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NSDA Taiwan Members Invitational

2023 — Taipei, TW

Debate Judge Paradigm List

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Brandon Chen Hire

Ammu Christ Hire

Last changed on Sun March 10, 2024 at 5:22 PM CDT

last updated: 3/10

Ammu Christ (they/them/their)

Midlothian '22

UT Austin '26

please add both garlandspeechdocs@gmail.com and graduated@gmail.com to the chain

active conflicts: Garland (2024) + various independents

**Follow the bolded portions of the paradigm if you need to skim.

---

post-TFA State 2024 updates:

The state of LD has always been in a desolate state, but this past weekend has been extraordinarily disappointing. The frequency of judging beyond this point is up to my wellbeing and being compensated beyond minimum wage.

1 - I'm not sure why debaters feel the need to be cutting necessary corners to explain and win their arguments sufficiently well. It disservices you from winning by underexplaining your arguments and hoping I can make

2 - Be considerate when you're postrounding your judges. Many of us are paid well below minimum wage and volunteer/prorate lots of hours into the activity with little to no return in favor of keeping the community having adequate judging. I'll do my best to explain how I reached my decision and answer clarifying questions, but if you expect me to automatically change my decision, its too late, try again next time.

3 - I am not your babysitter and will give you a stern look if you or any person in the room acts like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Especially things such as grabbing another debater's laptop without their permission and turning it towards the judge.

4 - I hold absolutely no sympathy for individuals that don't make a concerted attempt for disclosure (ie explicitly refuse to send their cases over, not disclosing on opencaselist dot com) and then read some 2000s-esq theory shell saying they are unable to engage with the 1AC. Go argue with your coach, not me.

5 - It should go without saying that if I find out that you attempt to make a structural/ontology claim (or analogously use some grammar of blackness) through cutting a sui**de note as your basis, you will get the lowest speaks possible and I will contact your coach either by the RFD or directly. Absolutely ridiculous.

---

I would best describe myself as a clairvoyant when it comes to judging. I have no strong feelings when it comes to how I evaluate arguments, and feel that I agree with a wide spectrum of opinions and debate takes, even the usual divide that exists within educational/“non-educational” forms of debate.

I will vote up anything except anything morally repugnant (see: racism, homophobia, sexism, etc) or out of round issues. Some arguments require a lot more instruction than others in front of me, choose accordingly.

General takes:

Evidence determines the direction of argument quality - Bad arguments will either have little to no evidence, but it is possible to spin smart arguments from bad evidence. Arguments without evidence is definitely doable, but then again, y’all are high schoolers.

To win an argument, you need to sufficiently win that it has a claim, impact, and warrant.

The 1AC will “set the topic” (whether it adheres to the resolution or not), the 1NC will refute the 1AC in any form. I am inclined to vote affirmative if the affirmative world is more preferable than the status quo or a different world proposed by the negative.

Debate is a communication activity. It may or may not have “spillover” into the real world. I am of the opinion, by default, we probably don’t. I can be convinced either way, though.

My ballot is solely a decision on which debater was more persuasive. Being persuasive requires a bundle of strategy, tech, charisma, and ballot-painting.

At bare minimum, I need to get submit my ballot in before tournament directors nag on me. Other than that, do whatever other than being violent.

As a neurodivergent person, it is sometimes a bit hard for me to follow implications/strategies of things as well as deciphering rebuttals. My favorite type of rebuttals will respond to things top-down in the order of the previous speech and/or group and do sub-debates in specific areas on my flow. Your speed when it comes to the rebuttals should be 70% of the speed of the constructive.

I care a lot about form and content. The 2NR/2AR must isolate and collapse to one argument (most of the time). I am very receptive to arguments that specifically complicate the reading of multiple conflicting positions in the rebuttal. (See: a non-T aff going for condo, collapsing to multiple Phil positions and a util advantage, etc). This doesn’t really apply if conflicting positions are read before the rebuttals.

I default no judgekick.

I think I’m pretty good at nearly transcribing most speeches. My typing speed spikes anywhere between 110-140 words per minute. I tend to flow more and try to isolate warrants since my brain tends to forget immediately if I don’t write down full warrants/explanations for things. Not a you problem, just a neurodivergent thing. In terms of speed, not a problem, just need clarity and will clear you if it is not present or give up not typing anything if I can’t legibly type anything.

Speaks are based on execution, strategy, collapse, and vibes. 28.2-28.6 is the cume for average. 28.7-28.9 means you’re on the cusp for breaking. 29-29.3 means you’ll break and reach early/mid slims. 29.4+ means you will go deep elms and/or win the tournament. Not all speaks are indicative of this, but normally they will try to follow this guideline.

LD specific takes:

Pref guide:

I feel best apt to evaluate K, non-T, policy, Util/Kant debates.
I can adequately evaluate theory. I find that these debates aren’t impossible, but I definitely will be thinking a lot more harder in these debates.
Exercise caution around tricks and “denser phil” (anything not Util or Kant). I can still evaluate these, but I find in these debates I need arguments overexplained in terms of strategy for me to follow.

I default comparative worlds over truth testing. I think offense under either form of argument evaluation is doable, but I need that blatantly explained to me.

I’ve changed my thoughts on tricks. I think that I was formerly being dogmatic by saying they don’t hold “educational value”. I actually don’t care now. Read them if you fancy these arguments, but I require a lot more judge instruction to understand strategy/collapse.

As formerly for tricks, I’ve also changed my thoughts on theory. A shell must have a violation to be legitimate. See below in a later section about specifics with theory offense.

A caveat for evidence ethics theory. I do not find this shell convincing at all. In order to win with this shell in front of me, the alleged violation must prove that there was malicious intent with the altercation of evidence. I will also ask if both debaters would like to stop the round and stake the round on evidence ethics. If the person who read the shell says no, my threshold for responses on the shell automatically goes down to the lowest possible amount of responses. The threshold to win the argument at this point becomes insanely steep.

If I haven’t made it clear already, please spend more time explaining function and implications of these arguments if you want to win my ballot. I find that I am following these arguments more better than I was like a year ago, but you should do more work to overexplain to me to win. I don’t know to make that more obvious.

I default competing interpretations, no RVIs, and drop the debater on theory shells.

I am willing to zero out a theory shell’s offense if there is no real violation. It is up to the person reading the shell to prove that there is either a textual or functional violation in the first place. No amount of competing interpretation justifications will matter if there is no violation to the shell. I don’t care if the violation is textual or functional, I just need one to grant offense to the shell in the first place.

I find that paradigm issue debates are sailing ships in the night — you should really group them whenever they’re spread across multiple pages. If the warrants to your paradigm issues are the same I’ve heard over the past year and a half, I will flow them as “dtd, c/I, no rvi” (and vice versa when responding)

I enjoy unique warrants to paradigm issues, but find non-T offs trying to come up with their own warrants sort of fall flat if they reject a conception of debate.

IVIs need an impact when introduced. Will not vote on these without one.

I default theory > K >= content FW > content — this is a rough diagram and open to different justifications for weighing.

You can find any other relevant thoughts on the K and policy here in the archive for December 2023. My thoughts really haven’t changed as much for the K nor policy. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-KidiW8WJQi0-PWf2lx33GPi9kiRySLl1TbV_fGZ1PY/edit?usp=sharing

You can request a copy of your flow at any point after the RFD is given.

Good luck! :>

Jacqueline Chu Hire None

Jay Chu Hire

Micah Cook Taipei American School

Zachary Cook Pacific American School

Austin Davis Hire

Last changed on Tue April 9, 2024 at 3:21 PM EDT

-- Info --

email chain - austin.n.davis15@gmail.com

Lansing High School '23 / GMU '27

NDT qual x1

-- Truth over Tech -OR- Tech over Truth --

Tech >>>>>>>>>>Truth

-- DAs --

I don't have any specific preferences on what type of DA you choose to read. As long as you are taking time to clearly articulate a solid link/internal link chain story you'll be alright. Additionally, PLEASE impact out why your impact should be favored (i.e. why your ! o/w, how your ! means their impact can't be solved, etc). Once again no real preferences so do as you please.

-- CPs --

I mean, its a CP so I don't have any preferences besides, please don't read a CP-text w/o a solvency advocate. I'm just going to flow it as an analytic, so the Aff better punish them for this. Make sure you got a solid net-bene or I'm probably going to defer Aff on the perm pretty fast.

-- T -- policy v policy

Now I'll be real with you. I don't like topicality, I find those debates very boring. That doesn't mean I won't evaluate it, and if you are losing on T don't think I'm going to let that slide just cuz I don't like Topicality. With that being said, if you don't need to, please don't read T with me in the back. If its blatantly obvious, then go ahead. Regardless I won't tell you what to do, its your choice.

-- K --

I read afro-pess, afro-futurism, vampiric necropolitics, Taoism, queerness, cap, + ableism in HS. But by no means do I know everything about all of these topics, just enough so that I understand the language and general theory you will be arguing. So make sure you are taking the time to explain your theory, what it means for the round, and what my voting Neg is going to do to resolve or address these impacts. The most important part of the K debate is the link debate. Please try to have topic-specific links. Links of omission (the Aff doesn't mention X-thing so they exclude it) are not good links, but sometimes are all you have. So, if the Aff doesn't bring it up, then I'll give it to you but if they do, you better have a valid reason why you should get this link; but that'll be tough. Rejection alts are alts. MAKE SURE whether your impacts are physical or metaphysical that they are contextualized and impacted out in the round, this is where you will win SO MANY DEBATES. I am a lot more persuaded to vote for an alt that solves or mitigates the impacts of the Aff in some way. Lastly, I'm not gonna kick the alt for the team. If you don't want it, do it yourself.

sidenote: would love to see some KvK rounds :D

-- K Aff --

- have a strong TOP, winning this will keep you in almost every debate you have

- i'd prefer the aff have a topic link, without one, FW becomes very convincing. It doesn't mean I'll vote Neg on FW 100% of the time, but you'll need to really articulate why not having one is good. So, make it easier on me, urself, and your opponents, and jus have a topic link, so get creative. [example #1: Is the topic about nukes? (queerness) nuclear family bad, (anti-blackness) resolution is a nuclear bomb on black folks in the community, etc - example #2: Is the topic about the econ? (queerness) debate = libidinal econ = violent, (anti-blackness) black markets, etc.]

- Judge instruction!!! what is my role as the judge? why do you need the ballot? does the ballot resolve ur impacts? why is this round key? 2ARs, I need you to draw a clear path to aff ballot and tell me what tf u need me to do.

- You should know/understand your Aff, if you don't get it you prolly shouldn't read it.

-- Clash Debates / T-FW --

I'm going to vote for who T-FW. At the end of the debate, you need to be clearly explaining how your interp creates the best model of debate. I think limits and clash are very compelling impacts. Fairness isn't an impact, its a I/L (but if you win fairness is an ! that o/w the aff need for being, good for u, but it'll be an up hill battle).

if aff, make sure you are impact turning T to use the Aff to leverage offense on FW

Unasked for opinion: I think these debates can provide a much-needed discussion about the current state and future of this activity and what debate could and should look like. At the end of the day, we need to realize that debate is what we make it, and at the end of the round, rather than seeing each other as opposites due to debate style that instead we are all just people here who care about debate and want to grow. So, please stick together, and have fun in these debates, because these will be some of the most educational conversations you will have.

Goodluck!!!

Lili Dubois Saigon South International School

Gabriel Esquivel Hire

Last changed on Sat May 18, 2024 at 12:48 AM CST

Coach @ Asian Debate League

Debated 4 years at Kapaun** Mount Carmel in Wichita, Kansas, 2017

Debated 4 years NDT/CEDA/D3 at University of Kansas, 2021

Email chain: gaboesquivel@gmail.com

My biases:

I lean aff for condo. Some might say too much. I might expect a lot from you if you do go for it.

