinda silly. The neg should defend conditionality and the Aff should defend dispositionality, unconditionality et cetera.
---Very ambivalent about everything else, ill go either way on condo, process cps, international fiat etc.
Debater for Georgetown (2024-)
Assistant Coach and Researcher for Banneker/Washington Urban Debate League (2023-)
American University '27 (Public Health)
Woodward Academy '23
Email Chain: jayyoon35@gmail.com
Jay, not judge.
Individuals who have influenced parts of my paradigm:
Maggie Berthiaume
Bill Batterman
Sam Wombough
Zaria Jarman
Jack Hightower
David Trigaux
Liv Birnstad
Top Level
Good luck!
Be nice, have fun, don't clip, and learn something from the round.
Extinction first/extinction good is unethical and never prioritized.
Send analytics.
If I cannot flow an argument, it does not count as one.
If an argument does not have a warrant, it is not an argument.
Clash > Tricks
Truth = Tech
Accessibility
Have a way to share ev if one team is using paper.
Don't read args with graphic descriptions unless everyone in the round is fine with it.
Don't spread if speed is not accessible to your opponents.
Biases
As debate is a persuasive activity, confidence and intelligent arguments are important. While every judge has their own biases, which are subject to change over time, here are some of mine:
Death/suffering is bad
War is bad
Climate change is real and exacerbated daily
Discrimination and violence in any form is bad.
1NC
Hiding ASPEC is bad; therefore the aff is permitted to briefly address it and move on. not auto-neg even if dropped.
Case
I will consider voting on complete defense if there is minimal/no risk of aff solvency.
Case turns are good.
Don't forget about impact framing.
Disadvantages
If the DA is incomplete, it is not an argument. The 1AR gets new answers when the missing part/s are added.
The link is the most important part of the DA. I will not disregard the importance of the UQ and impact despite that.
Politics DAs are structurally flawed and rely upon a flawed model of politics. The aff can easily mitigate the risk by pointing out and emphasizing these flaws. Intrinsic DAs are better for neg ground and clash throughout the round so I might not be the best judge if your 2NRs are mostly politics.
Turns case is useful but it needs to be developed further in the overview/line-by-line.
Impact/Case Turns
I enjoy them, assuming they aren't offensive/morally objectionable. Winning an impact turn will require some defense to mitigate the risk of the case.
Counterplans
States: Don't leave D.C. out of texts or advocacy statements. Uniformity is unrealistic
Have a relevant solvency advocate in the 1NC; if the neg reads a specific solvency advocate in the block (as opposed to the 1NC), the aff gets new answers.
CPs should fiat a specific policy, not an outcome.
Process and Agent CPs: Arguments on the competition flow are likely more persuasive than theory but theory args can complement competition args if warranted out properly.
Critiques
Ks are particularly significant for this year's topic. The Ks I'm most familiar with include degrowth/growth bad (both as a K and DA/impact turn), settler colonialism, capitalism/neoliberalism, and security. Moving toward higher theory literature such as Psychoanalysis or Baudrillard is where I might start to get lost.
I will default to weighing the aff/perm against the alt. Neg teams can read links stemming from the aff's actions , defense of impacts, as well as the mechanism/ representations (without becoming a PIK). I think that PIKs out of the aff’s reps are only competitive if the neg proves that the aff’s reps are bad. If the aff wins their reps are good, I’m much more like to vote aff on a perm.
Explain the links and alt level and distinguish them from a vague and potentially utopian outcome.
K Affs
I have only been negative against critical affs.
Defend the entirety of your 1AC, including your authors and concepts forwarded.
There is a higher threshold for perms when the neg has specific links/the aff has a vaguer advocacy.
Fairness can be an impact depending on how it's argued. Even if not, it is a large internal link to other impacts.
Topicality
Not the best judge for T vs policy affs.
Plan text in a vacuum is a bad argument.
T is not a reverse voting issue.
Procedurals
Likely not a voting issue unless dropped and warranted.
Disclosure is good.
Plans should not be vague to the point where it is undebatable.
Hiding APSEC/theory is a good way to lose speaker points.
Theory
Condo: I'm comfortable voting aff if there are at least two conditional advocacies. It's also the only reason to reject the team unless warranted out in explicit detail. Condo also becomes more persuasive when combined with args like perf con. Make sure to distinguish between conditional (judge kick is not permitted) and the status quo is a logical option (judge kick is permitted) when stating the interp.
Good theory debating requires good line-by-line.
If you still have questions, feel free to ask before the round starts.
MBA and Emory.
jackyoungpqw@gmail.com. debatemba@gmail.com. IPostRound@googlegroups.com.
Please add all to chains.
I attempt to judges as technically as possible. I decide most debates pretty quickly, based only on my flow. I usually don't read evidence unless relevant to the debate. I am unfamiliar with the IP topic. I am a competition minimalist and conditionality maximalist: The negative should not lose for introducing tests to the aff, but many of the common tests should not compete.
I am not a fantastic judge for critical arguments. I think debate's primarily a game in which fairness is a value we collectively assent to. Most educational benefits are iterative and structured by competition. Go for fairness instead of clash in front of me.
μ = ~28.75
σ = ~.3