I am a PF and policy debater so I'm pretty familiar with debate terminology

Preferences during debates:

-Please speak clearly and at a reasonable speed (I can keep up with spreading as long as you're speaking clearly)

-Please signpost your arguments and please give me an off-the-clock roadmap before your speeches

-During cross, if an opponent asks you a question a couple seconds before cross is over, please answer the question unless you don't have an answer.

-Please let your opponents have a chance to ask questions during cross.

I understand cross can get heated but please remain respectful to everyone.

-I won't take any arguments in cross into voting unless you bring it up in your speeches.

-I mainly vote off of weighing and when you weigh, please compare your impacts with your opponents and why you outweigh.

-If your opponent asks you for a card you must provide it or I will have to stop the round.

-If you make a non-analytical argument and you do not have a card backing up the argument, I will not vote off of that argument.

-When asked a question during cross, don't drag an answer for more than 20 seconds unless it's necessary.

Speaks:

I will start with 28 speaks and either cut down or give you more points

Please be respectful to everybody in round

I judge Congress I like competitiveness, and I don't judge your opinion I judge how well you argue it. However keep discussion relevant to the discussion, and make sure you actually know what the bill says before you start debating it. Being well prepared with notes and writing down lots of questions.

Background

I debated for Cypress Woods highschool in Houston in LD for 3 years, and dabbled a little bit into policy my senior year. I primarily went for the Ks and LARP throughout my career, but did all forms of debate.

Short Overview

sophia.a.larsen@icloud.com - email chain

Do whatever you want. None of the biases listed below are so strong as to override who did the better debating.

Spreading is fine.

Read whatever you want!

UPDATE: ive judged almost every bid tournament this season including some elims so dont be afraid to run things.

tech > truth

Prefs Shortcut

LARP - 1

Less Dense Ks - 1

Phil - 2

Theory - 4

Dense Ks - 4

Tricks - 5

Specifics

k's:

I specialized in the Fem K and know most about that field of literature. I read it on both aff and neg. I also read other kritiks like the cap k and abelism.

k v k debates

• these are my favorite form of debate. I LOVE a good k v k round where both debaters know what they are talking about and go down the flow well.

pol v k

• I really like this form of debate. A lot of things that go missing in this debate is either why the k is necessary to solve and or why the plan solves the impacts of the k.

TO NOTE: I will NOT vote on kritiks involving social death if you are not from that identity group

LARP

• I will vote on almost any impact IF AND ONLY IF it makes sense and isnt abuse.
• I like this form of debate. make sure there is a clear link chain and impact weighing. make sure your clear down the flow. Ive seen a lot of debaters this season forgetting their solvency claims and or dropping impacts. be careful.

Phil

• This form of debate is fine. if you are going to run philosophers like DNG make sure you explain it well to me.
• I did a lot of research on philosophers like Kant, Rawls, locke, etc.

SPEAKS:

I was screwed a couple times in my career due to low speaks so I tend to give higher ones. I will give you additional points if you win the debate and sit down early, but dock points if you lose the debate and sit down early.

Hello, I am Chris Lester and I have done LD debate for 4 years. When I judge a debate I judge off on how well your case was presented and the amount of clash there was in a debate. Debate is all about fun so in the name of education of your peers I ask that the debaters not spread (only in Novice tournaments). In my opinion, clash is the bread and butter of debate, so without it, I will always default Aff. At the end of the day, debate is about fun and education so any personal attacks or reductive actions will be met harshly. Make sure to extend clearly and give voters in your final speeches.

Argument Scale:

1 - Phil/ Trad - The most basic and simple form of debate. When done at a higher level it makes for a fun debate. Just make sure your making the FW and Impact debate clear. I was a Structural Violence debater so do with that information as you will.

1 - CP, DA, Plan, etc - I mostly ran DA's and CPs as Neg and have lots of knowledge in the area.

2/3 - K &Theory - Don't assume I know most K lit. I will only evaluate Theory relevant to the debate (so no Christmas Clothes or no dress shoes debates.) Also no K/ Theory in a Novice debate.

5 - Tricks - Tricks are for kids. Don't do them. That is all.

Hi i’m Ashley! I attended Jersey Village High School and was an executive council member for the varsity debate team for 3 years. I’ve competed in Tfa state,Nsda, and Uil tournaments for 4 years but my main event to judge is World Schools Debate but overall I judge everything including ie’s, speech, and debate events. Time signals can always be given if wanted :)

Debate overall:

• I will be flowing the round but my flow will not be in my comments. I will provide feedback in my comments and if asked will provide verbal feedbacks.
• Please be civil and respectful during the round there is a difference between being assertive and or witty v.s just being rude.
• I judge mostly on content and argumentation.
• Please do not spread :|
• I would appreciate and prefer off time roadmapping before speeches.
• You are allowed to time yourselves but I will be timing as well so try not to go overtime.

