Background: Judging online from Indonesia GMT+7 (12 hours ahead of EST/CDT). I judged several varsity level British/Asian/Australs parliamentary debating tournaments around Southeast Asia from 2016 till 2021. As of Nov 2023, I judged a total of 13 Public Forum, 1 Lincoln-Douglas, and 1 WSDC competitions in the U.S. circuit.

Technicalities: Some people may put a heavy emphasis on the presence of evidence and the presentation of examples, but for me, warrant: coherent logical explanation and step-by-step analysis of your argument is more valuable. Spewing out too many facts and trivia before you explain your assertions confuses me. Use those data to back up your arguments, not to lengthen your speech. Also, don't forget to connect the extensions. Do put elaborations on why any impact you give is significant and unique to your side.

Strategy: Don't ever forget to weigh in your arguments against your opponent's. I also expect the two-worlds scenario when you're painting your case. Rather than saying "To give you an off-time roadmap..." in the beginning, better if you do signpost as you go because it will surely help me do the flow during the speech. I love the "even ifs" and the clear-cut comparison between your model and your rival's model.

Manner: No spreading. Please speak clearly and don't rap out your speech. You may turn off cameras if you (or I happen to) experience lags or internet problems. Please time your own speech and when you start, just speak. There's no need to say "time starts now/on my first word" because some scientists argued that time began shortly after The Big Bang.

Correspondence: albert-yang@mail.com. Yes, without the G.

Debate is foremost education in speaking well, an exercise in communication. I despise spreading. If you spread, I will not flow. Slight speed is only justified in the 1AR and final PF speeches.

In PF, I do not like Blippies (although he's wonderful with children). I want arguments responded to in full. Summary and FF are there to pick and choose which arguments you will focus on - make the case for why the arguments you chose are more important with Voters, and ignore the rest. XFire should be about Q&A, not about arguments- XF is not binding unless brought up in a subsequent speech. A dropped argument is only important if the other side made a convincing case that this was a key argument. As with PD I want roadmaps and signposting, always.

In Policy, SHIST Stock Issues, weigh Advantage/DAs after that. But of course if another paradigm is raised and not responded to then I will vote on that. Prefer closed Cross-X and DAs in the 2N- old school. Will accept Kritiks and CPs, but not preferred. Will vote on T. XX should be about Q&A, not about arguments- XX is not binding unless brought up in a subsequent speech. Want ev-> fully sourced, good clash, signposting, road maps, and Voters.

In LD, I expect a Values Debate Round to be actually about values and philosophy. I am interested in the Value and the Criterion being argued. A value should be more than "morality", which is just another word for "values".

XD: I've judged XD at Nats before. Give me roadmap, signposting, Framework in Constructives, Roadmap in Rebuttals. Sources should have author/date.

As a student I participated in every IE and Debate form at AHS (save LD). My favourite events are IX, POI, INF, and PD. Created the Moroccan debate league and trained the coaches and judges from multiple schools there, beginning in '12; took teams to Nats multiple times and coached six schools in Morocco, Mongolia, and China.

I am a flow judge. I have been debating for 4 years, 3 of them in PF. I like weighing impacts and comparing worlds. Please be organized and I love off-time roadmaps.

Hi everyone! I am a parent who has judged PF tournaments for over a year. I have a few requirements and preferences:

1) No spreading - If I cannot understand you I cannot take your argument into consideration.

2) Be respectful - Don't get angry or yell at your opponents. Don't say anything offensive.

Good luck!

Hi! I debated PF in high school, but treat me as a lay judge.

Some judging notes:

• I will vote off of the standing impacts on the flow.
• I will not flow crossfire – if something noteworthy comes up, remember to bring it up in a later speech!
• Please do not run a K!
• Any racist, sexist, transphobic... etc comments/arguments/discourse will dock your speaks.
• Signpost!! I love off the clock road maps.

Complete any of the following tasks for an extra speaker point:

• Sing or rap a contention
• Incorporate a Taylor Swift lyric

Most importantly, have fun and be respectful!

PLEASE be respectful to one another. If you aren't respectful, I will automatically vote for the opponents ballot, regardless of arguments.

Please time yourselves and your opponent's speeches and prep time. It is up to you to self monitor.