For K's I value consistency between the scale of the links and impacts i.e. in round impacts should have in round links.

I strongly bias toward "The K gets links and impacts vs the aff's fiated impacts" unless someone delivers a very persuasive speech. I can be persuaded that making a personal ethical choice is more important than preventing a nuclear war.

I lean toward affs with plans. Fairness concerns me less than usual nowadays. I like research/clash impacts.

I will read evidence and vote for evidence in debates where things are not settled by the debater's words. This happens frequently in T debates and impact turn debates.

Status quo is always an option=judge kick

How I judge:

I am patient with novices because most of my students are novices.

I listen first and read your evidence second. If you are clear, this distinction shouldn't matter. If you aren't clear I'm not comfortable reading your blocks and cards to fill in the gaps for you.

I flow and use everything I hear in my decision, and overemphasize what is said in the rebuttals. I'll reference the 1AR speech to protect the 2NR on a 2AR that "sounds new" and I'll reference the block on a 2NR that claims the 1AR dropped something. I'll reference a 2AC on a 1AR that claims the block dropped something, etc.

For a dropped argument to be a true argument it must have been a complete claim and warrant from the beginning. I am not a fan of being "sneaky" or "tricky". Unless you are going for condo ;)

I am persuaded by ethos and pathos more than logos. I find myself wanting to vote for a debater who tries to connect with me more than a debater who reads a wall of blocks even if they are technically behind. When both teams are great speakers I rely more on tech and evidence.

I try to craft my decision based on language used by the debaters. I reference evidence when I cannot resolve an argument by flow alone. PhD's, peer reviewed journals, and adequate highlighting will help you here. If I can't resolve it that way I'll look for potential cross applications or CX arguments and might end up doing work for you. If I do work for one team I will try to do the same amount for the other team. It might get messy if its close, that's what the panel is for, but please challenge my decision if you strongly disagree and I'll tell you where my biases kicked in.

**Pronounced (Kay-pen)

Maricruz Esquivel Hire

Brandon Gergel Hire

Adam Gilbert Hire

Last changed on Fri September 22, 2023 at 5:16 AM CST

It is always a joy to serve as a judge for a debate contest. I would like to share my judging paradigm to provide insight into what I will be looking for during the competition. I have over 20 years of teaching experience and a passion for debates. Here are some key criteria and expectations I will be considering:

Engagement with Personal Narratives: I encourage debaters to personalize their arguments by incorporating personal narratives whenever possible. This not only adds depth to your arguments but also helps to connect with the audience on a more emotional level.

Details and Examples: To make your arguments convincing, please ensure you add specific details and examples to support your claims. Concrete evidence strengthens your position and demonstrates your thorough preparation.

Clarity and Conciseness: Avoid rambling and get straight to the point. Clear and concise communication is essential in effective debating.

Eye Contact: Maintain good eye contact with the audience and the opposing team. This shows confidence and engagement in the debate.

Respect for Opposing Arguments: Demonstrate respect for the arguments presented by the opposing team. Acknowledge when their points have merit, but also provide a robust rebuttal by explaining the weaknesses in their arguments.

Preparedness: Well-prepared debaters are more convincing. Ensure you have a wealth of facts and arguments at your disposal. Repetition suggests a lack of preparation, so strive to present fresh insights throughout the debate.

Impartiality: I will assess the delivery, structure, and argumentation objectively, striving to leave personal opinions at the door. My evaluation will be based on the strength of your presentation and arguments.

Interventions: While I prefer not to intervene in a debate, I may do so if necessary, particularly if the rules are not being followed. In such cases, I will inform the debaters that their failure to adhere to the rules may result in a lower score.

Direct Address of the Topic: Ensure that your arguments directly address the given topic. Demonstrating a clear understanding of the central issue is fundamental to a successful debate.

Logical and Well-Organized Arguments: I appreciate well-organized and logically structured arguments. A coherent flow of ideas enhances the overall impact of your presentation.

Presentation Skills: Effective communication is key. Be clear, fluent, and confident in your delivery. Your ability to engage the audience is a crucial aspect of your performance.

Conclusion: A strong conclusion is essential. It should summarize your key points, be relevant to the debate, and leave a lasting impression on both the judges and the audience.

Atticus Glen Hire

Last changed on Tue November 14, 2023 at 1:54 PM CDT

Hello, Glenbrooks competitors!

Please feel free to email me at aglendebate@gmail.com with any specific questions you may have.

The Glenbrooks will be the first tournament I have judged in about two years. I have very little topic knowledge.

The most important thing to me is that you celebrate and uplift your opponent. Any 'psychological advantages' you might hope to gain from belittling your opponent will be far outweighed by my distaste for any disrespectful behavior.

Rather than only telling me how you disagree with your opponent, it may be effective to explicitly tell me with which of your opponent's arguments you agree. Rather than only telling me what your argument is, it may be effective to explicitly tell me what your argument is not.

It is important for me to understand how your argument relates both to debate itself and to the question of ethics.

I believe that it is the sacred duty of the judge to minimize intervention. However, a judge is not a computer. If you are looking for me to tell you my leanings, here are the strongest two:

I do not want to hear any argument in favor of violence against others
I strongly believe that t-framework is terrible for debate

I disagree with framework for many reasons, and I strongly believe that it is not healthy for our game that one strategy which requires virtually no research, preparation, or adaptation has such a high win rate. My own experience negating k affs taught me that the ground claims are bogus and that predictable limits are not necessary for clash. If I can do it, you can do it. Because I consider the resolution arbitrary, it seems to me that to win with framework a team would need to win not only that we should maintain a stasis point even though it is arbitrary but also that the resolution is the best possible choice for an arbitrary stasis point.

However, almost every kritik team makes the same mistake against this strategy. Framework argues that only resolutional affirmatives are legitimate. Almost every kritik team struggles to argue that non-resolutional affirmatives are also legitimate. This approach concedes not only to the legitimacy of the resolution but also to the notion of legitimacy itself. In this sense, even the supposedly radical debaters adopt the same strategy that defines liberalism, i.e. expanding the scope of legitimacy (No one is illegal!) rather than attacking it (No one is legal!). I want to hear kritik debaters attack the legitimacy of resolutional debate.

I'm fairly well-versed in a wide range of critical literature. I myself am a Freudian.

Speed: "Only thing I like fast is my Audi / Other than that, could you slow down for me?" -- Rx Papi

Tech vs truth: While philosophy regards propositions according to their truth, debate regards them according to their plausibility i.e. their ability to win the approval and assent of the judge. The safest plan is to be in the right to begin with, but as a debater I have a fondness for the kind of eristic trickery outlined, for example, in Schopenhauer's Eristische Dialektik: Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten. I therefore would not refuse to consider a dropped argument on the sole basis that it is fallacious because deliberate fallacy can be a part of good debate technique.

Cameron Golinsky Hire None

John Helgeson Taipei American School

Ian Hopkins Taipei American School

Amanda Jacob Taipei American School None

Regina Jeng Taipei American School None

Minh Hieu Le Hire

Last changed on Fri February 23, 2024 at 12:49 PM CDT

Background

I debated for Langham Creek Highschool in Houston in policy for 3 years, crossing over to LD my senior year. I primarily went for the K throughout my career, but was very flex and dabbled in every form of debate. I worked as an assistant coach in PF for SpiderSmart Sugarland and now work as an assistant CX and LD coach for Langham Creek Highschool.

Here is my wiki senior if you want to see what arguments I read.

Conflicts: Langham Creek Highschool - Heights Highschool

Separately Conflicted: Cypress Woods AZ

Short Overview

langhamdebatedocs@gmail.com - email chain, please title - - - Tournament Name: School Name (Aff) vs School Name (Neg).

"Do whatever you want. None of the biases listed below are so strong as to override who did the better debating, but adjusting to my priors could maximize your chances of winning and result in better speaks." - Aden Barton

Spreading is fine.

Read anything you want.

2/23/24 - Central Texas National Qualifiers

I will not care if you read progressive arguments against lay debaters, it is not your fault. I will care however if you take too long, I BEG that you keep speeches as SHORT as possible (i,e going for one line tricks, for 10 seconds and sitting down.) and do not overcover anything, this will be best for everyone in the room.

12/13/23 - STRAKE UPDATE

Too many of y'all are going for unsubstantive hidden tricks in front of me because I evaluate them, and I've downed them every single time. PLEASE, do not split the 2NR/2AR because I guarantee you that you're NOT doing enough work on them and you will NOT be happy with my decision when I decide to not pull the trigger on it because there's been a very SHALLOW extension.

General Thoughts

My views on debate are heavily influenced by my coaches and those who've helped me including, Eric Beane, Isaac Chao, and Sebastian Cho.

Debate is incredibly difficult and time-consuming. I love this activity and hope you can as well. I feel as if lots of judges think it’s your responsibility as a debater to please us as judges, no, it is my responsibility to please you as debaters with a respectable and well thought out decision. I have tremendous respect for the hard work you’ve done to come here and will try to reciprocate that in my decision. I will always be ready to defend my decision. “If you feel unsatisfied with my RFD, I encourage you to post-round me. I will not take any offense or make a determination on your personality on the basis of your reaction to my decision. I was always quick to disagree with judges as a debater and have always considered disagreement the highest forms of respect.” – Vikas Burugu.

I will certainly reward good evidence if you have it. However, your evidence is only as good as you can explain it to me. “Regarding argument resolution, spin outweighs evidence. Spin is debating. Evidence is research. The final rebuttals should be characterized by analytical development rather than purely evidentiary extension.” – Rafael Pierry.

Read what you want and read it well. I do not personally believe the ballot is a referendum of you as a person, especially in highschool. 99% of debaters go through the stage where they read bad, stupid, and not well-thought-out arguments because they find them interesting. I don't think any of those people genuinely believe those positions, but rather are ignorant to how arguments can be harmful. The best thing I think we all derive from debate is reflexivity, if you think people's arguments are bad and violent, say so, beat them on it, the worse their argument is, the easier it is to beat, people will stop reading stuff after they get hit with a L25. Debate is great because people can read what they want and shift the norms, be innovative, be unique, do what you want, I encourage it.

Tech over truth but tech is influenced by truth. Those who read arguments that are naturally grounded in truthfulness naturally appeals to my human biases and would render your argument more persuasive, but technical debaters can ALWAYS beat truthful claims. Truth over tech is an excuse to insert human biases into debate that overrides and demeans good argumentation.

After watching the 2022 NDT Finals, I think the judge has an obligation to minimize as much intervention as possible, obviously our human nature necessitates certain preconceived notion’s influence upon our decisions but the sole method of my adjudication will be my analysis of the way both teams analyze, argue, and implicate their own arguments, I will not do this for you, simply analyze the way in which you do it yourself.

I think debate is a game not in the sense that there are rules we should follow and a structure around what we do, but in the sense that we play to win. That same game can absolutely be a site of beautiful and authentic good, through activism, revolution, argumentation, and more, but even so, no matter how you choose to play the game, winning in front of me means convincing me through a form of persuasion to give you the ballot.

Specifics

I will vote on ad-homs / call outs.
ivis need dtd warrants when introduced.
big overview K debaters are not as good as line by line ones, i prefer you do the latter.
i will keep note of cx.
things that are particularly harder for me to flow, this does not mean i am not open to these args or that i'm dogmatized against them but that you might want to slow down, "Phil AC/NCs that are 50 pointed with TJFs, Reasons to Prefer, and Pre-empts with enormous philosophical jargony tags that are hardly even delineated." that is all for now.
I will try to be as tab as possible thus, "I do not default in any way. if you have not sufficiently justified an argument, I just won't vote on it. this includes things like layering -- theory does not come before substance if you have not told me why it does." - Liam Nyberg, to clarify, this means I WILL vote on extinction outweighing your condo shell on magnitude if you do not layer.