LD/PF:

• I like structured arguments ( claim, warrant, impact ).
• I put heavy emphasis on weighing when judging so make sure you show me that your impacts are more probable/severe.
• When clashing make sure you emphasize why your evidence is better than your opponents especially when your opponent is saying the complete opposite. Repeat your strongest evidence against them and provide a solid link to your argument.
• I flow crossfire.
• Make sure to try to address all of your opponents main points and don’t ignore or drop them. If your opponent has completely ignored a main point in your argument make sure to bring up their lack of rebuttal.
• Again do not spread as this is NOT Policy debate! I do not mind stuttering and would rather you take a second to recollect your thoughts than feel worried about not speaking fast enough.

WSD:

• For content make sure to provide solid international examples in your arguments as this is WORLD schools. I prefer less hypothetical evidence but if stated make sure the hypothetical is actually likely to happen or at least even be plausible.
• For style I really like well structured speeches with off time roadmapping but I also like some sort of personality in the speech as that’s what makes this event so fun! Good attention getters, anecdotes and humor would be really interesting to hear just make sure not to be blatantly rude to your opponent.
• For strategy structure your team in order of who’s best for each speaking position. Make sure your substantives and rebuttals are carried throughout the bench consistently and answer and ask POI’s as I do evaluate them.
• Again do not spread as this is NOT Policy debate! I do not mind stuttering and would rather you take a second to recollect your thoughts than feel worried about not speaking fast enough.
• I put heavy emphasis on weighing of worlds when judging so make sure you show me how your world is most beneficial under your burden.
• Clearly define your definitions. If your definition has been challenged please address it ASAP.
• Make sure to try to address all of your opponents main substantives and don’t ignore or drop them. If your opponent has completely ignored a main point in your argument make sure to bring up their lack of rebuttal.
• When clashing make sure you emphasize why your evidence is better than your opponents especially when your opponent is saying the complete opposite. Repeat your strongest evidence against them and provide a solid link to your argument.

Extemp:

• Make sure you structure your speech when answering the question.
• Questionable facts will be checked!
• Try not to fidget so much but including movements like hand gestures and moving when transitioning to the next point (triangle method) is great!
• Try to include around 2-3 sources within your speech and include an attention getter preferably one that can connect to your conclusion and has a little personality and or humor.
• Try to maintain good eye contact and tone of voice. I do not mind stuttering and would rather you take a second to recollect your thoughts than feel worried about not speaking fast enough.
• You are allowed to time yourselves but I will be timing as well so try not to go overtime.

Speech:

• I like organized speeches with credible sources.
• Try not to sound monotone the whole speech, the most crucial parts of your speech should be distinguishable.
• I really like humor, relatability and personal connections as it can really let personalities shine through.
• Please shed light on the importance of your topic that we listened to for 10 minutes, and how we benefit from being aware of the solutions or just being aware of the topic overall.
• Try not to fidget so much. Move with your points and include some hand gestures.
• I do not mind stuttering and would rather you take a second to recollect your thoughts than feel worried about not speaking fast enough.
• Try to maintain good eye contact and tone.

Interp:

• A big thing for me is to be able to understand and follow the plot of the piece, try to make sure your piece is cut into a clear narrative.
• Try to make sure your teaser does not appear confusing to your audience.
• I really like clearly defined transitions!
• Try not to sound monotone and use dynamics throughout your piece.
• Make sure to show the ranges of emotions throughout your piece not just yelling.
• It is extremely crucial to me to be able to also distinguish characters from each other and I really like when I see clear developments within characters throughout the story.
• I really like the use of creative blocking but make sure it’s not confusing.
• Make sure your intro contextualizes the theme/topic of your piece well.
• I do not mind stuttering and would rather you take a second to recollect your thoughts than feel worried about not speaking fast enough.
• Try to maintain good eye contact and tone.

If you have any questions about my paradigms or judging style you’re more than welcome to ask :)

Hi!

