PF: I only think an email chain is necessary if audio is not the best or you plan on spreading. Email me if there is any way I can make the round more accessible.

email: noorabdallah101@gmail.com

I am a third-year student at the University of Georgia. I did four years of PF at Columbus High School, and one year of policy at UGA.

Policy: I am still learning policy myself, so please take that into account if I am your judge. I will always try my best to make the best decision and I am way more comfortable with DA's and CP's than K's. Just do not expect the same out of me as you would a regular policy judge :)

Speaks:

1. In terms of speed, I can comfortably handle around 250-270 wpm. Online debate might not allow that speed, keep that in mind. I don’t really see the need for spreading, but if you do, ask your opponents and send a speech doc. If you do this to confuse them and win, I will drop you.

2. No judge will get everything you say, so warrant.

3. I am a huge lover of puns. Wit and puns are appreciated in round. However, if you intentionally make any racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise discriminatory comments, I will give you extremely low speaks and notify your coach immediately. Assertive and funny debaters are different from rude ones.

Argumentation:

In short, you do not want me to interfere as a judge. Do the work for me and that means to make clean extensions, frontline, and weigh. In detail, here are things that win my ballot:

1. I vote off the flow. I try to interfere as little as possible, which means you NEED TO WEIGH. If you don't, I will have to interfere and use my own weighing mechanism. In that case, you probably won't like my decision. I will do everything I can to ensure a fair round from my part but don't get mad at me if I don't flow a one-second extension that isn't flushed out.

2. Frontline!! You can't just extend your arguments through their responses without telling me why they don't matter and/or why your argument still stands. If they extend their warranted response(s) throughout round and you do not respond to it, you are in a bad position.

3. Signposting is extremely helpful and should be done :) I RARELY flow author names so do not just extend "Smith 19" and think that is you extending something. I should hear what Smith 19 said over and over.

4. I will vote tech over truth. If your opponents make an unwarranted assertion, refute it. Don’t rely on me to do the analysis for you.

5. Summaries - Line-by-line, voter, etc. I have no preference on format (though line-by-line is better to me). Create the narrative, defend, extend, weigh. New weighing in both summaries is fine.

6. NO new arguments in final focus (with the exception of extended weighing analysis in 1st FF). There really shouldn't be any new arguments in 2nd summary.

7. I am not your judge for theory, K's, topicality, etc. I have voted for these things before, and am understanding them as a policy debater. BUT reading theory against a team who doesn't know how to deal with it is abusive.

8. I use cross to write feedback, so anything said is not binding, just bring it up in a speech because I probably didn’t listen. Use cross strategically and for your own benefit.

First-Speaking Team:

1. I do not require defensive extensions in first summary if they have not been responded to. However, you must extend overviews/turns if you expect me to be voting off of them.

2. By final focus, you should know what your opponents are going for. Defensive extensions must be in final focus if you want them to factor into my decision. Defense not responded to by the second-speaking team by second-summary is dropped defense - bring it up!

Second-Speaking Team:

1. The rebuttal should respond to any overviews/turns/disads. The only other time second- speaking team has time to respond is second summary, and that is extremely abusive. You do not have to respond to terminal defense until summary, although it may be strategic to do so on the arguments you’re going for later in the round. To clarify - if the rebuttal does not have to answer all terminal defense, the summary obviously must, or I will consider it dropped.

2. No new weighing in second final focus. It’s unfair and gives your opponents no chance to respond. Also, this is not your chance just to extend through ink because no one will be able to call you out on it.

Evidence:

1. Every card you read within a debate should be cited and available almost immediately (30 seconds is reasonable time) within context for your opponent to read. I will drop your speaks if you are unable to find or provide your evidence to your opponents or me.

2. Any evidence misrepresentations will factor into my decision. If you are blatantly lying about your cards, I will most likely drop you and your speaks. I am very very okay with cards that are paraphrased as long as they are not misused (feel free to have this argument with me)

3. I like logical responses just as much as I like carded responses. But just like a carded response, logic should make sense and be warranted. The card does half the work, do the other half and apply it in round.

Otherwise, if you have any questions, please ask me or email me at noorabdallah101@gmail.com ! Debating is supposed to be an educational, motivational, and fun experience so make the most of it! I will always disclose and give feedback if the tournament allows me.

Good Luck :)

I am a senior in college studying engineering. I debated PF on the regional and national circuits back in high school.

My process for voting is as follows:

1. What's the most important issue/value in the round
2. Who holds the strongest link into that

Feel free to ask any questions before the round begins.

~~ hi :) my name is Mariah (she/her). please make an email chain if you're spreading or there's any chance that the audio is going to be bad: mariahcady00@gmail.com ~~

I debated policy at UGA and PF at Columbus High School. The following is my PF paradigm – if we're in a policy round, most of this probably won't apply to you. See the lower half of this paradigm for Policy rounds.

Speaks:

1. Warrant your responses and arguments, and it'll ensure I flow everything you say.

2. On spreading: a) Let me know beforehand if you are planning on doing so, and b) make sure your opponents are okay with the speed before round. If your opponents explicitly state they don't want spreading, and you spread regardless, I won't be flowing your speech.

3. I appreciate puns in round. (+0.2 speaker points for protentions :)). If you make any racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory comments, I will give you the lowest possible speaks, notify your coach, and you will probably lose this round.

4. Be assertive, not rude.

Argumentation:

1. I vote off the flow. I try to interfere as little as possible, which means you NEED TO WEIGH.

2. Frontline!! Please :)

3. Signposting is extremely helpful.

4. I will vote tech over truth. If your opponents make an unwarranted assertion, refute it. Don’t rely on me to do the analysis for you. That being said: every argument at the end of the round should have still have a warrant. If there's no answer being made, my threshold for the warranting is definitively lower, but it's always necessary.

5. Summaries - I prefer line-by-line, but I don't mind voters.

6. No new args in final focus (with the exception of weighing analysis in 1st FF).

7. Crossfire/CX doesn't affect my decision. I definitely will not be flowing it. I'll probably type individual ballot comments during this time.

8. I would not highly recommend reading disclosure/paraphrasing/ any other theory/k in front of me in a PF round, especially if you are purposefully leveraging policy args against teams with less resources to win rounds on the flow. I'll evaluate these args on a case-by-case basis.

First-Speaking Team:

1. All offensive extensions and extensions of defense should be in first summary if the second rebuttal frontlined what they're extending in summary. If the second rebuttal did not frontline, then that categorization only extends to offensive extensions.

Second-Speaking Team:

1. The rebuttal should respond to any offensive overviews/turns/DA's. You do not have to respond to defense until summary, but it's probably strategic to do so on the arguments you’re going for later in the round (see 1st speaking team above).

2. No new weighing in second final focus. It’s unfair and gives your opponents no chance to respond.

Evidence:

1. Every card you read within a debate should be cited and be available almost immediately within context for your opponent to read. I will drop your speaks if you are unable to find or provide your evidence to your opponents or me.

2. Any evidence misrepresentations key to the debate will factor into my decision.

Intervention:

If you don't weigh in the round or provide me with a comparative, here's how I will typically decide the round if left to make my own evaluation of arguments:

1. I will generally default util, but specifics depend on the round.

2. I would rather vote on a stronger link and smaller impact than a weaker link and larger impact.

3. I've decided to begin defaulting aff. That being said, if you successfully argue in round why I should be presuming neg, I'll vote neg. If we've reached this point, :(

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POLICY –

I have little to no knowledge on this topic area. Make sure you debate in front of me accordingly. Do line-by-line. I will always flow, please don't ask me not to. Please read evidence in round, pref accordingly. I love case debate. Think about and debate the internal links and you'll receive high speaker points. I'm most comfortable with CPs, DAs, & Topicality. I am also comfortable with K debates, as long as you make your K interact with the affirmative.