PLEASE speak at a normal pace, if you spread(speed reading), then I will automatically vote for the opponents ballot, regardless of arguments. Also, signposting would be very helpful, so it's easier for me to follow along.

PLEASE clarify your arguments, and be clear on who is on which side, since this topic is a bit confusing. DO NOT run K's, theory shells, or anything else insane. I won't be able to understand the argument, and will have to vote for the opponent.

I wish you the best of luck!

I am a former PF debater that has judged tournaments for 2+ years.

I expect all varsity debaters to be able to run their own round (i.e. keep track of opponent's speech and prep time, carding).

Don't spread because I judge based on the arguments I hear and understand.

I will occasionally ask for cards after the round if there has been a clash of evidence.

hi everyone,

i'm lora. i've been doing speech and debate for six years with my main events being parliamentary debate, world schools, and extemporaneous speaking (i have dabbled here and there in impromptu and pf).

major things:

• love my signposting besties
• i want to hear impacts! world comparisons>>
• be respectful—we are people first and debaters second—will give low speaks for inappropriate behavior

minor thing:

• will give extra speaker point(s) if you hit the griddy during your speech (needs to be obvious)

looking forward to your rounds

Jude Sims-Barber, as featured on https://www.change.org/p/keep-the-public-in-public-forum?source_location=search

Hello debaters! I’m a university student studying philosophy and sociology, and was a debater throughout high school for three years. My main proficiency was with Lincoln-Douglas debate and Congressional debate but I am very familiar with Public Forum, Policy, and IDPA debate (and, to a lesser extent, British Parliament and World Schools Debate).

I use any and all pronouns and my email is njudesims@gmail.com.
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NOTE: I have minor hearing loss. My inner ear tissue is scarred and my speech perception is affected as a result. This is not an issue of volume, it is an issue of clarity and enunciation. As a result, I cannot understand spreading. It is simply out of my ear's reach. And before you ask, no, you don't magically have the perfectly understandable spreading cadence.

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General Notes (please read):

Debate is educational first and foremost. Yes, it is competitive (a "game"), but you should always debate in good faith and not use cheap arguments or tricks just to win. Try to understand your opponent and their arguments, and try to make the debate reach a point of conclusion rather than simply making cheap dunks or disingenuous attacks. Communication relies on mutual trust and a desire to learn, not a desire to dominate or win.

Truth over tech. Techy truth is generally fine. I will not disclose. I don't have time to argue with high schoolers about why they lost.

While I understand the desire to make as many arguments as possible, the default should be using an ordinary, pedestrian speed to communicate well-researched ideas. Do not be disingenuous, either in the arguments you choose to run (knowing that they're designed or cut in a manner to disorient your opponent) or the way you explain/extend them.

-Stay topical. You chose to come to this tournament, you paid the entry fee, you know the topic. It's different when academics decide to discuss the weaknesses of our discourse models or the symbolic violence inherent in... English syntax. You aren't an academic, you're a high schooler competing in a competitive tournament you voluntarily signed up for--debate what the resolution says.

Time limits exist as a statement of how long the statements you need to make should take. They are not an excuse to cram as much stuff into that time by spreading.

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For Lincoln-Douglas:

-Keep it traditional. The most engaging LD debates are those that speak in concrete terms about abstract ideas, using what we examine on a surface level (mere political issues) and revealing hidden moral assumptions or frameworks (theory).

-Is is not ought. Merely because something is the case in the real world says nothing about whether such a thing is morally justified. No, you don't have the solution to the is-ought gap.

-You must have a Value and Criterion. Lincoln Douglas is all about framing topics with an ethical framework. When we say that something is moral or immoral, we must do so with an ethical framework (i.e., consequentialism, deontology, etc.). A value of Morality is meaningless, as the purpose of LD is to normatively prescribe a special importance to a particular value or good (it tells me nothing as a judge if you value morality. You might as well say "it is good to do good things and bad to do bad things").

-Ethical theories are not values. You cannot 'value' utilitarianism--it is an ethical framework through which we quantify or evaluate that which we hold important. We can examine the utility of 'positive freedom' as a value, but we cannot simply value utilitarianism.

-Avoid criteria that are bulkily worded ("ensuring healthcare access" or something similar). Try to limit criteria to established philosophies, ideas, methods, or theories.