Add me to the chain :) Oliviasweeten6580@gmail.com

QUICK PREFS

5

spreading (makes judging hard. I'm here for a good time not a long time), friv or heavy theory, tricks (will evaluate under views only - makes lbl hard to follow and usually requires spreading to do which idc for)

1-2

trad/lay,larp,Deleuze and Guattari/POMO, decent amount of common K lit,PICS/CP, phil, REAL ABUSE THEORY not some random mumbo jumbo, psychoanalysis K

3-4

id pol or dense K lit like racial cap (just don't have a lot of experience with these and I can get lost)

random for qkprfs

My default layering is Theory ≥ ROB > Substance > Presumption

maybe 2ar Hail Mary maybe not

tech≥truth

Order is General Expectations, VLD, Novice LD, PF, and then Speech at the bottom!

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

Please do not go past your times for over 10 seconds because I will dock your speaker points. If you say anything racist, sexist, homophobic, use the wrong pronouns after being corrected more than once, or make any sort of comments towards the person you are debating to make them uncomfortable or upset you will be held accountable. Your coach and/or tab will be notified. Please don't make me do this. Debate is supposed to be fun and friendly. I don’t tolerate you interrupting their speech to talk over them.

I will run a stop watch to ensure no prep time is stolen or lost and that things run on time.

Yelling doesn't make you sound better and being extremely aggressive doesn't either. Confidence is important in debate but talking so quickly in round that nobody can understand you, speaking so quietly that nobody can hear you, or yelling to where you're incomprehensible, also, won't get you anywhere.

VLD

Tabula Rasa all the way although there are arguments I won't buy if you're being problematic to any group of people which includes everyone. I'm not going to sit there and listen to you tell me why the alt is good when it's literally exterminating able-bodied people or people who believe in a God - lets be serious people.

ID pol ✓ (just be sure to explain afropess/afro opp I never really saw those things in debate so I don't really understand them as well as other things and impact it out)

POMO ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓ 100% yes (I will be your best friend if you read this unless you read it poorly ???? I will say, however, I'm not sure familiar with Bataille. I mostly read/saw DnG and Baudrillard (I did those actions respectively))

T framework meh

Theory... just please put it in the doc. I can't vote off of what I can't get down/remember

/\ - For any theory type of debate I didn't really do a whole lot of that when I debated so I can assess it but if there are going to be theory debates that are like super layered and confusing I'm not really the judge for that. So, not good for super intensive theory debates that get messy very fast but I can assess regular theory violation shells. I will not, however, buy waterbottle, laptop sticker (unless it is actually bad), or shoe theory.

I like speechdrop, email chain, or tabroom's version of speech drop too. Everything works just let me and your opponent know what you're using and let us join if we ask. Say it with me. ADDING YOUR DOC TO THE EMAIL/SPEECH DROP DOESN'T COUNT AS PREP TIME - THAT IS MEAN. The 15 seconds it took you to attach your doc to the email isn't going to make the tournament run late OMG people.

Extending is a big deal to me. Don't extend your ROB okay... then why does it matter? Don't extend your amazing 1nr/1ar impact calculus showing me why extinction is bad okay... why did you bother doing it in the first place? If you think something is important on the flow TELL ME. I will not judge hack. If you want something to be a key voting issue lay it out for me. There are too many eager judges and lazy debaters who want to rely on what they did well in one speech to magically go into the flow of the next one without having to point it out.

Framework is also a key voting issue for me (depends on type of debate). If you ignore your ROB or FW and just tell me why something is bad without showing me why your FW says its bad or why your opponent doesn't meet your FW then how do I have a way of knowing that 3 million starving children is bad? If you want a tabula rasa judge that means you need to pretend they are a little kid with no knowledge. Give me my morals to operate with.

I will honestly listen to any kind of debate. I'm fine with Ks, POMO, ID pol, theory, lay, policy, etc. I don't vote more one way or the other I just evaluate the round as it is and decide who did better strategically and who overall should have won. My emotions and personal views do not get in the way. I am pretty centrist and don't really believe in politics in general.

NLD

As a (previous, now graduated)varsity debater I'm not expecting varsity level debate like K's, phil debate, T debate (either topical or theory), counter plans or the like, or anything advanced really, so just do what you know how at this point!

Something I've unfortunately seen in even varsity debate is cases that are essays. A case is NO place for your own words except for taglines and even then those are supposed to be describing the card, NOT your opinion on the card. A speech is the only place for your opinion and even then it should be based in moral reasoning with your framework.

Before round, I also recommend reflowing your case so you can write their responses right next to your cards so you know what to address. It makes flowing much easier for your judge and that increases the likelihood that the judge will know to vote for you if they can see what arguments you did and/or did not address.

A basic case should be in this order most of the time:

1. Resolved: TOPIC

2. FRAMEWORK (if you do not have a framework or value and value criterion your case will be weighed under your opponents and you will make it very hard for you to win because I will not point out that you need a framework until after the debate. If you are on the neg this is normal to concede to the affs framework so don't worry about it being difficult to win.)