Anything else:

If you have any questions, please ask or send me an email! :)

tech>truth: debate is a game

the best way to my ballot is to weigh. weighing is inherently comparative, warrant your weighing and compare impacts/links to each other

run whatever you want; but the more progressive your debate becomes, the more you will have to explain it to me

any speed is good, just be clear

don't give me a soliloquy for your off-time roadmap

for the love of god, give me warrants

please signpost; if I look lost, I probably am

i don’t pay attention to cross; if something important happens, then bring it up in your following speech

do not extend the entire flow

frontline responses

defense is sticky

i vote neg on presumption

if you want it in the final focus, it needs to be in the summary

if we are on a virtual platform, please don’t spread. some speed is okay, but i really value clarity when online

add me to the email chain: crhoades2002@gmail.com

I recently graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in Birmingham, AL. I debated at Vestavia in public forum for 4 years. I went to camp and competed locally and nationally. I’m flow. I did probably 5 Congress rounds in my entire career but I feel pretty confident in my abilities to judge it.

Here's my actual paradigm:

1. Weigh weigh weigh weigh

2. If you have claim then impact without warrants and link in between you do not in fact have an impact

3. If your evidence is miscut/power tagged/wrong the highest speaks I’ll give you is 25.

4. Time yourselves

5. I don’t require defense extension in first summary, only offense is required

6. If both teams agree to skip grand before the round, I’ll give everyone 2 extra speaks.

7. Collapse!!!! If you find yourself going for every argument in summary, you're doing this wrong. Everything in FF must also be in summary. This is true for both first and second FF.

8. Don't keep prep time for your opponents. I'll doc speaks it's a pet peeve I think it's rude

9. Roadmaps are always welcome

10. I’m good with speed but don’t spread PF is not the place for that lol

11. Framework debate is so boring plz don’t

12. If you're flight two, go ahead and flip for sides and order before the round, that way I have more time to give you feedback at the end

13. I don't require disclosure but I do appreciate it so you can add me to the e-mail chain if you feel so inclined/are not on the wiki

14. If your evidence is shady I will probably call for it. If I do call for evidence, cut card/website are both fine, but a paraphrased version of said evidence is not fine. Refer to #3

15. A 3 minute summary does not give you permission to go for all 800 arguments in the round. Spend more time weighing if you need to fill the time. Please continue to condense the round.

16. Honestly a ~saucy~ crossfire really doesn't bother me just don't be rude or degrading in cross and I won't doc your speaks

17. random but I don't shake hands I think it's gross lol

LD/IE:

uhhhh nothing in particular just time yourselves lol

Please e-mail me or find me if you have questions!! aronson0524@gmail.com or apr0023@auburn.edu

If the tournament doesn’t allow disclosure or if we’re running late and I don’t get to disclose/give feedback, feel free to post round me via e-mail or in person. Have fun y’all I love his activity don’t make me hate it after your round !

I debated in PF for 4 years (2016-2020) in MN, I'm now an assistant coach for Blake. Please put me on the email chain before round and send full speech docs + cut cards before case and rebuttal: lillianalbrecht20@gmail.com and blakedocs@googlegroups.com

For TFA 2024: please add sevenlakespf@googlegroups.com to the chain and make sure your documents are able to be viewed after the round (ideally a PDF or Word document). Please arrive to rounds early and be preflowed, especially for flight 2.

Evidence ethics and exchanges in PF are terrible, please don’t make it worse. Start an email chain before rounds and make exchanges as fast as possible. Sending speech docs to everyone before you read case and rebuttal (including your evidence) makes exchanges faster and lets you check back for your opponent's evidence. I find myself evaluating evidence a lot more now, so please make sure you're reading cut cards.

I tend to vote on the path of least resistance, meaning I’ll vote for clean turns over messy case args. I'm kind of a lazy judge that way, but the less I have to think about where to vote the better. But if a turn/disad isn’t implicated or doesn’t have a link, I’m not gonna buy it. Most teams don't actually impact out or weigh their turns, so doing that is an easy way to win my ballot.

You need to frontline in second rebuttal. Turns/new offense is a must, but the more you cover the better.

Everything you want to go for has to be in summary and FF. This includes offense and defense--defense is not sticky for 1st summary. If you don't extend your links and impacts in summary/FF I can't vote for you.

I’m generally good with speed, but I value quality over quantity. I typically flow on paper and will not flow off the doc, so slowing down on tags + analytics is appreciated. I will clear you if I cannot understand you, typically for unclear speaking rather than the speed itself.

Please signpost, for both of our sakes. Clear signposting makes it easier to understand your arguments and easier to vote for you. Line by line is preferred, but whatever you do, just tell me where to write it down.

The more weighing you do the better. Weigh every piece of offense you want to win for best results.

The more you collapse in the second half of the round, the easier it is for me to vote for you.

Speaker points are kinda dumb, but I usually average 28. Good strat + jokes will boost your speaks, being offensive/rude + slow to find evidence will drop them.

I'm fine with theory if there's real abuse. I won't vote on frivolous theory and I'll be really annoyed judging a round on the hyper-specifics of a debate norm (ie, open-source v. full-text disclosure). Good is good enough. Generally, I think that paraphrasing is bad and disclosure is good, but I'll evaluate whatever args you read in front of me. That being said, I really do not want to judge theory debates, so please avoid running them.

I don't mind K debate theoretically, but I have a really high threshold for what K debate should be in PF. I have some experience running and judging Ks, but I'm not very familiar with the current lit + hyperspecific terminology. I'm also really opposed to the current trend of Ks in PF. If your alt doesn't actually do anything with my ballot you don't have any offense that I can vote for you on. If you want to read a K in front of me, you need to go at 75% of your max speed. Far too often teams read a bunch of blippy arguments and forget to actually warrant them. Going slower and walking me through the warranting will be the way to win my ballot--this includes responses to the K as well. However, similar to theory, I really do not want to judge a K round, so run at your own risk.

Feel free to email me with any questions you have about the round!

I have been a middle school coach for speech and debate for the last 8 years. I do NOT judge PFD/LD/CX/WSD on a weekly or even monthly basis. I follow the original idea that PFD is supposed to be kept to a conversational pace, where we could grab anyone off the street to be able to judge your round.

Things you should be aware of if I am judging you:

1. Do not speed through your case/speeches. If you do, I will miss multiple things and if I cannot understand what you are saying I will give the win to your opponents. If speeding is required to get through your case, this is where you learn how to change it up (adapt to your judge).
2. Do not be rude to your opponents OR to your teammate. Making rude comments/gestures/body movements is not acceptable. Your speaks will go down if you are rude.
3. I have my own way of flowing and will do my best to make sure I get everything, including dropped/unanswered contentions. Please, please, please do not lie about what your opponents did/did not say.
4. I like evidence being used to be from reputable sources.
5. Do not run a case that has NOTHING to do with the topic (those of you trying to bring LD into PFD, no "K"s)!

I Default to Tabula Rosa:

I love to see theory debate around framing and arguments revolving around my duty as a judge and I think that burden debate is extremely important. However, if these things don't take place then Ill implement my own value criteria when I consider your impact calc. Unless you tell me otherwise I think that comparatively advantageous is a reasonable standard.

Tech VS Truth - How it affects my evaluation of the flow:

I don't appreciate the weaponization of spread and the over-evaluation of cards that are inherently trash. However, it is important that you clearly state if you are kicking out of arguments otherwise you are at the mercy of me blatantly accepting the tech of you dropping argument no matter the truth of what a team brings up against your dropped argument. Manage your flow, but focus on the flow being a sign that you are clashing on evidence, not splattering cheep recut cards hoping that a team makes a tech error that causes them to lose the round.

Arguments:

Solvency ++++

I'm a strong believer that solvency determines the weight I give to you (SOLVING) for the impacts you bring up during the round. Unless it's fairly convincing I generally don't believe solvency take outs.