A. More on this, I do not find myself voting on offense that isn't filtered through frameworks because I do not understand how to evaluate that offense in reference to the rest of the debate, this includes things like going for IVIs without weighing it's impacts and offensive tricks like GCB that are not filtered through truth testing (specifically different than presumption permissibility triggers that zero offense on other pages).

B. In debates involving lots of layering, I've found it increasingly hard to weigh between internal links to framework justifications like jurisdictive constraints, I've concluded that this is due to a lack of clash and judge instruction. Before giving your NR/AR, ask yourself, why does my weighing justification to [x impact] sequence their weighing justification to [y impact]? I find too many debaters relying on phrases like a K 2NR telling me to "overcorrect neg for ideological bias" without explaining why that should sequence a 2AR telling me to "hack aff due to time skew".

C. I also seem to be always voting on a risk of offense unless there's an explicit presumption trigger, in debates with low warranting threshold particularly tricks ones, I will not simply just strike off arguments if I don't understand them when both sides are doing a lack of explanation and thus concluding in a presumption ballot, I instead will find a risk of offense on either side given the little explanation I have.

SPEAKS: In general, I find myself most moved and assign the most speaks to people who signpost, are clear, do good evidence analysis, and display a sense of cohesion within their rhetoric and argumentation. I find myself most persuaded by people who are assertive, aggressive, and firm with their rhetoric but do not come off as rude, refer to McDonough JN, Wake Forest RT, Aden Barton and Zion Dixon. People who best exemplify these traits will get the most amount of speaks in front of me.

Specific things that will get you more speaks.

- Sitting down early if you have won, +! Conversely, sitting down early when you have lost, -!

- Referencing other debaters/teams as examples in some of your warrants. Contextualizing stuff to debate history is so cool.

- Being clear. The slower the clearer almost 90% of the time. The louder the clearer almost 90% of the time as well. University RH is a benchmark for how your spreading style should be to optimize speaks in front of me.

- Good argument strategy and tactics i.e going for the right choice in the 2NR, time allocation, and speech construction. You can win different routes but taking the easiest path to victory will garner more speaks.

- CX Dominance, not being lost or seeming evasive in cross, as well as putting your opponent into binds.

- Sending pre-written analytics will help your speaks and probably my flow.

I will not award you for the 30 speaks spike.

Lowpoint dubs only ever go to people who I found rhetorically less persuasive but won a dropped arg.

I'll start at 28 and go up and down from there.

I'll disclose speaks, I think it's a good norm.

I'll yell slow if you're too fast so don't be worried about outspreading me.

Any other questions, please ask in person or email – minhle1933@gmail.com

Boney Lee Hire

Adam Lin Hire

Last changed on Sat February 10, 2024 at 9:39 AM CST

----for ADL tournaments----

IF you go for an impact turn and win I will give you 30 speaks

IF you buy me food I will give you 30 speaks

IF you are a good debater I will give you 30 speaks

IF you roast Ray Wang or Micah Wang in your speech you will get 30 speaks.

bad jokes = -0.5 speaks - do it at your own risk

POLICY

----About me----

Taipei American School '23, Northwestern '27

I have been debating since the immigration topic.

I have been 1A/2N, 2A/1N, and double 2s.

I have qualified for the TOC twice.

I have zero knowledge of the 2023-2024 topic.

----Generic----

1. I will not flow crossfire/CX unless something is conceded.

2. I will time prep if you ask but it is still your responsibility.

3. Please add me to email chain: 23adaml.debate@gmail.com

4. Please set up an email chain or prepare whatever you need prior to the round.

5. respect your opponents and judge, please

----TL;DR----

tech over truth (most of the time)

strike me if you're gonna read high theory - I never have/never will read them, I don't vibe with them

warranting + explanation > spreading thru cards

condo is probably good

depth over breadth - especially in the block

overviews are nice unless it trades off with clash

YES:

aff-specific DAs

impact calc/comparison

card indicts/rehighlightings

agency CPs

some process CPs are fine

judge kick

blue highlighting

NO:

death good

lopez

rider DA

kicking planks

any kind of hate

yellow highlighting

----T----

Well-debated T debates = highest speaks

I probably won't vote on Ts about punctuation/"of"/"The"/"Resolved"

FXT, Extra T are hard to vote on solely based on it

reasonability is a bad argument

fairness is a terminal impact only if dropped

----DA----

ptx DAs should have an overview

Thumpers are great

warrant out all your cards - most DAs end up being just a ton of random cards

diversify your warrants don't just spam cards in the 1NR

If the scenario is absurd I'll probably not vote on it considering the risk

If the DA is creative/I haven't seen, +0.2 speaks

Aff-specific DAs, if executed well/is true, +0.2 speaks

I often find teams not doing the internal link debate, which is usually super weak - I do vote on this

impact calc is essential to a W

turns case scenarios are nice - but tell me why you turn them not they turn you

----CP----

Judge Kick is the default unless the Aff says something and that's dropped

Kicking planks is okay unless the Aff gives a reason why not

Multi-plank counterplans can be strategic, but I often find them abusive.

Would vote on cheaty process CPs

Consult CPs are disgusting

I will vote on sufficiency framing unless the aff specifies a solvency deficit that outweighs the net benefit (modelling etc.)

I will "reject the argument not the team" especially when the CP is super abusive (specifics on theory)

----K----

I've been a policy team my whole life so you need to explain if the lit base isn't cap, set col, bioptx, security, etc.

Not the biggest fan of K affs unless it is well explained. That being said, I'm all for K affs that are somewhat related to the resolution, especially teams that explain to me why the alt is key for solving a specific thing. Being vague is bad.

Framework v. K Affs - I'm easily persuaded by fairness as an impact. That also means I'm susceptible to impact turns, which means that winning competitive models of debate is key to winning the ballot - i.e. why your model is more debatable.

Aff framework v. Ks - almost never the voter, aff should get to weigh the aff, neg should get the K, link debating is the most important

Generic K links are bad - please read specific cards and explain it well. Long overviews are nice but make sure it doesn't trade off with clash. If generic, you must somehow spin it/contextualize in a way that makes coherent sense, otherwise it's hard for me to give the neg a link

no baudrillard

Aff impact turns against cap and security are nice, often find myself erring aff on them

If you're not black, don't run afropess

99% of the time, defense won't be enough for an Aff ballot

----Theory----

I probably won't vote on theory unless there's clear abuse (ex: lopez CP, 4+ CPs in 1NC, etc.) that means even if not dropped, spending enough time explaining that abuse can win you the ballot

Dropping theory isn't an instant voter - you still need to explain to me the abuse that has happened within the round

T outweighs theory - don't BS me

any DA theory is BS

severance is a reason to reject the argument 99% of the time

going for theory = lower speaks (only a bit) cuz I do think substance should be the core of debate

2AC theory should be in the doc - I find that teams just spread through a one-liner and hope they drop it

----Misc----

Speed - The only thing I care about is clarity (separate tags from the card itself, signposting is good). Don't read speed Ks. If the opponents are too fast, chances are I can't flow them either. I will intervene when it's too unclear.

Organize speech doc and speech in general and please highlight the cards. Don't say 'stop prep' and take 2+ minutes to send the doc - if there's a problem, tell me. Do send cards in the body of the email.

Don't be too pressing and be nice during cx - it can be a determinant of speaks if done well. I also think cx is binding. Avoiding questions will lower your speaks

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Public Forum

I probably don't know the topic that well, so a clear explanation/overview is very important.

1. In round behavior matters - Be nice and kind

2. Speed doesn't matter, as long as both the other team and I can understand, be CLEAR

3. No preference for specific arguments

4. Crossfire should be done in a civilized way - don't speak loudly at the same time as opponents.

5. Don't extend cards without explaining the warrants and linking it to the args.

6. It's good to compare different parts of different arguments on both sides to show how you outweigh.

7. Please do Line-by-line if possible, at least show what argument you are moving on to. Organize your speeches and flow.

8. You MUST show me WHY and HOW you win the debate in order for me to vote for your team. PERSUASION IS KEY!!!

9. I will vote on RESOLVED arguments, if there are random arguments that are left unanswered or not clear, I will not vote on that. Also if an argument is dropped, you must mention it or I will disregard it completely.

----Speaker Points Rubric [for both]----

30-29 hands down you're a great speaker. A few minor flaws could affect your speaks but it already exceeds my standards.

29-28 You are doing well, but there are probably some key things that you missed. Great speaking overall!

28-27 You're gonna have to work on your speaking a little more.

27-26 This is the speaks I will give to someone who I can't really understand/sounds like clipping/interrupting others.

<26 Forfeiting a speech, offensive language, or inappropriate behavior in general - please don't!!!

Esther Liu Hire

Nick Loew Hire

Last changed on Wed April 24, 2024 at 7:41 PM EDT

Nick Loew - GMU'24 - 4x NDT qualifier, 1x NDT Doubles

nickloew14@gmail.com

I have primarily read 'policy' arguments; however, you should read whatever arguments you are most comfortable with and want to go for. None of my opinions about debate are so significant that they overdetermine deciding who won based on the individual debate in front of me.

Tech > Truth. Complete arguments require warrants.

I appreciate debaters who are simultaneously serious and kind. Being rude or condescending to your opponents will earn you lower speaks than you're probably hoping for.

T - I enjoy well-researched and substantive topicality debates. On the other hand I dislike contrived and unpredictable interpretations that are arbitrary in nature. (T LPR on the HS immigration topic > T substantial on the college alliances topic).

T vs K Affs - I almost always was on the neg going for T in these debates. The aff can win by either presenting a counterinterpretation that seeks to solve the negs offense alongside impact turns to the negs model or impact turns alone. For me I will say that the latter is more difficult as I struggle to vote aff when there is no counterinterp extended in the 2AR to solve some amount of limits/ground.

CPs - I'm alright for most process garbage. Although, I really enjoy specific process CPs that include topic/aff specific evidence. In competition debates I lean affirmative when there is equal debating and the neg has presented a CP that competes based off of certainty or immediacy.

Ks - I like Ks with links to the plan and alternatives that attempt to solve an impact compared to Ks that rely entirely on framework strategies. That being said, I have still voted for positions that were solely critiques of plan-focus or fiat for example.

Theory - Generally I believe that conditionality is good.

If you have any specific questions feel free to email me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lincoln Douglas:

I strongly believe in affirmative disclosure.

Theory: I am mostly unfavorable towards/dislike one sentence theory arguments that seem and are arbitrary in nature. Furthermore, I am unlikely to believe that most theory arguments aside from condo are reasons to reject the debater (ex: solvency advocate theory/states theory/agent CPs etc… is not a reason to reject the team).

Please attempt to be clear. I have found this to be a problem more often in LD likely because of the short speech times.

FAQ: (Nearly identical to Jasmine Stidham's thoughts)

Q:I primarily read policy (or LARP) arguments, should I pref you?

A: Yes.

Q: I read a bunch of tricks/meta-theory/a prioris/paradoxes, should I pref you?

A: No thank you.

Q: I read phil, should I pref you?

A: I'm not ideologically opposed to phil arguments like I am with tricks. I do not judge many phil debates. You may need to do some policy translation/over-explanation however so I understand exactly what you're saying.

Q: I really like Nebel T, should I pref you?

A: Avoid reading evidence from debate blogs. If you'd like to make a similar argument, just find non-Nebel articles. This applies to most debate coach evidence read in LD. T whole-rez generally is fine.