3. Contention 1

4. Tagline, citation, and then card. This process should be repeated for however many cards in the case.

4. If you have any other contentions then they still need to follow this format but only one contention is absolutely necessary in your case on the aff.

I want to see a debate, not two people giving argumentative speeches… This means come back to your framework, respond to arguments strategically, and respond based on the importance layer.

PF

I've judged one or two PF rounds and only participated in my first year of debate once so I basically know nothing about PF. Please either give me the times so I can know how long to time you for.

SPEECH

I have never done speech but I know what to look for.

1. Try to keep the 'um' and 'uh's to a minimum and none if possible
2. Try to not move your hands around a lot - keep it to a minimum
3. Move slowly between points without turning your back to the judge
4. Looking for clear and normal conversation paced speaking
5. Try to be funny- if your humor comes at the expense of others I probably won't find it funny.
6. Looking for a good AG that is related to the question without actually stating the question in the AG.
7. It won't let me delete this one :)

Hi, I'm Zarik (he/him). You can call me Zarik, ZT, Tao, judge, or any combination of these names. I would like to be on the email chain - zarik.tao@gmail.com

Background: Bridgeland '23, Texas '27.

5th at 2022 6A UIL State, qualified to TFA State x3, Doubles at TFA State 2022.

I was a heavy on LARP and Phil as a debater, so take that information if you will.

Pref Shortcuts:

LARP - 1

Theory - 1

Phil - 2 (Depends on type)

K - 2 (Depends on type)

Tricks - 5 (or strike me tbh)

I will pretty much vote on every arg if it is cohesively developed and I am able to explain back to you the claim, warrant, and impact in my RFD. (except if the arg is obviously morally reprehensible e.g. sexism, racism, etc.)

LBL > Long Overviews

Tech > Truth (but I think both are important)

Flex prep is cool; prep stops when you finish compiling the doc.

My judging philosophy is to be as non-interventionist as possible; people spend a lot of time prepping for this activity and you deserve the right to read whatever arguments that you want. That being said, I am a very expressive person, so if your argument does not make sense, I will probably make a face at you.

In Depth:

LARP - Pretty self-explanatory; you can run pretty much anything (plans, cp's, 7 minutes of case turns, disads, etc.). If you are aff PLEASE extend solvency or I will negate on presumption. Also, PLEASE collapse in the 1AR/2NR. I do not want to hear 5 different extinction scenarios that are all really underdeveloped in your rebuttal speeches. 0% risk is a thing.

Defaults:

1-3 Condo is probably good for neg flex; anything else is probably sketchy.

Functional and Textual Competition in the CP is probably good, but I will vote on PICS and Consult CP's etc. unless the aff wins abuse in the shell.

There needs to be an justification for judge kick (can be like 5 sec) if you want me to kick the offs for you; otherwise just spend the time kicking them yourself.

Comparative Worlds over Truth Testing (really easy to be convinced otherwise)

Theory - Fine with any theory; the more frivolous the arg then the lower threshold that I have for responses, but I will still vote on it UNLESS it pertains to the appearance/properties of the other person (e.g. water bottle and shoe theory is absolute b.s.). PLEASE extend paradigm issues.

Defaults (Please don't make me use them):

DTA > DTD (Unless it's T)

Competing Interps > Reasonability

No RVIs on shells

Content > Form

Text > Spirit

Topicality - I actually really enjoy topicality debates, including Nebel and Leslie, if they are done well (which is find is pretty rare, even for myself). Just contextualize why you win semantics>pragmatics or vice versa/both and the warrants for T "a" or bare plurals and if you do it well, you will probably get good speaks.

Phil - Fine with mostly everything if explained well; I pretty much only read Kant on aff LOL. If it's kind of a benign philosophy, it's probably good to have in the case to me whether is deon v consequentialist and how impacts are weighed under the framing. Syllogism > Independent Justifications. If you are reading util, PLEASE stop reading the Moen evidence it says a bunch of nothing and just switch to the Blum evidence.

Kritiks - I have a good understanding of Set Col, Afro-Pess (I will not vote on non-black Afro-Pess), Baudrillard, Pyscho (Lacan), and Foucalt/Agamben. I have a base level understanding of Empire, Queer-Pess, Asian Melancholy, Adorno, and Deleuze. If you are reading other authors/topics, you either 1) probably shouldn't read it because I might not understand it, or 2) explain it really well to me.