Inherency -

UNLESS YALL DEBATING A BILL THAT'S BEEN PASSED, then I generally find inherency a waste of time. AFF if someone gets you on inherency that's pretty bad.

DA ++

DA = Good, DA that runs into a larger narrative about why the AFF is bad = Major brownie points. Important notes: your link chain should tell me a story that you can explain when pushed on. If you can't explain your link chain in cross-X then it's going to take a major tech mess up from the other team for you to get anything on the DA. Also really protect that link on the DA if your the NEG because otherwise, the aff is going to swat that DA away with ease.

CP +++

Counter-plans are good if it is modifying existing policy all the better, I think CPs are at the heart of policy debate. But if you run, RCP, Delay CP, then your wasting valuable speech time.

Our Komrade the K +++

I think kritical debate that around the heart of the topic is awesome so that being said linkage isn't very important to me on the K as long as you can establish a narrative between the case and the K. I think that everyone should experiment with the K during their debate experience. I prefer functionality in an alt, that doesn't nessisarly mean solving for the impact completely, but rather creating change which is comparatively advantageous with the status quo. We ain't gonna hollow out capitalist structures by being big brains.

This being said... I don't vote on the K in the round if it is used because.

-The opposing team belongs to a certain socio-economic, ethnic, or gendered group

-The excuse for you being a well-developed source on the K is because you belong to a certain socio-economic, ethnic, or gendered group. If you are then that's great and I am proud of you for finding advocacy, but it doesn't replace a well-rounded knowledge of lit.

Perms ++

Good test the competitiveness in multiple ways. Multiple perms are good. That being said don't run nine perms hoping another team drops one because that's not real debate and I won't vote on that.

Turns ++++

Double Binds ++++++

LOVE a good double bind, combines clever strategy and exemplifies both tech and truth simultaneously! However, if you just go up there and start throwing around the phrase every time the other team makes a contradiction then I won't take you seriously.

Topicality

If its needed do it, if it's not, don't waste our time (although double blinds between a link and T are accepted strategies)

Theory +/-

I think that theory is an important part of a debate.

Spec +/-

I refuse to treat spec like topicality its not a voter issue. I do think it plays into solvency and it can be used to establish links.

Other things about myself:

R.E.S.P.E.C.T your opponents and teammates. Please try your hardest to use their correct pronouns, I will try my hardest as well, we are all imperfect, we all make mistakes, but have integrity.

Pronouns - it no way affects what you call me what you want.

If you want to bash religious institutions go ahead, if you want to question the truth behind an entire system of belief go ahead. If you think religion is inherently immoral and its the opioid of the masses then lay it all out, I will vote for it. But I will not tolerate being xenophobic in your classification of a religious group. Anti-Semitism and Islamaphobia are not cool. Making offhand comments about the character of a religious group is not cool.

RACISM bad

SEXISM bad

If you want to debate eastern vs western values and make it clear that it's not about race or religion then that's chill. (I.E. Western liberalism V Eastern authoritarian models = Good | "Judeo-Christian dominance" V "Cino Supremacy" = VERY BAD)

debated public forum for four years

weigh or there will be many tears

spreading is one of my many fears

send a speech doc to me and your peers

please don’t run theory on me

im inexperienced at this as you can see

defense is kinda s t i c k y

but if it’s terminal please reexplain it to me

collapse or die

speaks tend to be high

but if you think they’re low

please don’t cry

p.s. in second rebuttal please frontline

and don’t be sexist/racist/bad - be kind

I debated PF for four years in HS.

Basically, make good arguments and convince me why you won. That's what debate is about. 

I'm fine with speed (as long as your opponents are). Frontline in the 2nd rebuttal, extend defense in the summary, and collapse the debate in the back half of the round. Tech > truth to some extent. I don't like crazy or unrealistic arguments, as I view Public Forum Debate as a means for discussing real world problems and their practical consequences, nor am I a fan of 5-6 contention cases, in which each argument is underdeveloped and poorly warranted, BUT, if an argument is clean dropped, I am very likely to vote for it. 

Please be respectful during cross. Don't yell. And remember, you are trying to convince the judge that you are right -- not your opponents! 

+0.5 speakers points if you make an Atlanta Hawks reference !! 

Email me at aananbiswas3@gmail.com if you have any questions.

I am a parent judge, who has some experience judging public forum rounds. I like a few things in a speaker.

For the First Speaker:

When presenting your case to me, I would like you to speak clearly and slowly. If you start speaking too fast, I'll stop flowing. Make sure that you're emphasizing what contention you're on and organize your case by subpoints, making it easier for me to flow your case.

For the Second Speaker:

When you are rebutting your opponent's case, make sure that you tell me what on their case you are responding to, and I would prefer you to go down the flow. If you do something else, tell me in an off time roadmap. Also, clash is very important in a round so I would like to see a lot of it from you.

During your final focus, I would like to hear Impact calc and why you win the round. Your impacts should be resolutional. Also tell me the reasons why you should win.

Cross Ex:

I want you to be respectful to your opponent. I don't care about where you're facing, either me or your opponent. During Grand CX, teams can either stand up or sit down.

Hi! My name is Abby and I debated in PF all four years of high school and dabbled a little in congress as well! I have competed on the local circuit in New York and Iowa as well as the national circuit, so I have been exposed to many different styles of debate.

I am 100% Tech > truth. I will vote for completely bogus arguments if they are not properly refuted, but I will be sad so please don’t make me do that.

Add me to the email chain: abbybonat@gmail.com

Speed: I can handle fast paced rounds but if you are going to spread I expect you to send a speech doc to everyone in the room/zoom call.

Framework: I don’t really like framework because it limits the possibility for an interesting weighing debate, but that’s just my opinion. I will not penalize you for running it as long as you warrant it. Don’t just state your framework without telling me why I should prefer it over util.

**Please tell me which side of the flow you are starting on before giving your speech! With that being said, do not give a 5 minute off time roadmap.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE signpost clearly!!

First Rebuttal: just use this time to respond to your opponent’s case and weigh if time permits. You do not need to go back and extend your case since there is no ink on it yet.

Second Rebuttal: you should always frontline in second rebuttal (especially turns!) i also think it's strategic to collapse here! If there are turns on a contention you MUST either concede to any delinks or frontline the turn. Dropping the contention does not drop the turn!

DO NOT EXTEND THROUGH INK

Summary: I do not require defense in first summary but I do think it is strategic to extend turns! You should also start weighing here if you haven’t already!

Weighing: Your weighing must be comparative! I will be very sad if you just say “we outweigh on magnitude” without any further explanation. Thats not weighing!! I will be very pleased to see metaweighing or at least see you respond to your opponents’ weighing and tell me why I should prefer your’s. Also, I would really like to see evidence weighing. If there are two pieces of conflicting evidence in the debate you must tell me why to prefer your's instead of just repeating your evidence over again.

I have ZERO tolerance for any sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. If i see anyone behaving inappropriately or overall making the debate space uncomfortable i will drop you and report to tab without hesitation.

Cross fire: I will not flow but I will listen. If something important happens it must be brought up in a speech. Mentioning in cross fire does not equal extending!

Please keep a consistent narrative through the round! Do not decide to collapse on a contention and then change your mind. This means your final focus should follow the same format as your partner’s summary.

I will not call for evidence that is not refuted in the round. However, if i read your evidence and it does not say what you say it says, I will be less likely to buy anything else you read. If you feel your opponent is practicing bad evidence ethics, feel free to use that as a voter in the round. Nothing makes me more mad than power tagged evidence!!

Extend claim, warrant, and impact! Do not just extend your impact evidence and expect me to vote off it.