Q: I like to make theory arguments like 'must spec status' or 'must include round reports for every debate' or 'aspec' should I pref you?

A: Not if those arguments are your idea of a round-winning strategy. I am annoyed by strategies that rely on your opponent dropping analytics that weren't sent in the document.

Q: Will you ever vote for an RVI?

A: Nope. Never. I don't flow them.

Ian Lowery Hire

Last changed on Mon February 12, 2024 at 9:19 AM EDT

Ian Lowery (also goes by "Izzy" and/or "Bishop"),

Assistant Director of Debate at George Mason University (2022 - Present).

Former Policy Debater at George Mason University (2014 - 2018).

Former Assistant Coach at James Madison University (2020 - 2022).

Former Head Coach of Speech & Debate at Centreville High School (2018-2019)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Top Level: I believe that my role as the judge is to absorb the information provided within the round and decide who wins based on the debater's ability to explain and defend their positions. Do whatever you were going to do before you saw my name on the pairing. Treat the following as proclivities that may make my decision easier or increase your speaker points.

I mostly ran kritical arguments during my time as a debater. In my earlier years I did traditional policy but most of my best experience is with the K.

Tech over Truth - I believe in voting on the flow, and unless I am more than 95% sure that a statement or argument is universally false, it can be debated and proven true on the flow. Beyond that, I will still try to be unbiased in my evaluation the argument, but you're rolling the dice.

I will evaluate arguments which suggest that I should not flow or not decide the round based on traditional policy argumentation standards - but I need to be given a clear alternative method of evaluating the truth-value of competing arguments. Otherwise, I don't see how I won't just end up voting for whoever I think was more technical or voting for whichever team I vibed with more (which might be the point... I guess. But trying to predict my vibes without knowing me very well is a dangerous game imo).

Conduct - Don't be a jerk. It's aight to be aggressive, if there's a point/reason behind it. At it's core, I think debate is a game, so everyone should have fun.

Time - I don't keep track of time well in my personal life or in debates. Please don't rely on me for that. Keep track of your own and your opponent's time.

E-mail Chain - Yeah, put me on it: itlowery20@gmail.com

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Marty Lung Hire

Andres Marquez Hire

Kwudjwa Osei Hire

Last changed on Thu February 8, 2024 at 4:55 PM EDT

Email: ema3osei@gmail.com

Pronouns: They/Them

Debated at University of Pittsburgh

I think about debate strategically primarily. Bad strategy => bad decision-making => bad comparison => bad debate. Lack of argument comparison also generally means more of a focus on skill than arguments which makes for less substantive feedback which has a negative feedback loop on the quality of judging experienced by debaters and the growth of teams themselves in my view. Substance is cool even when the substance is literally just about the meta-game.

I like judging different things, there are many different styles and many get overlooked or forgotten, so do your thing and do it well. I have a higher threshold for how you answer presumption in rounds without a plan and will filter a lot of the debate through solvency.

I'm typically more interested in a K that has offense either about the consequences of the plan or the consequences of the process but if you can win your overarching thesis claim outweighs plan/method focus, then go for it. The whole point of a K is to disagree with the assumptions of the affirmative so I don't understand the turn to agree with the affirmative's assumptions about how it should be evaluated vis-a-vis their various interps.

If you have a K that fundamentally disagrees with the epistemic starting point of the affirmative, then the latter part of the prior statement probably applies more than the former two even if you do have an embedded impact turn to the affirmative considering you likely have epistemic disagreements on starting points that inform what counts as an impact turn and also how to evaluate it comparative to other arguments on the level of uniqueness.

I don't have any specific feelings about framework as long as you're doing impact comparison. Regardless of whether you are winning a procedural or a terminal impact, it doesn’t really mean you auto win unless you have effectively zero’d/excluded all the opposing team’s offense, so offensive applications of impacts matter, if only from a strategic point of view.

Everything else is pretty round-by-round, please pic out of things, use theory intelligently and capitalize on mistakes and cross-examination early. Things may be unfair but unfairness can be justified or argued to not be unfair if a team lacks core justifications against competing claims to uniqueness/barriers to effective implementation. Same reason the neg gets to exclude the entire aff from evaluation if they win the procedural comes before aff offense.

Always keep in mind that just because you're right doesn't change the fact that you're still a debater doing debate. Every round is different and every debater debates/interprets arguments differently, so don’t switch up. Popular opinion (in debate) rarely matches reality anyway.

Please think about what is your strongest argument instead of ones that are superfluous, waste time, are unfamiliar to you, or otherwise have no strategic value. I try to give good speaks, but rarely super high. I prefer debates with fewer sheets. Don’t spread faster than is comprehensible and prioritize clarity. Make it make sense.

A dropped argument is not a true argument, though it may be persuasive. Micro-aggressions exist but so do mistakes. Your standard for how to engage them is likely biased and/or strategic. The easiest way to engage is to be a less than terrible person. If you have to worry about that you have more personal work to do.

Anyways, see ya~

Lily Ottinger Hire

Last changed on Sat May 18, 2024 at 9:11 PM CDT

Email chain: lily.coaches.debate@gmail.com

About:

Currently based in Taiwan and coaching debate for the ADL. That means I am staying up all night when I judge at US tournaments. Please pref accordingly
Debated in college at the University of Kansas, 2017-2022 (Healthcare, Executive Authority, Space, Alliances, Antitrust). I majored in math and minored in Russian if that matters.
Debated in high school at Shawnee Mission Northwest, 2013-2017 (Latin America, Oceans, Surveillance, China).

Top:

If I can tell that you are not even trying to flow (eg you never take out a piece of paper the entire debate, you stand up to give your 2NC with just your laptop and no paper), your speaks are capped at 27.
Please don't call me "judge." It's tacky. My name is Lily. Note that this does not apply to saying "the role of the judge."
In the words of Allie Chase, "Cross-x isn't 'closed,' nobody ever 'closed' it... BUT each debater should be a primary participant in 2 cross examinations if your goal is to avoid speaker point penalties."
I would prefer to not judge death/suffering/extinction good arguments or arguments about something that happened outside the debate.
I might give you a 30 if I think you're the best debater at the tournament.
High schoolers are too young to swear in debates.
Don't just say words for no reason - not in cross-x and certainly not in speeches.
If you are asking questions like "was x card read?" a timer should be running. Flowing is part of getting good speaker points.
The word "nuclear" is not pronounced "nuke-yoo-ler." If you say this it makes you sound like George Bush.
Shady disclosure practices are a scourge on the activity.

Framework:

I judge a lot of clash debates. I'm more likely to vote aff on impact turns than most policy judges, but I do see a lot of value in the preservation of competition. Procedural fairness can be an impact but it takes a lot of work to explain it as such. Sometimes a clash impact is a cleaner kill.
TVAs don't have to solve the whole aff. I like TVAs with solvency advocates. I think it's beneficial when the 2NC lays out some examples of neg strategies that could be read against the TVA, and why those strategies produce educational debates.

Topicality vs policy affs:

Speaker point boost if your 2NC has a grammar argument (conditional on the argument making sense of course).
If you're aff and going for reasonability, "race to the bottom" < debatability.
Case lists are good.
The presence of other negative positions is not defense to a ground argument. The aff being disclosed is not defense to a limits argument. This also goes for T-USFG.

Counterplans

When people refer to counterplans by saying the letters "CP" out loud it makes me wish I were dead.
As a human I think counterplans that advocate immediate, indefinite, non-plan action by the USFG are legit, but as a judge I'm chaotic neutral on all theory questions.
Conditionality: I'll give you a speaker point boost if you can tell me how many 2NRs are possible given the number of counterplan planks in the 1NC.

Disads

Read them
Politics DAs are fun. Make arguments about polling methodology.

I feel like I have a higher threshold for Ks on the neg than some. I'm not a hack and I will vote for your K if you do the better debating, but I also think arguments that rely on the ballot having some inherent meaning are ~~corny~~ unpersuasive.
I dislike lazy link debating immensely, primarily because it makes my life harder. Affs hoping to capitalize on this REALLY ought to include a perm/link defense in the 2AR.
Explain how the alt solves the links and why the perm doesn't.
Affs should explain why mooting the 1AC means that the neg's framework is anti-educational. Negs should explain why the links justify mooting the aff.
Case outweighs 2ARs can be very persuasive. The neg can beat this with discrete impacts to specific links+impact framing+framework.
Speaker point penalty if the 1AR drops fiat is illusory - at the very least your framework extension needs an education impact.

Lincoln-Douglas:

If there is no net benefit to a counterplan, presumption flips aff automatically.
I do not think permutations are cheating.
An argument is a claim and a warrant. If you say something that does not contain a warrant, I will not necessarily vote on it even if it's dropped. In the interest of preventing judge intervention, please say things that have warrants.
Most neg theory arguments I've watched would go away instantly if affs said "counter interpretation: we have to be topical."
RVIs are not persuasive to me. Being topical is never an independent reason to vote affirmative. The fact that a counterplan is conditional is never offense for the negative.

Jimin Park Hire

Last changed on Fri May 17, 2024 at 2:09 PM CDT

jpark.debate@gmail.com

University of Kansas '23, Washburn Rural '19

he/him/his

Coaching for the Asian Debate League and Taipei American School

Based in Taiwan, so the time difference will affect my judging. This means you need to have more enunciation and clarity than usual.

TLDR:

---very low econ knowledge

---very bad for K AFFs, fiat Ks, process counterplans, and technical T arguments

---decent for other policy arguments and Ks that are DAs

________________________________________________________________________________________

TLDR:

---Not the greatest flow, likes creativity, more likely to care about macro-issues than minor technical drops, avoid jargon/acronyms, will vote on args that promote sedition

---Fully-developed strategies that clash tend to perform better in front of me.

---I think have a higher bar for what constitutes a 'complete argument' than the average college-aged judge and some may say I care more about the "truth" side of "tech over truth." This is not necessarily about content, but about argument development/evidence/persuasion.

---My debate beliefs are malleable. This paradigm might make me seem like an old person (true, though), but good debating can remedy my predispositions. Good ev helps too.

---Largely persuaded that:

(1) incomplete args in the 1NC justify new responses

(2) net benefits should be verbally stated in the 1NC

The justification for both of these will be below.

________________________________________________________________________________________

General:

Positives

1---Respecting your opponents (CX, pronouns, don't mercilessly bludgeon less-experienced debaters), be ethical, etc.

2---Efficiency. In your speech, during prep, emailing, down-time. etc. If you don't need 10 minutes of prep for the 2NR/2AR, don't take it.

3---Taking debate seriously. Pay attention, flow, try. But also, have fun! We are all invested, so let's make our debates worthwhile. Ad-homs are bad and not arguments.

4---Research (evidence matters, but so could spin). Vertifical proliferation is better than horizontal proliferation of arguments. Also, likely won't vote for death good.

5---Ethos and Clarity. I am a bad judge for teams that just spit into their computer at 300 WPM at 65% clarity. Lowkey think that debaters that are slow (while being smart, technical, etc.) are *****chefs kiss***** I should hear every single word you say. Please enunciate and recognize that debate is also a communication activity instead of a block-perfecting competition in the 2NR and 2AR. If you are a team that has rebuttals prescripted without any plans of contextualization (such as asserting things happened when they didn't), then please email me your 2NR/2AR blocks, and I will assign your speaker points during the 1AC and vote against you.

6. Organization---speech docs, cards, wikis

Negatives

1---Lack of analysis. You should have framing arguments, judge instruction, contextualization, and argument development.

2---Debates that make me litigate things outside of the debate.