K Tricks (root cause, alt solves case) are cool, Floating PIKs are probably abusive but the other side should either run theory or ask for it in CX.

Tricks - Please delineate them and not hide them in a paragraph; that's not cool for me nor your opponent. If you're winning on tricks you're probably getting low speaks unless it's actually developed really well in your first speech and I've never seen that trick before.

Turns to tricks under truth testing is actually really cool if you pull it off you'll get good speaks.

Hey debaters, my name's Connor Taylor, he/him. I'm a freshman at the University of Arkansas and a former debate for Cypress Woods High School. I'm good with all kinds of debate (I've done LD, Policy, and Pf) but here's my listing for LD bc that's what I'm doing now. I qualified for UIL Regions, TFA State, and broke at UT to trips in 2021. Jacob Koshak was my coach, if you want to have a good understanding of my background go read that. I wanna be on the speech drop or email chain: cjtricky04@gmail.com if ur using gmail or cjtricky@icloud.com for others. For online, lets just use the online speech drop. Its way easier. I probably will disclose speaks if you ask.

TLDR - go for pomo ks or larp, I don't know id pol outside of ableism, tricks and spikes will most likely not get you a ballot, use theory as a check not as a strat. Ill give high speaks I was a recent debater I understand how brutal it is rn

1 - Pomo Ks

As long as debaters thoroughly explain the link as well as the k itself, it is my favorite form of debate. It'd be my first voter. If you don't know the K don't read one please its a no bueno. I read a lot of DnG, Baudi, and Bataille. If you go for the K, tell me why you win on the ROB page. if the rob is textual to the k, that's sick, but why does the k meet the rob and why does the rob deserve the ballot? Don't run a k if it has a bad link that's no fun

1 - LARP

LARP is fun. I did a lot of larp, most topics are good for larp. Plz don't force it read ur best strat but larping is what I would say I was probably the best at. I think good larp needs heavy on the weighing page, and inherency is something I need to take from my policy days. Plz plz don't read an aff that has already passed. Make sure

2 - Id Pol Ks

I like ableism a lot more bc I can relate to it, but I am bad with other id pol lit. Doesn't mean I wont vote on it but most Id Pol args are pess and I do not enjoy a pess round. plz plz don't run an id pol you don't actually identify with... its super gross to claim you suffer from something you don't actually suffer from.

2 - Phil

I enjoy a good phil debate. I think debates w phil are hella fun instead of boring ol util v util all the darn time. Make sure to leverage fw and why it matters. If ur running phil and u lose the fw debate, its basically over, so make sure u don't just wipe out on fw.

3 - T/Theory

T is a good argument, don't force it. I like T as an answer to actual abuse, like if they run a non-disclosed K aff or something. However, don't come in w some garbage t interp that literally breaks the ground. If you do go for T, please do a good job. I feel that T can get washed out and super duper boring to the point that the round loses its whole meaning. Theory is a good check, but I don't like it as a strat. I'm not the judge for you if you mostly do theory, the K v theory debate is fun though.

5 - Trix/Spikes

Tricks are for kids and spikes are dumb. I would vote on them, but its a low threshold for answering them. I feel like they skew the round unfair for the debate, like the "cover" speech literally cannot concede an argument or the round is done basically.

Defaults

edu>fairness - debate is a game sure, but I debated to learn about new topics n crap. Like yeah fairness matters, but education serves as a method for us to understand what is fair. If we were not educated, we wouldn't know if something was skewed. Education is the only thing we can keep from debate in the long run.

competing interps > reasonability - Unless the shell is friv, competing interps makes for better debates. If the judge can reasonably decide whether the theory is good or bad bc the debater spends time telling them to, the debater can just give a counter interp that makes the round more fun.

tech>truth - its a game but if you play the game bad you have to lose. Theory does come on the highest layer unless told otherwise (i lost on that so i know). I will say that i prolly have theory and k closer than most for layer so just tell me where to evaluate it.

Other junk

Do underviews and overviews. It won't hurt to do either and is good, makes it an easy way to the ballot. I like rebuttals that are top down and not all over the place, tell me where to flow it/when to im on paper as of writing this idk if that if that stayed

If you have any questions ask. Make jokes if you can. Don't put those dog photos for speaks I'm gonna try and give high speaks bc ik how competitive making out rounds is. As for speech, you ought to be fine unless you aren't fine. If you aren't fine you'll prolly know. Just don't be racist/sexist/homophobic. I'm open to questions before and after rounds, plz just don't post round my decision. Ill defend it, and if im somehow wrong sorry :/. Ig u got judge screwed