Hosea Born

Neosho '14, UARK '18, HSU '20

Coach: Yerger Middle School, Hope

I debated CX in MO on a traditional circuit, hence I end up judging Public Forum and Student Congress more than anything else. In any event I judge, I look for quality over quantity in arguments. Don't just read cards, be able to explain how the evidence supports your position. Use common sense, analysis, and solid logic. I don't mind spreading as long as it is clear and the arguments are good. You'll rarely win the flow if your response is just that you have a more recent source of evidence, tell me what your evidence proves over your opponent. I'll disclose if both teams agree that it is okay. Ask if you have any questions, I am usually more than happy to answer questions about the round after it is over. As always, take my comments as you wish and listen to your coach.

StuCo- Definitely qualify your sources and embody the delegate you are supposed to be. IMO there is no place for spreading in StuCo, I believe that it is quality focused form of debate in both argumentation and persuasion which means your logic has to be sound and you need to show persuasive qualities in your style. Don't abuse personal privileges, only use in emergencies or double entered. Be active in questioning and attentive through the session. Decorum definitely plays into my perception of you as a delegate when ranking. PO is ranked based on order of the session and not showing bias towards any other delegate.

PF: My pet peeve in PF are roadmaps. There is one flow. Unless it gets wild, don't waste time telling me you are going to cover your opponents points then rebuild your case. Go with quality over quantity and don't drop key points or try bringing up new arguments after GCF. I will roll with the flow of the round. If you bring up framework or burdens make sure you know what you are talking about and don't get trapped in just debating the framework. Default burden is pro must prove the resolution brings about an advantage not seen in SQUO, con must show that the squo is better than affirming the resolution. Default framework is cost/ben analysis. Speed is okay as long as you are clear. If I cannot understand what you are saying, I will not flow it. If you have questions ask me before the round starts.

CX: I doubt you'll get me judging this that much, though I prefer the traditional style with case debate and disads/T/CP. Speed is fine as long as you are clear. Go with your normal style in the round, just make any off case arguments specific to the aff, if there is not a strong link you will lose the impact.

World Schools: This is a fairly new field that I am judging. Refer to PF paradigm for stylistics/defaults and if you have any specific questions ask before the start of the round. Default to quality debate and argumentation, have solid logic and watch your fallacies. Do not make the entire debate into a definition debate, too many times I have sat through a debate about the definition of "this house" and it doesn't even matter to the debate. Don't get caught in that trap.

I've traveled across different circuits so I know a little thing about every event. However, no matter what event I judge I will 80% of the time follow the exact scoring format I am given on my ballot. The other 20% is what I expect out of the event I am judging. Across all formats I strongly prefer development of clash -- as long as you're engaging with your opponents and promoting on-topic clash it will reflect in point distribution and my decision.

Below I've compiled a short list of what I expect from some formats, and if you have any further questions you're more than welcome to ask in-round;

PF - Strong use of evidence and argument analysis. I don't like it when competitors stick to evidence weighing; there's an effective way to weigh evidence, but simply stating that your evidence is more recent doesn't automatically mean you win the argument. I prefer engagement on analyzing the logic behind the evidence itself instead of surface-level engagement.

LD - Uphold your value and criterion. Actually discuss the effects (good and bad) of the resolution as well as whether there is a moral obligation to enact it.

WSD - A mixture of presentation and strategy are the biggest things I look for after clash in Worlds. Clash weighs most heavily, but you should be deliberate in your presentation and work together as a team to dismantle your opponents. I also like to see WSD-specific techniques, like points of clash or highest ground, but it's not expected.

CX - I'm pretty basic in this format; all I really expect is on-topic clash and strong argumentation. I'll also ask which side weighs more, so doing some impact calculation would definitely help you get my ballot. You can spread if you want, but you should always make sure your judge can understand you. You can use this email for cases and the such: hamza.bouderdaben@utexas.edu

Though I've been a PF middle school coach for four years, I consider myself a novice/lay-type judge. I do flow so I appreciate clear signposts, warrants and unique and impactful evidence. I am very much interested to see speakers attempt or execute innovation in form and style using humor, pathos and engaging impacts. I believe speakers who believe what they're arguing. I frown upon speaker dispositions that are communicated in a seemingly unfriendly, impatient or unkind manner.

anthonyrbrown85@gmail.com for the chain

*Please show up to the round pre-flowed and ready to go. If you get to the room before me or are second flight, flip and get the email chain started so we don't delay the rounds.*

Background

Currently the head coach at Southlake Carroll. The majority of my experience is in Public Forum but I’ve spent time either competing or judging every event.

General

You would probably classify me as a flay judge. The easiest way to win my ballot is through comparative weighing. Explain why your links are clearer and stronger and how your impacts are more important than those of your opponents.

Speed is fine but if I miss something that is crucial to your case because you can’t speak fast and clearly at the same time then that’ll be your fault. If you really want to avoid this issue then I would send a speech doc if you plan on going more than 225 wpm.

I do not flow cross so if anything important was said mention it in a speech.

I would classify myself as tech over truth but let’s not get too crazy.

Speaking

Typical speaks are between 27-30. I don’t give many 30s but it’s not impossible to get a 30 from me.

I would much rather you sacrifice your speed for clarity. If you can’t get to everything that you need to say then it would probably be best to prioritize your impacts and do a great job weighing.

Any comments that are intended (or unintended in certain circumstances) to be discriminatory in any form will immediately result in the lowest possible speaker points.

PF Specific

I’m probably not evaluating your K or theory argument at a non-bid tournament. If you’re feeling brave then you can go for it but unless the literature is solid and it is very well run, I’m going to feel like you’re trying to strat out of the debate by utilizing a style that is not yet a norm and your opponents likely did not plan for. If we're at a bid tournament or state, go for it.

Don’t just extend card names and dates without at least briefly reminding me what that card said. Occasionally I write down the content of the card but not the author so if you just extend an author it won’t do you any good.

I have a super high threshold for IVIs. If there's some sort of debate based abuse run a proper shell.

LD Specific (This is not my primary event so I would make sure I check this)

Cheatsheet (1 is most comfortable, 5 is lowest)

Policy: 1

Theory: 2

Topical Ks: 2

Phil: 4

Non-Topical Ks: 4

Tricks: 5

I’ll understand your LARP arguments. I’ll be able to follow your spreading. I can evaluate most K’s but am most comfortable with topical K’s. I will understand your theory arguments but typically don't go for RVIs. I would over-explain if you don’t fall into those categories and adjust if possible.

PF: I really don’t care what you do, just make sure it all makes sense. If you have a weird argument, but the link is good, then I’ll consider it. Only thing I hate is if you’re rude to your opponent. If you yell at them in cross, or berate them, insult them as a person or anything like that, I will almost certainly vote you down. Just be nice.

PF Paradigm: I will flow rounds and expect competitors to acknowledge each point (even if just one sentence to concede). I appreciate thorough research, well-phrased arguments, and I will base on articulation. While I do like arguments based on technicalities (i.e. round definitions), I like framework to not take over the whole round (and if you don't provide me a framework then I will default to CBA).

Please don't spew unless you enunciate really well.

Congress Paradigm: Congress is about decorum. There is a tasteful way to disagree with competitors. I'm well familiarized with the Rules of Order and NSDA rules on Congress, and you should be too. Competitors who offer new viewpoints and new evidence will rank higher even if they are not flawless speakers. Make it interesting and have fun!

Chairs: If you run to chair, you are expected to run the round smoothly. You don't need to know every rule, but if your peers are hindered by your unpreparedness then you will rank lower. A good chair makes the round pass by quickly and efficiently. I will be tracking speaker precedents.

Extemp Paradigm: While I enjoy the cookie-cutter speech template, I love to see someone take a risk. Offer me a hot-take or some really interesting research.

My background:

3rd year Pre-Law PoliSci student. I did PF, Extemp, and Congress all four years of high school and competed at NSDA nationals every year. You can assume I've done some basic research on the topic/docket of the round.