-I highly value philosophical consistency and a solid understanding of the philosophical ideas and ethical theories argued for. I know judge intervention is frowned upon, but if you misrepresent a philosophical position or idea, it will be hard for me to trust your proclaimed level of expertise on the topic. Simple mistakes are perfectly okay, as a lot of philosophy is rather impenetrable.

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For Public Forum:

-PF is not policy. You used to be prohibited from citing evidence in PF until after Ted Turner sponsored it. PF is the lay debate in high school circuits. Keep it simple. To clarify, I do expect you to use evidence, but also your own proficiency for debate.

-If you know a piece of evidence is deeply flawed or even wrong, why run it on the chance that your opponent won't know how to respond? Does that not seem disingenuous to you?

-I'm primarily a flow judge, and I care deeply about clear statements of arguments and rebuttals. If you don't signpost, I'll likely miss it. Tech mainly bores me, so do try to make quality arguments--if you make bad arguments, then I won't prefer them solely because the opposing team couldn't mention the sixth drop of the fourth subpoint in a three minute speech. If the argument is bad, then it's bad--simple as. (By bad, I mean poorly explained, incoherent, frivolous, or cheap.) Drops are only a point in your favor insofar as the dropped argument is actually substantial to the overall debate.

-Focus on broader impacts. Remember that the burden of the CON is not to propose any comprehensive plan of action, merely demonstrate why the PRO is ineffective or harmful.

-Do not spend too much time on one specific point with one specific point of evidence. Give weight to what's important. Collapse by the end. The earlier, the better.

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For Big Questions:

-Big questions is a descriptive debate, which means that you are debating on what is (descriptive) rather than what ought be the case (normative). What this means is that you are, on aff or neg, answering the big question at hand. What's more, big questions require big answers, and any reasonably big answer contains quite a lot of philosophy. Your case should include some measure of balance between raw theoretical material (philosophy, broadly) and hard science. Depending on the topic, you might lean more to one side (e.g., objective morality exists vs. humans are naturally self-interested).

-In my experience (for the few years BQ has been around), disputes over evidence in BQ shouldn't be boiled down to "well our sources disagree." Generally, a dispute around a big question is epistemological, about how we come to know things and how certain that knowledge really is. For example, saying that "humans are naturally protective of their young" is not really disagreeable on a factual basis, but whether that information is significant as to whether humans are self-interested is a matter of specific theoretical framing and definition.

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For Policy:

-Don't spread. If you go too fast, I'll say 'clear' until you slow down. This has resulted in me saying clear within the entire 8 minutes of a speech, so please do slow down.

-Please do not force me to rely on an email chain to decide the round.

-On T: I am pretty lenient when it comes to whether a plan/counterplan is topical or not. My standard for determining this is whether or not the plan fits in what I conceive as the "spirit of the resolution." Something may not be strictly topical as per the verbiage of the resolution, but is still topical as it fits the resolution's intended spirit as written. The only times I will flatly reject a plan on topicality is (1) if it is too large in scope, as to encompass the resolution rather than the other way around, or (2) it is so disconnected from the topic that it may as well be a non-sequitur. As an additional note, please don't waste time making a bunch of topicality arguments. It is often time-consuming.

-K's are most commonly a cheap trick, in my view--I know that they're used topic to topic and round to round with little change, as a means to minimize exhaustive prep and real engagement with the topic. The only exception I'll give is to specific instances of abolition/discourse K's, in which you argue (in good faith, I'll be able to tell) that the verbiage or framing of the resolution overly limits available/acceptable discourse. Regardless, don't anticipate a vote in a K's favor. You signed up for this tournament, after all, and your decision to sidestep the topic reflects at least partially on your intellectual honesty.

William B Travis, Phillips Andover, Yale
daniel 'dot' zou 'at' yale.edu

My paradigm got deleted, so here's the gist for the Yale Invitational:

• I debated LD in high school on the Texas circuit, qualifying to TFA State and placing 5th in UIL. This was three years ago...I also coach/debate British parli and novice PF recently. All my debate has been with 'small' schools.
• Run what you are comfortable with. Link chains must be clear.
• Debate about something. Clash...please. :)
• If you're gonna spread, send me the doc.
• I will try to understand new-ish arguments but the safest bet is to treat me like a lay judge. They just need to be understandable and elaborated upon.
• I like the framework debate and there must be clash on that front to convince me.
• Please be kind and respectful. :)

Have fun!