3---Vagueness. It should be clear what your AFF does, what the plan means, what the counterplan does, what your highlighting of evidence means, and what the tags of your cards are intended to communicate. I am likely more amenable to vagueness arguments than most judges.

Misc

I kicked the AFF in a decent chunk of debates I was in. I do not think this influences my judging but my AFF (and NEG) debates would sometimes look really different than a lot of people.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Policy:

Topicality vs. Policy AFFs

T versus policy AFFs was one of my least favorite arguments. It isn't ideological, but I spent most of my debate career debating with 2Ns who were obsessed with it, so I just never really thought about it. I find most T debates dry but I understand the strategic necessity of them. My aversion stems from 1NCs that lack a violation and then debate becoming late-breaking.

To improve my VTL when going for T, internal link explanation is important. 2Ns have seemed to forget that there ought to be a reasonable explanation about how we get from the violation to zero NEG ground ever. Both teams should have more debating about what the interp/counter-interp debates would look like. Assertions of topic biases or quality of generics should be explained with warrants. I am not the ideal judge for a technical T argument.

For some reason, I find ground arguments more compelling than limits/precision. Not sure if this will affect my judging, but I've always thought that limits arguments were hyperbolic. Big topics feel good if the NEG has robust strategies to counter them. When evenly debated, plan-text-in-a-vacuum is a tough sell for me.

Disadvantages

The optimal 2NR is a DA and the case. Counterplans are for cowards. I'm not as big on the modern Politics DA as most Kansas debaters but it's okay. I would prefer not to judge debates about intrinsicness tests.

AFFs teams should have offense on the DA. NEG teams should try to have real "turns case" arguments outside of "nuke war is bad."

Counterplans

I'm mostly AFF-leaning on theory arguments. I'm not wedded to these beliefs, but I have some predispositions. I am not a huge believer in conditionality. This is not a free invitation to go for condo in the 2AR, merely an observation that in-depth debates are better.

My least favorite genre of argument as a debater was the process counterplan. Again, I understand its strategic utility and will judge the debate neutrally. I'd prefer a 2NR that is about why the AFF's bad. Competition debates are dry. Comparative evidence between the AFF and the counterplan's process demonstrating functional competition could make me hate your counterplan a little less. I am also a less qualified judge for complex competition debates.

Case

I am a good judge for presumption and giving a low weight to the AFF advantages. The 2AC and 1AR get away with murder on the case, so the NEG teams should use that to their advantage. This is an area where good debating will be rewarded with nice speaker points.

Soft Left

I enjoy soft left AFFs but framing contentions need to contain offense. ________________________________________________________________________________________

Critiques:

Ks vs. Policy AFFs

I'm better for Ks on the NEG. I will award specificity, especially backed with evidence. I will have a hard time voting on critiques that lack interactions with the scholarship and thesis of the 1AC. If the NEG reads a K impact turn to the AFF's advantage, that is likely the best strategy in front of me. Or, have a robust framework justification with turns case arguments. I seem to care a little bit more about performative contradictions/linking to your own K than some (not for theory reasons). The closer your K is to a soft-left impact turn, the better. I am willing to vote on non-extinction impact-turns (example: heg is racist/causes violent interventions---bipolarity is preferable).

K AFF vs. T: USFG

I have voted both ways but am a bad judge for you/find most AFF offense not intrinsic to T. Explain what debates over the AFF interp would look like. I always thought framework debates were thought-provoking and helped me think about debate. Explain what debates over the NEG interp/TVA would look like. I am open to voting for either fairness or education. I am a believer in research about the topic, so the closer your AFF is to being about the topic, defending a theory of power, being a substantial shift from the status quo, and defending material action, the better. Any lit bases outside of bio power, colonialism, settler colonialism, capitalism, and IR need more explanation.

________________________________________________________________________________________

(1) Incomplete Arguments

I am mostly compelled that the 1AR should get whatever it wants in response to incomplete 1NCs. Debates are increasingly rewarding blippy 1NCs, causing debates that are worse to judge and I believe judges ought hold the line on what the debate community constitutes a complete argument. If a 1NC DA shell lacks uniqueness, then why should the 2AC be burdened to make link turn args as to how they reverse the deficiencies of the status quo. The logical conclusion of "you have to answer everything" would mean the AFF would have to read impact d to random floating impacts, which is absurd.

(2) Net Benefits

Whatever the net benefit of every advocacy is should be specified in the 1NC. This is low-cost for the NEG and would improve debates/AFF strategy. CX doesn't remedy this because NEG teams take forever to answer, which is unfair for the AFF because the 1A could be asking good, substantive questions. Instead, I have to listen to the 1N say "everything is a net benefit... wait... <>...then the 2N takes 15 seconds to decide and then lists net benefits to analytical con con, states, the one card Security K, a card-less 15 plank advantage counterplan, and a process counterplan. This take might seem extreme, but I believe it is the least arbitrary and most efficient way to resolve net benefit shenanigans (a time limit feels weird). For most counterplans, they are only complete arguments if they have arguments about solvency AND competition in the 1NC. Counterplans that rely on DAs to beat the perm and complete, so it seems logical that the NEG should be responsible for this. Lastly, I want to award bold strategies. The clearer the net benefits are, the better AFFs will be at straight-turning and NEGs will read better DA + CP combinations.

Deviyani Pathak Saigon South International School None

Jose Rodriguez Hire

Maya Rubin Hire

Last changed on Thu May 16, 2024 at 6:46 AM CST

Experience: 3 years PF for Bard High School Early College Manhattan, majority local, some national. I debated APDA and BP at Wellesley College and the London School of Economics for 4 years. I coached APDA at Wellesley College and middle school policy as a volunteer for the Washington Urban Debate League each for one year. During the 2023-2024 school year, I'm working full-time as a PF coach in Taiwan on theFulbright Debate Coach/Trainer award.

You can contact me and add me to the email chain using this email: maya.rubin56@gmail.com.

If you want a more complete paradigm that goes into far more technical specifics, this is a good one that pretty much reflects my judging philosophy (expansion here).

Some things about my general approach to PF debate (non-specific):

The vast majority of my coaching experience has been with novices. Most of that experience has also been with people who are structurally excluded from many debate spaces including and especially circuit/bid tournaments. What this should tell you about me as a judge is that I believe that debate -- especially PF debate -- should be a fundamentally accessible and public-facing activity. Organization is important; evidence integrity is important; making arguments that are comprehensible to laypeople is important, even in front of a more flow-y judge. I do not think that you should condescend to laypeople or assume that because someone isn't well-versed in the intricacies of debate theory they will be unable to follow complicated arguments: if you are not explaining the argument in a way laypeople can follow, you're probably not making it very well. Additionally, I am very sensitive -- as I hope most judges are -- to the exploitation of inequities or resource imbalances by teams. In other words, do not run theory arguments on novices because you know they won't understand theory; don't use language on an ESL team that you can reasonably predict will be inaccessible to them; always be respectful of your opponents, no matter where they come from or their skill level. Always win, lose, and compete with grace and compassion.

Some specific things about my preferences and paradigm:

Go as fast as you want, but be clear. I can keep up with pretty much any speed. That said, make sure your speed is accessible to your opponents. Do not spread on people who you think won't understand it.
I am fine with theory arguments, but as with the above, only run these on people who will be able to understand and debate them in a productive way. Regarding theory, because most of my experience is with novices and because I did not frequently debate on the national circuit when I was in high school, I am not familiar with the cutting edge of PF theory. That said, my lack of recent and specific experience should not imply that I am incapable of judging theory: I am very familiar with theory arguments in Parliamentary debate formats and I am someone who has spent enough time in debate (and enough time studying academic philosophy) that I feel comfortable evaluating technical and theory arguments even when I haven't heard them before. Finally, as is the case with any argument in PF, even theory arguments should be presented and explained in a way that is comprehensible to laypeople. TLDR: I will not drop you for theory and you should assume I can understand and evaluate it, but run it only when it is appropriate and fair to do so.
I will flow everything you say. However, I have a more "lay" approach to debating for all the reasons discussed above. Assume I won't miss things and don't rely on pure presentation to win, but make sure your arguments are clear, accessible, and explained.
Do all the normal good-debater things: warrant, signpost, weigh, be clear about referring to arguments and cards. Evidence integrity is important, so make sure you're not clipping cards or fabricating stuff or citing outdated/disproven stuff.
No new responses past 2nd rebuttal/1st summary. Defense isn't sticky, offense is.
I will evaluate the round based on the magnitude of impacts and the strength of each team's link to them. E.g., what is the biggest impact in the round? Who best accesses it?
I try, as much as one can, to be tabula rasa. Framework arguments are fine; in their absence I default to util. Consider my paradigm to be "how I judge in absence of a clear directive of how to judge otherwise." If you tell me why I should view the round differently, I will view it that way.
Obligatory "don't be racist, sexist, and any other -ist" note. If you do, I'll tank your speaks and probably drop you.

Mishaal Said Hire

Last changed on Thu March 14, 2024 at 4:37 AM +08

I'm a former university debater and currently a post-grad student-judge with 7 years of experience in judging various debate formats. I have graduated high school last 2015. I have judged parliamentary debates (British Parliamentary, Asian Parliamentary, Canadian Parliamentary, and Parliamentary Debate) since uni, having judged 20+ parliamentary debate out rounds. I have extensive experience in judging other debate formats such as Worlds Schools, Policy, Public Forum, Lincoln-Douglas, IPDA, NPDA, and Congress. I also have extensive experience in judging speech formats as well such as Impromptu, After-Dinner Speaking, Poetry, Extemporaneous, Informative Speech, and Persuasive Speech. For more information, you may email me at mishaalcsaid@gmail.com

I'm okay with spreading.

Theory: I'm open to theory arguments being ran as long as they are tied back to how it is relevant to the resolution and impacts are provided

Kritiks: Openly welcomed given that they are linked to the resolution and impacts are provided

Speed: I can track speeches regardless of pace and speed.

Complexity of arguments: I'm open to arguments of varying complexity.

Arguments and rebuttals of varying breadth and depth are generally welcomed as long as they are tied to the resolution.

Public Forum

Speed: Okay with varying pace and speed

Preference of arguments: None specific, as long as they are explained well and their impacts are proven

K's and theory arguments: Open so long as their impacts are proven

Tech > truth: I will evaluate the argument/s provided that the logic and impacts are proven and the opponents' arguments are engaged and rebutted

Evidence: Direct quotations on trustworthy sources and statistics are highly welcomed especially when they are linked to proving the extent of the harms and benefits of your case or your opponents'

CX, Crossfire, Grand crossfire: Questions that cast a shadow of doubt to the opponents' case are welcome. Be creative and sneaky.

Summary and FF: Should be consistent and evolve with the progression of arguments and rebuttals raised during the debate. Evaluation of questions and responses during CX and crossfire should be integrated as well, if necessary.

Maria Sanchez Hire

Last changed on Sat January 13, 2024 at 1:46 AM CDT

Northside College Prep '16 - University of Kentucky '20

Please add me to the email chain: mariaesan98@gmail.com

Judging Notes:

Please keep track of your own prep
Please be as quick with tech as possible - I will deduct from your prep time if this becomes unreasonable as I want to be respectful of the folks running the tournament
No tag team CX - I really prefer to hear individual 1 v 1 CX clash and this helps me determine speaker points more easily
Unless this is a reasonable ask, if you care about where a team marked their cards/what cards they did or did not read, then please be diligent about flowing that yourself - I have a very strong preference towards not sending out marked copies of speech docs when there were only one or two marked cards

I will always reward smart teams that can effectively and efficiently communicate their arguments to me. Engaging with your opponent, having a well-thought out strategy, and demonstrating that you’re doing consistent, hard work is what this activity is about. Please be respectful to both your partner and your opponents and give it your best!

