Golden Gate Invitational
2023 — Berkeley, CA/US
Open Judges Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideHe/Him
2024 NPDA update: I haven't judged a whole lot of national level NPDA this year but in the majority of rounds I have teams have read some form of RVI on theory positions. I have a very high threshold for these arguments particularly when they are based on some form of time-skew or other procedural link story. In order to win these arguments in front of me I need some sort of parallel or higher framing argument for the RVI as well as impact weighing. In short, I honestly don't want to hear time-skew anymore. RVI's that pertain to other forms of abuse generated by the procedural, such as a team being racist, transphobic, homophobic, are functionally different that the aforementioned RVIs and probably operate as Independent Voting Issues.
Please read a trigger warning if you are reading potentially triggering material. This also goes for IE’s. I am more than happy to answer any questions about my paradigm before round.
I graduated from the University of Oregon in 2022. I spent all 4 years there competing in NPDA/NPTE style debate with my partner Alex. We did pretty well for ourselves and won the NPTE in 2022. Prior to that I did Oregon HS debate and a handful of IE’s.
I am very comfortable with faster, more technical forms of debate, however I was never the fastest flower and will certainly call slow and clear if I cannot understand a debater. I am similarly comfortable to more lay forms of debate. Please do what you would like to do in debate as long as it is not openly racist, misogynistic, transphobic, ableist, or violent towards members of the debate space.
I really like disads and kritiks with materially grounded actions as their alternative. Favorite argument is probably the internal link/impact turn. My threshold for theory greatly increases when the interpretation requires the opposing team to perform a specific action in order to meet. For example, actor specification theory requires a team take a particular action (ie specify their actor) in order to meet the interp while PICs bad theory only requires a team to not do something in order to meet the interp. You can obviously still win spec type arguments in front of me, I will just need a greater link story to justify voting on your impacts. I protect rebuttals but you should still call out new arguments.
While it is the judge’s job to evaluate the arguments given in round it is apparent to me in my experience that judge bias and intervention is inevitable due to indirect, implicit, or missing clash. While I will defer to arguments in the round whenever possible here’s where I will default absent argumentation otherwise.
Magnitude > Probability > Timeframe
Death is probably the biggest impact unless you specifically argue why something else outweighs it
Theory and Kritiks procedurally come before case because they discuss impacts within the debate space.
Fiat is just imagining that something happens so that the debate can be centered around the consequences of the action of the resolution rather than whether the action would happen in the first place.
Competing Interps > Reasonability
For CARD debate: I am looking for strong argumentation relying on both evidence and proper explanation of the implications of said evidence. Coming from an evidence-less format I generally prioritize how well evidence is leveraged to make an argument over the quality or form of the evidence itself. Further I am extremely compelled by comparative impact calculus which entails a comparison between magnitude, probability, and timeframe. CARD debate includes specific ordinances that preemptively answer questions left up to debaters in other formats. This means that theory and topicality operate on the same layer of the debate as case, conditionality is discouraged even for procedural arguments, and that procedurals rely on proven abuse opposed to potential abuse. This focuses the debate on the case level making it the starting point for my evaluation as a critic.Hi, I am Kyle Pryor-Landman, my pronouns are he/him, my email is kpryorlandman@sdsu.edu, and I am the ADOF at SDSU and Secretary of the NPDA. I competed in NPDA debate for 3 years, won some tournaments, and got some trophies, and now I coach college and high school parli.
TL;DR - Do what you want. I can keep up. Debate is about you, not me. Just make sure I can follow along.
FAQs:
- What can I run in front of you?: Anything you want. Seriously. IDC.
- I am pretty comfortable with most of the lit in the meta! If you want to do something outside of that, just explain it!
- Can I spread? Sure, just don't be abusive. (I am not a fan of listening to or evaluating speed T so please just be nice to each other :D )
- Can I reject the topic? Update 2025 - I don't like K affs, and I think they are probably not good for parli debate. Unless there are clear links to the topic, and you're winning them, I am probably the wrong judge for a K aff. I have a pretty low threshold for buying FW-T, so do what you will with that.
- What do you want to see?: In order from most to least enjoyable for me to judge:
- Topical Aff vs. Disads/CP/T
- Topical Aff vs. K
- K aff vs. FW-T
- K aff vs. K (everyone understands their K)
- K aff vs K (no one understands their K) (I am the wrong judge to break your new K aff in front of)
- Will you vote on frivolous theory?: Did you argue it well enough?: If yes, sure. If not, probably no.
- Do you have a preference for sitting/standing/side of the room?: You do you, Pookie.
- Do you protect?: I try to, but call your POOs. My flow is messy, admittedly.
- Will you give me 30 speaks?: If you ask, you get a 20. :)
- Do you accept bribes?: Officially, no.
- What about LD?: Cross apply everything from parli. I do pre-flow a bit to save my wrists, so be clear about where you are cutting your cards if you do.
- How do you feel about IPDA?: I am coming to terms with it. The closer it is to NPDA, the less I have to intervene, and the happier I am.
- What does this mean for me?: Strike to the policy topic, read a plan, and actually interact with your opponent's arguments. If you really want to do a value that's fine, just tell me how to evaluate your arguments. Please don't strike to the fact. In the case you do, please don't say preponderance of evidence and assume I know what you mean by that. I'm not counting warrants. INFO is for that.
- I am NOT EVER voting on things like eye contact (please don't stare at me), presentation (will be reflected in speaks, not the W), dress, speed, tone of voice, etc.
- Also, please spare me the thank yous, and don't shake my hand. I don't know where those things have been, and I want them nowhere near me.
- What does this mean for me?: Strike to the policy topic, read a plan, and actually interact with your opponent's arguments. If you really want to do a value that's fine, just tell me how to evaluate your arguments. Please don't strike to the fact. In the case you do, please don't say preponderance of evidence and assume I know what you mean by that. I'm not counting warrants. INFO is for that.
- Is there anything else I should know about you as a judge? I like to have a fun, silly, goofy time in debate rounds. (This does not mean you shouldn't take debate seriously.) I also have carpal tunnel (thanks, grad school!), so my written RFDs are going to be shorter than they used to be. Email me after the tournament if you want more written feedback, but you should also write down your oral feedback anyway.
- Clash makes me scared! What should I do? Respond to your opponent, or you probably won't win.
- If I ask you what your paradigm is before the round, what will you say?: It's on ForensicsTournament if you want to check it out.
Cowardice is a voting issue. Say it with your chest. - Adeja Powell
Speaks: 26-30 unless you say a slur or something extra bad. 30 being the best speech I have heard all year, 26 being you did not include significant portions of the debate, extremely unorganized, and/or no terminalization. < 26: You'll know because I'll tell you. I am not a point fairy and I think speaks matter.
ps. don't read fun as a voter unless you're gonna terminalize that.