About me:

-I am a freshman at Liberty University where I am a policy debater

-I've competed in PF, WSD, and Congress at the high school level (mostly PF)

-If you have an email chain please add me: nmcawston@gmail.com

For PF:

I will be flowing the round, so line by line is extremely important to me. Additionally, there is a lot of value in extending arguments/evidence throughout the round. In your final focus I want to hear about how you have interacted with your opponents arguments throughout the round, not be reminded of something you did not extend from your constructive that I will have to go back and find for you.

I also want you to do some serious work on impact calc. So many times I have seen debates (or even done this myself) where a small portion of the debate gets blown up, and the judge is left wondering WHY they should vote one way or the other. What are the consequences of voting aff/neg, and why do you access your impact better than the other team.

please let me know if you're not timing yourself :)

Speaker Points: Be kind. Your speaks will reflect it if you become needlessly aggressive or condescending.

Speed of delivery: I am getting used to spreading, but do not sacrifice clarity for speed.

Cross x: although I don't usually flow CX, it is binding.

New Arguments: I usually won't give weight to new arguments brought up in grand cross or in the final focus, so make your best arguments early and extend them.

Lastly, as I am now in policy and spent a year in WSD since my primetime in PF, I will be extremely hesitant to vote for a procedural so a different form of offense may be a better choice in front of me.

Good luck, and please feel free to ask me questions after the round :)

Add me on the email chain: nilu6060@gmail.com. Please send constructives at a minimum

Short Version

American Heritage School ‘19

Georgia Tech ‘22

Any offense in final focus needs to be in summary. First summary only needs to extend defense on arguments that were frontlined in second rebuttal. Second rebuttal should answer all offense on the flow.

Tech > truth

Long Version

Presumption:

- If you want me to vote on presumption, please tell me, or else I'll probably try to find some very minimal offense on the flow that you may consider nonexistent.

- I will default neg on presumption, but you can make an argument suggesting otherwise.

Extensions:

- The warrant and impact of an offensive argument must be extended in summary and final focus in order for me to evaluate it.

- Your extensions can be very quick for parts of the debate that are clearly conceded.

Weighing:

- Good weighing will usually win you my ballot and give you a speaker point boost, but please avoid:

1. Weighing that is not comparative

2. Weighing instead of adequately answering the defense on your arguments

3. Strength of link weighing - this is just another word for probability and sometimes probability weighing is just defense that should've been read in rebuttal

4. New weighing in second final focus that isn't responding to new weighing analysis from the first ff.

Evidence:

- I will read any evidence that is contested or key to my decision at the end of the round.

- I won't drop a team on miscut evidence unless theory is read. I will drop speaks and probably drop the argument unless there's a very good reason not to.

Speed:

- Go as fast as you want but I'd prefer it if you didn't spread.

- Don't sacrifice clarity for speed. If I can't understand it, it isn't on the flow.

Progressive Argumentation:

- I have a good understanding of theory and have voted on less conventional shells albeit my threshold for a response and your speaks could go down. Please read theory as soon as the violation occurs.

- I wouldn't trust myself to correctly evaluate a K. Most of the time I find myself thinking they don't really do anything. Read at your own risk and I will try my best to properly evaluate.

- If there are multiple layers of prog. (ie theory vs K vs random IVI) do some sort of weighing between them.

- I don't evaluate 30 speaks theory. I tend to believe disclosure is good, but won't intervene.

Other things:

- I think speaks are arbitrary, but humor helps, especially sarcasm.

- Paradigm issues not mentioned here are up for debate within the round

- Reading cards > paraphrasing, but paraphrasing is fine

- Postrounding is fine

- Preflow before the round start time

- I will not vote on explicitly oppressive arguments.

Newbie Coach for ADL

I flow.

I give pretty high speaks if you're nice.

Email Chain: Brandonchen.135@gmail.com

Ask in round if you want to know more about me

I have included my preferences below. If you have questions that are not answered below, ask them before the round begins.

- I evaluate arguments on the flow.

- I am a tabula rasa judge; I will vote on almost any argument that is topical, properly warranted and impacted. If an argument makes no sense to me, it's usually your fault and not mine. In the absence of an explicit framework, I default to util.

- I am fine with moderate speed. Although I personally spoke very quickly when I competed, I will misflow tag-lines and citations if they are rushed, and I prefer a more understandable debate. If you want my ballot, you will be better served talking clearly; too much speed will hurt your speaker points.

- If there is no offense in the round, I will presume first speaker by default, not con. This is because I believe PF puts the first speaking team at a considerable structural disadvantage. If both teams have failed to generate offense by the end of the round, the onus should fall on the team going second for not capitalizing on their advantage. This is my attempt to equalize the disparity between the first and second speaking team.

- I do not take notes during crossfire and only pay attention selectively. If something important comes up, mention it in your next speech!

- I will typically only vote on something if it is in both summary and final focus. If you read an impact card in your case and it is not in summary, I will not extend it for you, even if the other team does not address it. Of course, there are inevitably exceptions, e.g. defense in the first FF.

- No new evidence is permitted in second summary (it's fine in first summary). This is to encourage front-lining and to discourage reading new offense in second rebuttal. Additionally, new carded analysis in the second summary forces the final focus to make new responses and deviate away from its initial strategy. The only exception I will make is if you need to respond to evidence introduced in the first summary. New analytical responses are fine.

- First summary doesn't have to extend defense, but it is responsible for extending turns/any offense. Second summary and both final focuses need to extend defense.

- I try to be visibly/audibly responsive, e.g. I will stop flowing and look up from my computer when I don't understand your argument and I'll probably nod if I like what you're saying. I will also say 'CLEAR' if you are not enunciating or going too fast and 'LOUDER' if you are speaking too quietly; don't be caught off guard.

- I will only ask to see evidence after the round in one of three scenarios. (1) I was told to call for a card in a speech (2) Both teams disagree over what the card says and never fully resolve it (3) I'm curious and want to read it.

- I usually won't keep track of your speech and prep time. It is your job to keep your opponents accountable. If there is any particular reason you cannot keep time, please let me know and I will try to accommodate

- I will evaluate theory arguments and Kritiks if they are well warranted enough. As a warning/disclaimer, if something doesn't make sense to me, I may not feel comfortable voting on it. This means you will probably have to over-explain advanced and complex arguments (this applies to non-progressive arguments as well).

- I evaluate the debate on an offense/defense paradigm. This does not mean you can wave away your opponent's defensive responses by saying "a risk of offense always outweighs defense," because terminal and mitigatory defense are not the same thing. Terminal defense points out flaws in the logic of an argument while mitigatory defense accepts an argument as a logical possibility and attacks its probability or magnitude. I personally dislike 'risk of offense' type arguments because I think they encourage lazy debating, but I will happily vote on them if they are well executed. You must answer responses that indict the validity of your link chain if you want to access offense from an argument.

- I reserve the right to drop you for offensive/insensitive language, depending on its severity. Some things are more important than winning a debate round!

- If you plan to make arguments about sensitive issues such as suicide, PTSD, or sexual assault, I would strongly advise issuing atrigger warning beforehand. I believe debate should be a safe space, and while I don’t necessarily believe inclusivity should compromise discussion, the least we can all do is make sure everybody is prepared for the conversation.

- I expect all exchanges of evidence to take less than 2 minutes. If you delay the debate any longer while looking for a specific card, I may dock your speaker points for being disorganized and wasting time. If someone requests to see your evidence, you should hand it to them as soon as possible; don't say "I need my computer to prep."

- I don't care if you have WiFi on, as long as you're not communicating with anyone outside of the round. Feel free to download a PDF or look something up on Google – whatever makes for a better/fairer debate. The exception to this rule is if certain tournaments have very explicit rules prohibiting internet access (e.g. NCFLs).

- Be nice to each other!

Hi! Congratulations for making it to nationals. I'm sure you'd like a little bit of help as to what your judge cares about, and that's where I come in.

Debate

- Firstly, I am a Public Forum debater through and through, so I am going to judge you in a logical, tangible way regardless of your event.