Disads:

I like them a lot. There is such a thing as zero risk of a disad and there can be no link. Do impact calculus, have a clear link to the affirmative. Quality evidence is appreciated, though it's not the only thing! Being able to communicate what your ev says and why your ev matters is key!

Theory:

Conditionality is good.

Critical Strategies:

I am okay for critical strategies. However, I didn’t debate these so make sure to explain your authors to me. Affirmatives that do little engagement with the critique alternative are likely to lose. Critiques that do little engagement with the affirmative itself are likely to lose. Explain your links in the context of the AFF and your AFF in the context of the alternative. The perm is not always the best strategy and that is okay.

I am willing to vote either way on framework. I should be able to tell that you know and understand what the affirmative is if you are reading it. Framework is best when it engages with the methodology of the AFF and questions the state’s role in activism. I like topic education arguments.

Jet Semrick Hire

Last changed on Fri May 17, 2024 at 2:15 PM CDT

Email: jet.semrick@gmail.com

Coach @ ADL and Taipei American School | Debated @ University of Kansas 2019-2023 and Shawnee Mission East 2015-2019

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Summary:

--My goal is to render a decision without intervention. I will work hard to evaluate and provide helpful feedback for any arguments presented regardless of my opinions. I enjoy judging debates where debaters work hard. Currently, my full time job is to teach and research the high school topic.

--I believe AFFs should be topical and solve a unique problem. The NEG should argue the AFF is undesirable. I am a good judge for any strategy that demonstrates the plan is a bad idea.

--Quality of an argument matters. I am more likely to be persuaded by complete, sound, and logical arguments. However, technical debating can change this predisposition. A dropped claim is irrelevant unless accompanied by a warrant and explanation of how my decision should be impacted.

--Preference for fewer, but more developed positions over many underdeveloped ones. My ideal debate to judge is the topic disadvantage against the largest affirmative on the topic.

--Take the debate seriously. Be reasonable with down time, sending out emails, and please don't send out or ask for a marked doc if it's not needed.

--Ethos, clarity, and strategic decisions will be rewarded with speaker points.

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Policy:

Topicality vs. Plans

Plan text in a vacuum is not a persuasive defense of a non topical AFF.

Topicality debates where I vote NEG are generally not close because of truthful arguments that are difficult to overcome via technical debating. High quality interpretation evidence is important.

Prioritize the internal link over impact explanation. Give examples and context. Ground is the most compelling standard because a 'limits explosion' can be mitigated by the existence of predictable and high quality NEG ground.

Counterplans

Specificity is best. Evidence that compares the CP to the plan is the gold standard. 1AC re-highlightings are persuasive.

Competition debates are boring and I usually vote AFF because the NEG is reading and not debating. I sympathize with the need for process on bad topics, but economic inequality... give me a break.

I will judge kick counterplans unless told otherwise. I think conditionality is bad, but necessary. I am convinced that fiating out of solvency deficits and straight turns in the 2NC is not a good practice. In general, more counterplans equal worse debating and lower speaker points. In truth, I think dispositionality is a better model because it would require more strategic decisions and research on the part of both the AFF and the NEG. However, that does not mean I am more likely to vote AFF in a condo debate. I generally end up voting NEG because conditionality does not make debate impossible and NEG flex is important.

AFF on consult, delay, process, international, word PICs, and fifty state fiat. These are reasons to reject the argument. Debates with a partially intrinsic permutation versus a non-germane process counterplan favor the AFF.

Ideally, the NEG specifies net benefits and establishes competition in the 1NC.

Disadvantages

DA and case 2NRs are the best debates to judge. I enjoy debates about the economy and politics. Mechanically sound DA debating is a lost skill. Turns case is most persuasive when supported by evidence.

The AFF should read offense when answering DAs. If the NEG wins an uncontested link argument, AFF uniqueness arguments are less persuasive because there is always a risk the status quo is stable given the certain instability of the plan. The resolve this problem, disprove the internal link which is typically the weakest part of the DA.

Case

A block and 2NR that prioritizes the case is potent given the AFF trend to be efficient at any cost. Solvency deficits and alt causes are more compelling than impact defense.

If you decide to read a "soft left" AFF make sure the framing page is meaningful. Generic framing arguments are boring and generally still devolve to magnitude x probability. I am more willing than most to vote AFF for a small magnitude high probability advantage vs. a low risk high magnitude DA.

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Critique:

Topicality vs. K AFFs

I want to vote NEG in these debates. I have never been compelled by arguments for why the AFF should not be topical. If the NEG reasonably executes the argument they will receive my ballot.

Fairness is the best impact for T. I am also persuaded by impacts about iteration, research, and clash. Without a predictable AFF constraint, I don't think debate could exist. I think topicality is like a baseball strike zone, its boundaries are not perfectly defined or perfect for either team, but without it the game could not be played in a competitive manner.

In order for the AFF to win, they need to defend a model of debate that provides a valuable role for the NEG, solves AFF offense, and is mutually exclusive with the NEG model. If you are impact turning NEG standards, you must provide a compelling reason why voting for your advocacy resolves your offense.

Critiques vs. Policy AFFs

I will likely weigh the plan. To win, the NEG needs to win link turns case arguments, solvency deficits, or impact turns.

Both teams should have a reason for making a framework argument. The 2NR and 2AR need to give judge instruction for what I should do if you win or lose your framework interpretation. I default to weighing the impacts the plan can solves against the impacts of links that the alternative can resolve. I think the AFF is only responsible for impacts that they make worse.

I think the alternative should materially solve a problem, and am not persuaded by rejection style criticisms. I think linear DAs can be good and can be persuaded by an impact framing argument if you win a non-unique link to the plan.

I am persuaded that the NEG does not get to sever reps if other arguments are explicit contradictions. Examples of this are reading the cap K and growth DA. The AFF should exploit tensions between pages and generate smart DAs to alternatives or link turns.

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Ethics Violations:

I would prefer for debates to be completed and am not interested in judging the moral character of debaters or events that took place outside of the round. I value my role as an educator and will intervene or answer questions mid debate if that leads to an agreeable resolution that allows the debate to continue.

I would prefer to strike evidence rather than end the debate. Questions about qualifications, context, and argument representation should be argued in speeches to undermine the credibility of a position.

If there is a formal ethics challenge by a team, the debate ends. If the challenge is successful, the team who made the challenge wins and receives average speaks. If not, they lose and receive low speaks. I will defer to tab, my experience, and advice of others.

If the issue could have been resolved before the debate and is unintentional, I will likely reject the challenge. If I catch clipping, I will give a warning during the speech under the assumption that debaters are competing in good faith. If there is an egregious pattern or the warning is ignored, I will vote for the other team at the end of the debate.

Ryan Matthew Snow Hire

Nathan Stolzenfeld Hire

Last changed on Tue February 27, 2024 at 10:50 AM EDT

Personal info

Nathan Stolzenfeld (they/them)

GMU '26 (started as college novice)

Email chain (yes please): stolzdebate@gmail.com

Important stuff if you are reading this 5 minutes before a round

I know absolutely nothing about the HS topic, so be careful with acronyms please. I am an international security major so I would like to think im more than a layperson in that realm, but I try to stay as far away from economic policy as possible.

I also think debate is ultimately a performance whether you are reading a heg aff or a K aff, so how you handle yourself influences me (probably). The best debates I have watched combine the tech of policy debate with ethos a debate amongst friends. My decision comes down to tech, but my speaks come down to who was the most persuasive or best speaker. This means don’t default to card-dumping, no clash, or reading straight down on blocks, I will cry.

I am incredibly expressive, you will know what works. I will vote on anything, yes, anything. If you explain your position/advocacy well enough then I am more than happy to cast a silly little ballot. My ballot comes down to who has the clearest link and the biggest impact at the end of the round, as well as framing as to what "the biggest impact" means. That allows anything from postmodernism to meme args. Heck, if you win LSPEC ill give you and your partner a 30 and 29.9.

Other quick things:

Send your analytics or risk me not flowing them! Also verbatim word docs preferred.
For local HS tournaments: I am fine with speed. Go crazy.
Don't call me judge, please. Nathan is fine.
Don’t be racist, transphobic, or otherwise terminally offensive, I will end the debate, without question, and vote you down.
Keep your own time AND your opponent's time. I think time is fake, but your opponent may disagree with that. If it is called out I will take some speaks away for egregious stuff. Time allocation is an important skill in all three of the styles of debate, don't crash it's integrity.
I am a just a silly person who loves being told what to do. Abuse that. Judge instruction. ????

The good stuff

DAs: They are pretty cool. You can win on a straight up DA with me in the back. Hit me with a good link, a large impact, and a reasonable internal link chain and I will vote for it as long as you defend it. Weigh it against the impact of the plan, do good work on case, and you got yourself a neg ballot.

CPs: The states are probably competitive. Delay CPs are not. Anything else I can be convinced either way. I weirdly find myself with a really high bar for counterplan solvency, idk why. Internal net benefits are my beloved and they can outweigh if you do enough work. The squo is always an option even with a CP in the 2NR. For the aff: explain what your perm does. Perm do both is not a perm, explain what PDB looks like, pls. To go for a perm in a 2AR you need to explain what the advocacy does. Sure, it is a test of competition, and you can frame it that way, but if you do not then I need to know *exactly* what voting on the permutation does to prevent the NB.

Any K: K debate is fun. Am I the best judge for clash? No. Will I try to understand as much as possible and enjoy the round? Really bad for 2nd ls that try too much defense on framework, but absolutely adore in depth debate on offense. If you are comfortable putting a narrative spin on anything, even better. I think initial reading of FW is robotic debate where people just read the same stuff over and over. Thus, the K has a great opportunity to show why their specific advocacy/mech/assumptions clash with (and win) against the other team's FW. Same thing as CP flow but like SUPER important: what is the perm??????? If its in the 2NR/2AR, whether its KvK, KvPolicy, or PolicyvKritik, I need to know how the two worlds mesh together enough for the ballot. This is where most narrative stuff should go down for me. I am not voting on who out debated someone else, I am voting for what happens when I cast the ballot as if this was a real world decision.

Topicality: I’ll vote on it but I default to competing interpretations. After attending the CEDA topic meeting I have a love-hate relationship with arguing about specific words. Neg must defend all interps read. Also make sure your interpretation is good, I hold T evidence to a very high degree of truth and will look at it whether an ev indict was made or not.

Theory: 4+ condo is probably bad, I love me a good fiat argument, and i'll vote on any reasonable theory.

The other stuffs

Conduct: Please don’t be mean. If you are a dick in CX or through analytics it will heavily affect your speaks. If you are not giving a speech, or if your partner is deep in prep, at least look like you are doing something. In the words of my teammate Noah Reed: “If your partner is prepping the 2NR and you are sitting there pen flipping it looks silly. And unless that 2NR is god's gift to debate, you will lose speaker points for it.” If I yawn during your speech, you are chill, I'm just sleepy, these tournaments start way too early.

Speed: If you spread fast, please be as clear as possible. I will yell clear a maximum of two times, and give a thumbs up or something if you have fixed yourself. I will stop flowing if you get unclear the third time, and that’s on you to notice. I will follow what I hear from that point.

Tech vs truth: I will vote on what occurred in the debate and what I have flowed. However, I am human and have flaws, so will always have a lower threshold to counter false stuff. If someone stands up and flat out lies, and has evidence to back it up, and it goes unanswered, I will assume the falsity is true on tech. This is NOT true for death good and similar harm scenarios.