- I can handle speed, but give me a heads up. Spreading and speed are different, and if I can't understand what you're saying, I won't flow. That's your cue to slow down or to explain your points better. And if you're giving a rebuttal, SIGN POST.

- I am a flow judge, and expect you to prove to me where in the flow you've won. If you don't show me on the flow, then you best explain how your impacts outweigh theirs.

- I will not tolerate racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, or any other derogatory language. If you have to insult your opponent to win, you don't deserve to.

- I am more inclined to vote for you, if you can incorporate 1 (and only 1, more doesn't add more) classic movie quote well into your final focus (or whatever the equivalent of that is).

Good luck,

Samantha Clements

I coach beginners (elementary/ MS) debate, so I'm very familiar with PF, but I work on a very novice level, i.e. 3rd- 8th graders and we typically do more simple topics.

I have a basic understanding of jargon, but you're better off putting things in lay terms. I'm not good with speed, I'll zone out and not process anything you're saying, so I'd suggest speaking a smidge above conversational pace if you want me to truly take in your case. I get it if you want to speak fast to get a lot in, just be sure to repeat the main things you want me to take away to ensure I've got it. If you want to take the risk, that's up to you! :) I really don't recommend it.

I'm usually swayed by more compassionate, emotional arguments and will typically vote for the side that helps more people in a more tangible way. I like when you tell me specifically what to vote based off of.

I don't judge very often, so I definitely am not a perfect judge, but I'll do my best! PLEASE don't expect me to be a tech judge. I am not! I flow, but I miss things at times. I don't have rules about what needs to be in what speech, but obviously you can't bring up something new at the end.

I'm easily charmed by a good public speaker, and have noticed that if someone is a good speaker I'm more receptive to their arguments. I try to keep it to the content when picking a winner, but I've noticed this about myself and am not always conscious of it, so I figured it's beneficial for you to know if I'm your judge.

I always figure it's best to be polite and professional. I think it reflects better on you if you stand for your speeches and keep your own time. It's not a make or break, but you'll come off a lot better in my eyes if you do these things.

If you have a specific question, feel free to ask! :)

Please add me to the email chain: epdal@umich.edu

Pronouns: He/Him/His

O/V

Sophomore at the University of Michigan

Debated all 4 years in HS (2 years 2A, 2 years 2N)

Low topic experience

Short

I was a more policy focused debater in HS, this means that I do not have an innate understanding of the kritik you are running (except for things like Cap, Security)

This does not mean that I will not vote for Ks, just that you will have to explain it

I probably lean a little neg in Framework/T-USFG vs K aff debates

Impact comparison is super important, as is judge instruction on what the most important parts of the debate are

Long

Kritiks — I have not really read a lot of the lit which means that the explanation and application of your theory will be very important, if I am unable to understand it, it makes it a lot more difficult to vote for it/realize why you are winning

K affs — I’ll vote for them and try to be as impartial as possible while judging these debates, that being said, I probably lean a little neg on T-USFG in these rounds

Topicality — I think that legal precision probably outweighs debatability, if the topic is bad it isn’t the aff’s fault. Please extend a violation and standards in every speech you are extending T, even if they dropped it.

Theory — The neg does a lot of shady things with CPs, don’t let them get away with it. I will default to whatever people say/win on whether to reject the argument not the team, winning reject the argument is probably a lot harder on condo debates than others.

The case debate is very important, especially if you are not going for a CP. It is a very underutilized area of debate and a good job debating case will earn you good speaks.

Make the ballot easy — impact comparison and judge instruction will get you far in close rounds, tell me where I have to look first and why it is the most important or I will have to default to the other team’s instruction/figure out myself what is important

Dropped arguments are true arguments to the extent that they have a warrant and an implication (i.e. i.e. "They dropped circumvention" < "They dropped circumvention, Trump can use 49 other programs to sell arms to that country, means the aff can't solve permanently”).

I’m 95% tech over truth, blatantly offensive things like sexism, racism, ableism, homophobia, etc. will not be tolerated.

Postround me all you want — just be respectful and understand that at the end of the day I will not change my decision. I will do my best to explain my decision to you, and answer your questions.

Run whatever crazy strat you want, ultimately debate is a space where we can all talk about cool topics or things that we are very passionate about/interested in and have fun.

If you have any more questions, just email me at epdal@umich.edu

P.S.

1—You only have to explain what the rehighlighting says and insert it --- if you want to read it, that's up to you but I don't think you have to (and if you do you don't have to explain it, its just a card at that point)

2—The number of conditional words that a multiplank CP with all planks conditional generates if N is the number of planks is (2^N)-1, if you're actually interested, ask me about it

Credentials: I was a PFer throughout high school who dabbled in LD and CX but not too often. I was a PF state champion in a traditional state and have competed at a handful of national tournaments.

General:

- Back in the days when I was a debater, I was quite interested in technical debate styles like that seen on the national circuit. However, in my old age (23), I haven't been in the debate world for a while and haven't kept up with that type of stuff too much. This is all to say that I can flow whatever style of debate you're comfortable with as long as its nothing too crazy experimental. Just please keep in mind that debate is for everyone and I'm not gonna give you points just because you know a bunch of tech-y terms. Traditional done well is better than circuit done poorly. Also, if you're gonna spread please send me your case beforehand so I can flow everything correctly.

- Don't assume I know anything beyond the knowledge of a normal person (and remember normal people usually aren't nearly as educated on this topic as you are). I like to think I'm politically educated, but I'm not reading up on the geopolitical state of Bhutan every morning before I head off to work. Please give me at least basic context for what you're arguing. Don't throw out acronyms or niche terms that I have no idea of the meaning for. It takes 5 seconds to explain what a word means and could save you from having a confused judge.

- Just as an FYI, I'm very open to arguments attacking weak links as I believe lazy cases are often constructed with poor quality links from biased sources. If you can demonstrate that the opponent

- I'm generally tech > truth. I appreciate creative arguments if you can make them work. However, there are some caveats to this:

- Don't use a really unorthodox argument for the sole purpose of throwing off opponents who don't have prep on that one niche issue. While I'm certainly guilty of having done this time to time when I debated, in all honesty it makes debate more toxic and less accessible. Niche arguments are fine but only if you can prove that they aren't flimsy and shallow. If you're running a really weird argument at a traditional tournament, please make sure the links are solid and topicality is not questionable (particularly in PF, I'm ok with topicality being an issue in LD). If you run something totally off the wall (in a bad way) and your opponent calls you on disclosure theory or fairness, I will definitely hear them out.

- Tech > truth does not mean I will remain unbiased against clear misinformation from links. If you use a source that is widely known to be not trustworthy, I will be biased against that argument it is supporting. While it is still the opponent's duty to say the source is biased, I can't just let an InfoWars citation slide without at least being inclined not to trust the argument.

- Weigh your arguments. I can't emphasize this enough. I don't care if an argument flows the round if you never told my why that argument matters in relation to the debate as a whole. Sell your impacts and contextualize.

- I'm sure y'all know to do this anyway, but please keep the debate space inclusive. Respect pronouns, give a CW if it's appropriate, and don't be rude. I hope I don't sound like a nerd but I like it when people are nice to each other.

PF-specific:

Ok so I do have some expectations around the content of speeches, which I'll lay out below for full transparency on the perspective I'm bringing to this.

- Summary is the most important speech in my eyes. It is here that the debate starts to collapse in on the most important arguments of the round. A strong way to structure a summary speech would be by refuting anything important that your opponent mentioned in Rebuttal and then telling me what the debate is coming down to, what I should vote for, and why you are winning on those points.

- Final Focus is similar to Summary, except its main focus should be weighing. Tell me the most important voters from the round, and tell me why you ultimately have won on them. No new arguments should be made here, and nothing outside of what you mentioned in Summary either.