Cross ex: I do not agree with closed cross-ex tbh. If your partner has a good question, or has a good answer to a question asked, they by all means should be able to articulate. HOWEVER, there is a risky situation that I will be vigilant to: interruptions. If you decide to indulge my open cross-ex idea, make sure you are respectful to your partner and communicate well.

Have fun! I am really talkative, and appreciate a lighter feeling debate. I highly appreciate jokes when they are well-timed, swearing is okay, and you do not need a super professional manner unless that's just your personality. Otherwise, be yourself (unless you are racist or something) and don’t be shy in lightening the mood. Also please just call me Nathan, I'm not old enough for a prefix and I'm not wise enough to be called “judge.” I will give +.1 speaker point for a dad joke that makes me laugh, +.2 speaker points if I send the dad joke to the GMU debate group chat and Amira reacts with the saw emoji before ballots are due. People on twitter may call me cringe for this, idc.

LD and PF

LD: Everything from policy applies. I didn't do LD in high school, I've judged 4 rounds of LD in my life, I can handle any argument as long as you can explain it to me, I can also do spreading but for online tournaments please be considerate of your tech. You can treat this as one person policy debate with values within it. I am not good for tricks debates, or death good debates, and disclosure violations will not get my ballot. In short: I am more than a lay judge and less than someone who does this for a living, because I don't. I debate policy in college.

PF: CREATE AN EMAIL CHAIN AND ADD ME TO IT. I guess this isn't a must in PF so I can entice with speaker boosts if the doc is sent out before a speech. You don't even need to take prep as long as you are just sending me the doc. Everything from policy applies. As in my LD note, I can handle any argument as long as you can explain it, that includes disclosure theory, but the bar is high. I think that clash and comparison is much more important in PF than the other two debate formats due to the time constraints. You should obviously be doing impact analysis and weighing throughout the summaries and final focus, but I have found myself more convinced by which team has link and impact turns on the other contentions AND explains them well. An example from the single use plastic topic: pro reads an environment advantage - the con can read an economy contention that says "if the economy declines, we have less money to solve climate change in other ways." My decision ultimately comes down to who has the best developed link (or solvency) and the largest (well explained) impact. DO JUDGE INSTRUCTION. PLEASE.

Me when there is no impact calc in a debate:

Was the 'Surprised Pikachu' Meme a Stealth Marketing ...

Iris Tsai Hire

Chloe Wang Hire

James Wang Taipei American School

Chase Williams Taipei American School

Last changed on Tue January 2, 2024 at 4:14 PM EDT

Background

Director of Speech & Debate at Taipei American School in Taipei, Taiwan. Founder and Director of the Institute for Speech and Debate (ISD). Formerly worked/coached at Hawken School, Charlotte Latin School, Delbarton School, The Harker School, Lake Highland Prep, Desert Vista High School, and a few others.

Updated for Online Debate

I coach in Taipei, Taiwan. Online tournaments are most often on US timezones - but we are still competing/judging. That means that when I'm judging you, it is the middle of the night here. I am doing the best I can to adjust my sleep schedule (and that of my students) - but I'm likely still going to be tired. Clarity is going to be vital. Complicated link stories, etc. are likely a quick way to lose my ballot. Be clear. Tell a compelling story. Don't overcomplicate the debate. That's the best way to win my ballot at 3am - and always really. But especially at 3am.

williamsc@tas.tw is the best email for the evidence email chain.

Paradigm

You can ask me specific questions if you have them...but my paradigm is pretty simple - answer these three questions in the round - and answer them better than your opponent, and you're going to win my ballot:

1. Where am I voting?

2. How can I vote for you there?

3. Why am I voting there and not somewhere else?

I'm not going to do work for you. Don't try to go for everything. Make sure you weigh. Both sides are going to be winning some sort of argument - you're going to need to tell me why what you're winning is more important and enough to win my ballot.

If you are racist, homophobic, nativist, sexist, transphobic, or pretty much any version of "ist" in the round - I will drop you. There's no place for any of that in debate. Debate should be as safe of a space as possible. Competition inherently prevents debate from being a 100% safe space, but if you intentionally make debate unsafe for others, I will drop you. Period.

One suggestion I have for folks is to embrace the use of y'all. All too often, words like "guys" are used to refer to large groups of people that are quite diverse. Pay attention to pronouns (and enter yours on Tabroom!), and be mindful of the language you use, even in casual references.

I am very very very very unlikely to vote for theory. I don't think PF is the best place for it and unfortunately, I don't think it has been used in the best ways in PF so far. Also, I am skeptical of critical arguments. If they link to the resolution, fantastic - but I don't think pre-fiat is something that belongs in PF. If you plan on running arguments like that, it might be worth asking me more about my preferences first - or striking me.

Ashley Wright Hire

Last changed on Thu April 4, 2024 at 1:21 AM EDT

yes chain: ashleywrightdb8@gmail.com (she/her)

Maize High '19-23 (arms sales, CJR, water, NATO)

George Mason '23-present

T/L

tech + truth > tech > truth

clarity + speed > clarity > speed

do whatever you are best at and I will adapt. my only exception is anything bigoted/harmful.

judge instruction is incredibly important for me in all debates - tell me why you are winning specific arguments and what it means in context of the overall debate if you win them

read re-highlightings (either in cx or in your speech) don't just insert them

obviously, my predispositions here don't mean I won't vote for an argument if you're winning it. they are just my preferences.

I will read evidence out of interest during the round, but it wont impact my decision unless debaters make it matter. This means telling me how I should evaluate evidence and then naming authors that are important in the round. Analytics can hold similar weight to evidence if it's warranted out and smart!

fairness is an impact that I am more than willing to vote on, however, I prefer clash

if you are going for ground you should be prepared to tell me what ground you lost in the debate

competing interps are good - affs should tell me what their model of debate looks like and why that's good.

K Affs

Judge instruction is really important. Affs need a clear theory of power and should explain to me what voting aff endorses and why their model is uniquely better than whatever the neg proposes. Consistency is really important to me.

neg teams should engage with case more---especially in the 2nr, even if it is just presumption or telling me how fw engages with the case page and why it should come first.

K's on the neg

i think that teams are getting kind of lazy on the link level - teams should do a better job of explaining the direct effect of the aff (pulling lines from evidence and other things of that sort). I also think that the neg should explain how the alt overcomes these links - a solid link story gives you a better chance of winning without the alt. and on the aff if the neg doesnt have a solid link and kicks the alt your chances of winning are significantly higher

fw should function as an advantage of the k's impacts but also have clear parameters for what the aff has to do to get weighed. at the end of the day I usually end up thinking that affs get to weigh their impacts but the neg gets links to scholarship/discource/etc,

on perms---i think more teams should explain why the perm doesnt work in context of specific alt solvency while also explaining why links mean they dont get a perm. On the aff, teams should have a net ben to the perm and explain how it resolves links, disads, etc.

CPs

Neg leaning on CP theory. However, I am more than open to teams winning that they are bad. Aff teams should punish the neg for being cheaty more often.

The aff should be able to prove why the cp can't solve the aff and/or why the perm is better

you have to tell me to judge kick

Case

i loveeee case debates however teams have gotten kinda lazy when it comes to this part of debating :(

aff solvency advocates are horrible a lot of the time, call this out.

impact turns are fun and silly and my favorite type of debates to judge

DAs

I love a good disad. However, I've noticed a lot recently that the link debate seems to be overlooked. A low risk of a link = low risk of me voting for it.

crappy internal link chains make me sad.

I prefer limits over ground but can be persuaded by either. I think predictability arguments are convincing (on either side) especially when it is in terms of research burdens. Competing interps are good. Case lists are good. Reasonability is meh.

I'm probably forgetting some other stuff so please feel free to ask questions before round --- I will be happy to answer :)

Caleb Michael Yang Hire

Last changed on Sat March 30, 2024 at 9:38 AM CST

1. What is your debate background?

- Debated in in-school debate competitions (middle school)

- 2004 IASAS Original Oratory contestant for Taipei American School

- HSNU English Debate Coach 2015-2018

- CKHS English Debate Coach 2017

- Taoyuan Wuling Senior High School English Debate Coach 2018-2020

- Yan-Ping Senior High School English Debate Coach 2020-2021, 2024

- Taiwan High School English Debate Regionals/Nationals Judge 2018-current

- Co-founder of Education Legion education team

2. How do you judge?

I am deliberate on the overall presentation of debaters. My basis for evaluating evidence strength is the OCEBM (Oxford Classification of Evidence-Based Medicine). In other words, expert opinions and case reports do not sway me unless there is a specific and necessary reason to mentioning such kind of evidence, or is coupled with other stronger pieces of evidence. Failure to do so would make me more critical about the presented evidence that the debater(s) strives to put into use to tie into their assertions or claims.

Link your logic together and do not scatter like a shotgun shooting its pellets from long-distance. It is your responsibility to engage not only with your audience but also the judge(s). A messy beginning and unclear crossfires/cross-examinations make it hard to delineate or see what is going on from one or both sides, which means every part of the debate counts.

Do not bring up new arguments during the summary/final focus (PF) or rebuttals (CX). New evidence is allowed, but at this point it would be kind of late to do it.

3. Please explain other specifics of your judging style.

Even though I have no problem keeping up, I am not a fan of spreading. The purpose of debate is communication, not word blasting. If you abuse your education advantages that give you better language mastery and/or preparation time, to pummel less privileged teams, it will impact negatively on your speaker points and the outcome if it interferes with the debate.

Sportsmanship and basic mutual respect must be adhered.

Kritik should be used only when necessary.

Counterplans are fun as long as they are clear.

Leroy Yau Taipei American School None

Hermes Yen Hire

Last changed on Sun May 19, 2024 at 6:08 PM EDT

I like to think that I enter each debate tab, and I don't really have any preferences. Just make sure that you respect your opponents and your partner, bring in a good attitude, and have fun

yenh@mca.org.tw <-- questions/email chain

Please don't call me judge, Hermes is fine

Don't be late. I won't quite dock speaks, but I'll be less inclined to buy your Bing '37 card about how polar bears lead to rapid economic collapse

Case

Warranting is really what I look for, I don't care that much about evidence and whatnot, just make sure you explain the (internal) link thoroughly. I'm pretty tech > truth as long as it actually makes sense. I actually tried to build an anime case one time - so take that as you will.

I was taught from a young age to go for narratives, so that might be someone worth considering. Narratives help me (the judge) focus on one thing particularly, a strong narrative is often a voting incentive.

Rebuttal & Second Constructive

Really prefer line by line, makes flowing so much easier. Preferable if you answer arguments by extending your own, but it's fine if you don't. Again, warranting>evidence, don't throw cards at me. Analytic arguments are fine. Second team, please frontline in the rebuttal to make the debate fairer. Non-unique and delinks are fine, but make sure you have some offense on rebuttals too - link turns and outweighs. otherwise the argument could go on presumption.

Summary

First team, make sure that you prioritize frontlining, otherwise, I won't be judging your impacts. Absence of frontlines means that essentially you concede to rebuttals, so don't do that.

Remember, summaries and final focuses are about closing doors, not opening them. Be sure to collapse on arguments, please don't give me 38173 gazillion contentions in final.

If you have time, make sure to weigh. It makes the second speaker's life so much easier.

Go down key clash in the debate, explain why you think you won those, and explain why that matters.

(I won't flow new arguments)

Final

Make sure that you limit down, and collapse on the arguments you think you won. Impact calculus is really good, and a necessity for any good team.

Cross

Be respectful, please! In general, close-ended "trap" questions work best, and humor is much appreciated! Just don't be too mean. I don't flow cross, but it's binding and I do listen.

Progressive args

I used to hate them, now I like them. I have some background in policy, so "DA with framing impact" or "Generalized alternative" is good. Just don't abuse this - don't read four different counterplans each with their 20 planks.

Misc

Generally, I'm a-ok with speed, but make sure your opponents can understand. Debate is about communication, not overwhelming the other side (and the judge) with evidence. I'll say "clear" twice before I stop flowing.

Please be respectful in general, and be nice, or else speaks go blop.

Framework is all too often not developed enough, but can be a powerful tool if developed correctly. It tells me how to judge a debate, and I'll default on whichever team has a frame. If you don't respond to a frame with a counter-frame, then there's nothing for me to vote on otherwise, and so use the frame offerd. Unless it's not warranted, or the team without framing tells me the frame is 1. unfair or 2. uneducational or 3. not topical or 4. not as good. If you just say your frame outweighs or something then I'll still go with whatever frame was provided first. This method is a tad bit unorthodox but I don't like switching frames unless there's something wrong with the first - I do give aff a bit of ground here with framework (as they go first).

Clash is necessary for me to decide the winning team, absence of clash will lead me to vote for whichever team has the most convincing warrants.

I try not to intervene, but find that at this level of debate it's difficult not to.

Policy

top

I don't have an ideal debate, I'm a big fan of k vs policy, or k vs k, but policy vs policy is just a little big not as spicy for me, unless clash is really good

case

not much to be said here, big fan of progressive affs - read kaffs at your own risk, make sure YOU understand them and relate them to the topic

disad

make sure you win your impact (this is particularly important to me) as what i think that as long as the aff impact outweigh you, voting aff minimizes risk

please don't run seven off, i do have an innate preference for reasonable dispo. but by all means - go for condo on aff, it's an easy win if neg fumbles

topicality

less concerned with what the intent of nsda putting the reso out and more concerned with in-round implications of what voting neg or aff means --> framers intent is a good arg for both sides, more concernced with "real" voting issues eg fairness and educatino.

tldr; make in-round implications

condo - skew neg on dispo (within reason)

make sure k links to case, make sure you understand the k

used to not like k, but ever since i started winning cap ks against very liberal affs (ubi, social security) started enjoying ks more and more, obviously i have ideological biases but they won't affect judging at all. make sure k linkk to aff is very explicit, make sure the alt is good, offer a good frame for an easy win -

Speaks

i skew high on speaks so i'm not the one that messed up seeding

Don't forget to have a good time!

Sounia Yosufi Pacific American School

Tyler Angelo Zabolio Hire

Last changed on Wed January 3, 2024 at 2:40 PM EDT

I am currently a Policy Debater at Gonzaga University and am coaching at Niles West High School

TLDR

Yes email chain - tzdebatestuff@gmail.com

Time yourself and time your opponents

I have experience with most types of arguments but don't assume I have read your author/lit already. Explain your theory/complex legal args in language that is understandable

Impact calc wins rounds

speed is fine but outside of policy it's cringe

Tech over truth within reason (ie a dropped arg with no warrant or impact doesnt matter)

I don't care at all what you say and will vote on anything that is not immediately and obviously violent

Not a fan of the super-aggressive debate style - unless executed perfectly it comes off as cringe 99.9% of the time

Judge instruction please

Some of the most interesting debates I have judged have been T debates against policy teams. In a perfect world the negative should explain what the in round implications of the untypical aff were as well and probably more importantly what it would mean for debate if their interpretation was the new norm.

Going for T doesnt mean you cant extend a case turn youre winning

I probably agree that a ton of small affs would be bad

I have read both policy and K affs but recently have been reading majorly critical arguments

Debating about debate is cool but if it is distracting from x scholarship it is less cool

Bad K affs are not cool but good K affs are cool

K affs that don't address the resolution/stem from topic research are not good

I find myself pretty split in FW v K Aff debates. If the aff sufficiently answers/turns FW I have no problem voting aff to forward a new model of debate. I find this specifically true when the 1AC has built-in or at least inferential answers to fw that they can deploy offensively.

At the same time if the negative does good FW debating and justifies the limits their model imposes I feel good voting on FW. I am not convinced that reading FW in and of itself is violent though I recognize the impact these arguments may have on x scholarship which means that when this gets explained I am down to evaluate the impacts of reading these types of arguments but I don't think its a morally bankrupt argument to go for or anything like that.

Debate bad as an argument is not convincing to me, we are all here by free will and we all love debate or at the very least think it is a good academic activity. This does not mean you cannot convince me that there are problems within the community .

Switch side debate probably solves your impact turn to framework - affs that undercover SSD put themselves in a really tough spot. I often find myself rewarding strategic 2NR decisions that collapse on SSD or the TVA (or another argument you may be winning).

Theory

Theory is good.

If you read like 6 reasons to reject the team I think some warrants are necessary. ex:"Reject the team, utopian fiat bad" is not an argument

If you are going to go for a theory arg in a final rebuttal ensure your partner extended it substantially enough for you to have adequate arguments to go for or give a nuanced speech on the specific args extended by your partner - generalized rebuttals on theory are bad. At the same time I am cool with hailmary rebuttals on theory because you are getting destroyed in every other part of the debate

I tend to lean neg on condo stuff but not by much

Will vote on perf con

Dont read your theory blocks at 2 million wpm

Bonus points for contextualizing your theory args to the round they are being deployed in

If you want to go for theory spend more than 7 seconds on it when you are first deploying the argument

Cool with a 1 off and case strat

Kritiks are cool

Vague alts are annoying and if I cant understand how the alt solves case and you don't have good case stuff I am gonna have a tough time voting neg unless the link debate implicates that (and is articulated)

Explain links in clear terms and be specific to the aff you are hitting. Specific links are better than generic like state bad links but if you have a generic link please explain to me how the aff uniquely makes the situation WORSE not just that it doesnt make it better - these are different things

I am totally cool with performance and love me some affect but if you are reading cards about how performance is key to X and your whole "performance" is playing like 10 seconds of a song before your 1AC and you don't reference it again then I am cool voting neg on "even if performance is good yall's was trash" (assuming this arg is made lol)

Winning FW is huge but you still need to leverage it as a reason for me to vote on X. Just because you are "winning" FW doesn't mean I know how you want me to evaluate args under this paradigm. So, when you think you are winning FW explain how that implicates my role as the judge.

CPs are great but 10 plank conditional counterplans are kinda silly.

2nc CPs (or CP amendments) are lit

Advantage CP defender

DAs are awesome and CP DA strat is a classic

UQ is extremely important to me. A lot of links are ignorant to UQ so explain the link in the context of the UQ you are reading

Explain your impact scenario clearly - bad internal links to terminal impacts r crazzzzzy

I did PF in HS but it was trad so I am likely going to evaluate the round through a policy lens.

Will vote on theory

Cool with K stuff

Pretty much same as PF - never did LD but I have judged it a ton so I will likely judge how you instruct me to but default to a policy lens.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Debate is hard and stressful but relax and be confident and have fun!

Feel free to email me with any questions tzdebatestuff@gmail.com

Lawrence Zhou Taipei American School

Last changed on Sun April 21, 2024 at 11:45 AM CDT

I am currently a policy and PF coach at Taipei American School. My previous affiliations include Fulbright Taiwan, the University of Wyoming, Apple Valley High School, The Harker School, the University of Oklahoma, and Bartlesville High School. I have debated or coached policy, LD, PF, WSD, BP, Congress, and Ethics Bowl.

Email for the chain: lwzhou10 at gmail.com

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TOC Public Forum

Put the Public back in Public Forum.

For the TOC, follow all of the evidence rules and guidelines listed in the tournament policies. I care a lot about proper citations, good evidence norms, clipping, and misrepresentation.

I won't vote for arguments spread, theory, kritiks, or anything unrelated to the truth or falsity of the resolution. I find it extremely difficult to vote for arguments that lack resolutional basis (e.g., most theory or procedural arguments, some kritikal arguments, etc.). I find trends to evade debate over the topic to be anathema to my beliefs about what Public Forum debate ought to look like.

I care that you debate the topic in a way that reflects serious engagement with the relevant scholarly literature. I would also prefer to judge debates that do not contain references to arcane debate norms or jargon.

Additionally, I expect that your evidence abides by NSDA rules as outlined in the NSDA Evidence Guide. If I find evidence that does not conform to these guidelines, I will minimally disregard that piece of evidence and maximally vote against you.

tl;dr won't blink twice about voting against teams that violate evidence rules or try to make PF sound like policy-lite.

Other Things

Exchanging evidence in a manner consistent with the NSDA's rules on evidence exchange has become a painfully slow process. Please simply set up an email chain or use an online file sharing service in order to quickly facilitate the exchange of relevant evidence. Calling for individual pieces of evidence appears to me as nothing more than prep stealing.

If the Final Focus is all read from the computer, just send me the speech docs before the debate starts to save us some time. I'll also cap your speaks at 28.5.

I do not believe that either team has any obligation to "frontline" in second rebuttal, but my preferences on this are malleable. If "frontlining" is the agreed upon norm, I expect that the second speaking team also devote time to rebuttals in the constructive speeches.

The idea of defense being "sticky" seems illogical to me.

There is also a strong trend towards under-developing arguments in an activity that already operates with compressed speech times. I also strongly dislike the practice of spamming one-line quotes with no context (or warrant) from a dozen sources in a single speech. I will reward teams generously if they invest in a few well-warranted arguments which they spend time meaningfully weighing compared to if they continue to shotgun arguments with little regard for their plausibility or quality.

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Policy

Stolen from Matt Liu: "Feb 2022 update: If your highlighting is incoherent gibberish, you will earn the speaker points of someone who said incoherent gibberish. The more of your highlighting that is incoherent, the more of your speech will be incoherent, and the less points you will earn. To earn speaker points, you must communicate coherent ideas."

I debated for OU back in the day but you shouldn't read too much into that—I wasn't ever particularly good or invested when I was competing. I lean more towards the policy side than the K side and I'm probably going to be unfamiliar with a lot of the ins-and-outs of most kritiks, although I will do my best to fairly evaluate the debate as it happens.

1. I tend to think the role of the aff is to demonstrate that the benefits of a topical plan outweigh its costs and that the role of the neg is to demonstrate that the costs and/or opportunity costs of the aff's plan outweigh its benefits.
2. I find variations of "fairness bad" or "logic/reasoning bad," to be incredibly difficult to win given that I think those are fundamental presuppositions of debate itself. Similarly, I find procedural fairness impacts to be the best 2NRs on T/Framework.
3. Conditionality seems obviously good, but I'm not opposed to a 2AR on condo. Most other theory arguments seem like reasons to reject the argument, not the team. I lean towards reasonability. Most counterplan issues seem best resolved at the level of competition, not theory.
4. Warrant depth is good. Argument comparison is good. Both together—even better.
5. Give judge instruction—tell me how to evaluate the debate.

None of these biases are locked in—in-round debating will be the ultimate determinant of an argument’s legitimacy.

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WSD

My debate experience is primarily in LD, policy, and PF. I do not consider myself well-versed in all the intricacies or nuances of WSD strategy and norms. My only strong preference is that want to see well-developed and warranted arguments. I would prefer fewer, better developed arguments over more, less-developed arguments.

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Online Procedural Concerns

1. Follow tournament procedure regarding online competition best practices.
2. Record your speeches locally. If you cut out and don't have a local backup, that's a you problem.
3. Keep your camera on when you speak, I don't care if it's on otherwise. Only exception is if there are tech or internet issues---keeping the camera off for the entirety of the debate otherwise is a good way to lose speaker points.
4. I'll keep my camera off for prep time, but I'll verbally indicate I'm ready before each speech and turn on the camera for your speeches. If you don't hear me say I'm ready and see my camera on, don't start.
5. Yes, I'll say clear and stuff for online rounds.

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