LD-specific:

- If this is a value debate, I expect your framework to be upheld or it's gonna be a lot harder to vote for you even if you have good arguments otherwise. This is, of course, unless you can show that your arguments are still true and vote-worthy under your opponent's framework.

- I've only ever done traditional LD so obviously I'm not gonna be super knowledgable about more progressive forms of LD. That said, if you feel more comfortable running progressive stuff, feel free to go for it and just be clear about what you're doing and where it needs to go on my flow. I've competed in and judged some policy so I won't be too lost with policy-style debating.

Updated for NCFL.

Send speech docs to sendmeyourspeechdocs@gmail.com.

I evaluate judging issues in a specific order. If you win on a high priority issue, you win outright (i.e. you can win every stock issue but lose on a relatively minor theory issue because pre-fiat impacts are higher priority than stock issues to me). This order is:

1. Rule/Evidence Violations.

If you think the other team is doing this reference which specific rule they're breaking and where I can find it (i.e. this section of the UM, this part of the tournament invite) in speech as a theory arg. If a team just doesn't know what they're doing and makes a mistake I'll just drop them, only if you intentionally violate tournament procedure/NSDA rules will I tell the tournament director. That said, this has only ever been an issue once, so I don't anticipate it being a serious problem.

As a note: anything not specified in the NSDA's or tournament's rules as not kosher is free game. I am not married to the resolution or typical procedure.

2. Being Offensive or Rude.

I will drop teams who are racist, sexist, homophobic or use ad hominem attacks. Being assertive, passive aggressive, or otherwise debating well is fine. I've never had an issue with this and I hope I never will. This comes after rule/evidence violations because it's specific to my paradigm (though it shouldn't be), whereas rule/evidence violations are not.

3. Pre-Fiat Impacts

Theory, some Ks, some topicality, and other arguments that actually affect you as competitors or me as a judge come before case arguments. Addressing real-world consequences is more important than the theoretical, post-fiat counterfactual, aff world, or status quo.

4. Stock Issues/Weighing Impacts

Per usual. Please directly weigh impacts in final speeches.

Misc. Things:

- 10 sec grace on speeches. No grace on cross, just stop when it finishes.

- What you say in cross examination doesn't affect the ballot so I will be on twitter. If something said in cross has bearing on the ballot, bring it up in speech.

- You don't need to run prep to find cards, but if you call for cards use your own prep when reading them.

- 27.5 is default speaker points, adjusted up or down based on performance (N/A for NCFL).

- Willing to discuss the round in person after the fact though I will probably not remember what happened. (N/A with online tournaments)

PF:

- Aff and neg both have burden of proof. Aff advocates for the resolution, neg for the squo or the counterfactual, depending on the resolution.

- Focus on quantifiable impacts but don't be ridiculous. I'm not a big fan of extinction-level impact link chains in PF. Not to say that you can't go this route, but I find that most who do don't offer convincing evidence. This is PF, not policy.

- Expecting the 2nd speaking team to defend in rebuttal puts an unbalanced burden on them. 1st speaker doesn't have to defend in rebuttal, so 2nd speaker doesn't either. Kudos and speaks if you do though.

- You don't need a framework unless your voters are weird. My default framework is pretty much just CBA/impact calc/util/whatever you want to call it. Don't waste time setting up something like that as a framework unless you're defending against a weird framework.

- If it's in FF, it better be in summary.

LD:

- In my opinion: value is why I care, criterion is how you access value, contentions are basically sub points under the contention of your value, and if they don't link to the value I am a lot less likely to vote for you. To win you need to prove why I prefer your value but also show that the resolution links to that value with a quantifiable impact. I didn't do much LD, so sorry if this is weird.

- B/c I did PF I favor quantifiable impacts, so be sure to explain why I care with moral arguments.

Policy:

- I cannot understand spreading, but I can follow a well-formatted speech doc. You can go as fast as you want as long as you're following the document you shared. Without a speech doc the fastest I can flow is briskly-paced PF.

- Topicality is just the worst. It should be a last resort, not a knee-jerk reaction. I'll pretty rarely vote on t.

- Tag team cross is fine.

- Unless the tournament specifies otherwise you have 8 minutes prep (N/A for NCFL, its 6).

- Neg can fiat CPs subject to the same limitations that aff has for plan fiat. You can run theory to change my mind here if you wanna.

Congress:

- I hate when speeches just rehash other people's arguments. Please bring up something original or specifically address opposing points. This should go without saying, apparently it doesn't.

- Less convinced by anecdotes and stories than the average judge, but an short anecdote paired with and supported by statistics is a sweet spot.

Debate:

No two rounds are the same, so depending on the round, I can vote on framework, clash, structure, analytics, or impacts because those are all crucial to a good debate. Persuade me why I should care and vote for you.

Ensure every argument is sound, but I could easily go for outlandish arguments as long as they’re done right.

I’m good with speed, and progressive arguments are fine, don’t go overboard to where you do so much that you can't keep up with your arguments and structure.

I have a background in both traditional and progressive LD and PF. If I am in a CX round, then something has gone terribly wrong.

If you are rude, condescending, abusive, etc., in the round, you WILL be called out and possibly ranked down because of it. This is supposed to be a healthy, educational environment, and I don't condone people acting like they are better than any other competitor just because of how many rounds they have won.

Congress:

I should put this in all caps, but if you behave unprofessionally in the chamber, I will completely dock you. Nothing is worse than complete disrespect for the round, competitors, and judges.

Also, I don't automatically vote you up just for being PO. Don't run for PO if you don't have your Parli procedures down; I know them.

Content is key to winning in congress and being active in the chamber. Ask questions that make you stand out for the RIGHT reasons, not because you made someone laugh.

IEs:

I have multiple state titles and have competed in numerous national out rounds on the high school and college circuit, so I don't just go by "who has the best story." Characterization and development are important, as well as clean delivery. No topics are off-limits, and follow the parameters of the event.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at ashlyntrokey@gmail.com.

Hello! My name is Daniel (he/him/his) and I competed in Public Forum for six years. I'm open to all styles, but I prefer narrative debate: slow speeches with minimal jargon that tell a story. I have also been out of debate for a couple years now, so just keep in mind that I may not be up to date on the meta.

Good luck, and don't forget to have fun! You can find specific preferences below.

Inclusivity and anti-oppression

Debate excludes and marginalizes many groups of people. When we participate in this activity, we should try to make it as inclusive and just as possible. We should check our internal biases when interacting with teammates, competitors, judges, observers, and anyone else in the debate space. Be mindful of the real-world impact your arguments may have and be careful not to use marginalized people as tools to win ballots. Obviously, none of us should tolerate any kind of bigotry.

Weighing is key; probability is not weighing

Weighing is the easiest way to win debates so start weighing early, bring it up often, and develop it throughout the round. Don't just make arguments; explain why, even if your opponent's arguments have some merit, your arguments matter more.

Weighing mechanisms like "probability, strength of link, or risk of impact" assume that your opponent's arguments aren't true, placing the burden on you to disprove their arguments and defeating the strategic value of weighing. Don't make me vote on probability weighing because you may not be pleased with the outcome.

Disclosure is good

I believe that Public Forum teams should disclose. I will not penalize teams that don't disclose, but I will reward teams that do with a 1 point speaker boost – just let me know your that stuff is on the wiki before the round starts. You can find the link to the wiki here, as well as a guide to putting your cases on the wiki here.

"Truth"/tech

I believe that flows are very useful ways to track what is going on in the debate, and I also want to be persuaded. I'll try my best to be open-minded, and I acknowledge that I enter the round with my own experiences and views.

The second rebuttal should include frontlining

Not mandatory, just a preference, so don't worry if you don't get to it. The more times you make an argument, the more likely it is to persuade me.

The summaries must extend defense

If you want defense in final focus, you must extend that through summary. Three minutes is enough time for summary speakers to extend defense.

Progressive arguments, critical arguments, and theory must be accessible

Go for it! Your arguments must be accessible to everyone in the round (opponents, me/other judges, spectators). Please watch the speed and jargon.

*PLEASE READ FOLLOWING NOTICE: I have specific judging philosophies for the different styles of debate (Policy, ld, pofo, parli) For a full record of my judging history, please look for my other account by searching my full name, Mariela Garcia. Any rounds that I judge after October 16, 2015, will be located on this judge's page. I apologize for the inconvenience.*

General Information About Me

My speech and debate background:

I am currently an senior director for Advantage Communications, a leading speech and debate company that in 2023, had 60% of our students in out rounds at the NSDA championship. I have dedicated the past few years developing district programs in California and Illinois for affluent and Title 1 communities of various backgrounds. I train and advise staff, students, and families, while also creating curriculum with our team of experts. My students and teams are usually in the finals, if not champions. As a coach, I want students to challenge themselves to read material that they wouldn't otherwise read if they were not in this activity. My goal is to ensure all students feel empowered enough to use the stage to say something they truly care about OR that they feel is urgent. I also encourage my students to do at least one event in each category every year if their schedule allows so they stay well-rounded. I train coaches to ensure they bring out the best in students by engaging a growth mindset that keeps them both busy with goals rather than busy work. I work with students from all backgrounds, ethnicities, economic brackets, orientations, races, genders, etc. and it is my goal to ensure all my students feel that there is someone in their corner that is rooting for their success.

My Experience in Debate:

• I debated for about 4 years at CSU-Fullerton ranging from novice to varsity. I am currently the head coach and director of the policy and public forum teams at La Quinta High School. I have been coaching them for almost a year now.
• I have judged policy, ld, pofo and parli, at all levels for 4 years now at various tournaments and have coached minimally in the past. My entire record is not on my judging history, given that many of these judging events occured when I was filling in for missing judges at our CSU-Fullerton tournaments.

My Educational Experience:

• I am graduating with majors in American Studies, Chicano Studies, and Philosophy and have had to follow our general requirements at CSU-Fullerton which provide a well-rounded background in many of the disciplines that are categorized as a-g in your curriculum. More than likely, I will know if you have made up evidence or if you took evidence out of context. I will automatically give you a 25 for your speaker points and you will lose the round.

My Debate Motto:

• EVERYTHING IS DEBATABLE BECAUSE THE WORLD IS INTERPRETED THROUGH DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES AND PEDAGOGIES. I encourage you to be creative with your arguments, even if that means you must debate the resolution (Policy/LD). However, please note my requirements for these types of arguments to be valid in a round below.

My Speech Motto:

Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practices makes progress. This means that you have to bring 100% of yourself OR communicate to your coach if you cannot do that at a practice because without full commitment, we cannot grow and improve at a steady pace. I believe that students are keenly aware of the world around them and they have a lot that they want to say to adults, so I encourage my students to read articles that will help them better express a message, argument, or idea because it is my job to ensure they sound astute on stage. As for acting, it is one of my passions that I am constantly working on improving so I can better teach my students. Impromptu and extemp are difficult events if you don't respect formulas, but if you take it as a coding project, you can create neuropathways that will easily help you during your prep time. I love to coach and I love to teach others how to coach students.

My Judging Philosophy for Policy/LD:

All types of debate prescribe to a game with rules that are ALWAYS debatable. Having said that, I encourage debaters to establish a role of the ballot and a role for the judge as a way for me to score the round. This is separate from framing the debate through framework arguments. Framework tells me how to evaluate and prioritize certain issues within the debate while giving me net benefits to preferring it over other framings. The roles you give to the ballot or judge are additional arguments that allow me to weigh the round given the interpretations you give to those roles and clarifying the necessity to accept these roles as opposed to upholding my own predisposition.

Thus, I will do my best to keep my predispositions away from the round. We as judges merely evaluate the arguments presented to us given the strategies that are used to explain and spin the issues. I stay true to the flow and not my opinion. A debater’s job is to clearly communicate what your argument is and spin the debate by reverting back to the arguments you should have consistently presented throughout the debate to answer the opponents opposition. Thus, you have to warrant your explanations and create clear impact calculations to narrow down my vote in the last speeches.

I welcome metaframing debates and kritiks. However, kritik debate is hard work. This means that if during cross x you do not have a clear explanation of your alternative, metaframing, or links to clarify to the opposing team why your kritik exists in the debate, you have basically lost the round. You may be able to explain it in later speeches, but the cross x is your time to make sure I know what it means to vote for the k. The best k’s engage the topic or the affirmative to either turn the case or frame out the affirmatives impact. Topicality against these types of arguments are good but are not enough to win the debate. To win the debate against a k, you must set up a good framework and topicality argument and demonstrate why it is that we should preserve the norms of thinking in the direction you want us to go (lay out the harms, impacts, and voters). Net benefits for both k and fw/topicality are necessary.

LD debaters must explain how their criterion is the correct moral choice to make. LD is not about solving an issue per say, it is a morality debate. So please make sure you emphasize how your case supports your criterion and why your criterion is the best moral position to take, especially if you aren't doing TOC or CA style debating. Remember that LD started off as a debate about morality, and not so much policy. If there is a plan, I expect you to provide solvency and the neg can counter with a CP. I will respect the type of debate category you enter and I will also respect arguments about the importance of keeping a distinction between LD and Policy. After all, I do believe that while many teams that experienced cuts to their budget have moved to LD to carry on their policy habits, it is also hurting the policy debate community and their budget when we bleed the two together. This doesn't mean we can't have a K in LD, I mean the criterion/value portion of LD welcomes the K, but it does mean that people DON'T have to have a plan but if they do, then you have the burden to prove it's probability and solvency.

Specificity is key. Don't put your judge in a position where they may need to intervene with their own thoughts or emotions, just prove your point thoroughly and make sure you do it in a way that can easily be flowed and explained. This is how I know that no one else knows your argument better than you and I reward specificity with higher speaker points. You don’t need masses amount of evidence to win the debate. Quality over quantity.

Note some other specifications about formalities in debate that I judge on:

Clarity & Speed:

I value clarity over speed. I am fine with any speed. I will give you three warnings for clarity, no exceptions. After that, do not hold me accountable for missing an argument on the flow since I clearly gave you a warning about not being able to understand what you were saying.

Do not spread the following items for your own benefit: Value, Value Criterion, Contentions, Tag Lines, Authors, Date". This avoids me having to call for evidence to make my decision. I want to be as fair as possible. It is your responsibility to to help me make it a fair round.

Road Map & Sign Posts:

This helps me keep up with you on my flow. After the first constructives, I recommend the following structure:

• AFF: Overview, What you are winning on, Dispute Neg. claims by referencing evidence, Why you should win debate(calculation of impacts, magnitude, timeframe, risk of solving, etc.)
• NEG: *BLOCK SHOULD ALWAYS BE SPLIT: I will take off speaker points for teams who fail to do so* Overview, Restate arguments (should be split in block), Why Aff isn't resolving your claims with clear warrants from your evidence, and why you should win the debate (calculation of actualization of impacts, magnitude, timeframe, etc.)

Evidence:

As long as I can follow a clear, reasonable, and logical line of thought, I will always value that as evidence. This means that if you use your experience, poems, performance, or anything that can be seemingly categorized as "unorthodox" evidence, I will still count it as a warranted claim in the debate. I am graduating with majors in American Studies, Chicano Studies, and Philosophy and have had to follow our general requirements at CSU-Fullerton which provide a well-rounded background in many of the disciplines that are categorized as a-g in your curriculm. EVERYTHING IS DEBATABLE BECAUSE THE WORLD IS INTERPRETED THROUGH DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES AND PEDAGOGIES.

Diplomacy:

• SPEECHES: If you need to yell, scream, or perform your speech in any way that is necessary to make emphasis to your claims or give it performative interpretations(say that you are running an identity K or performance K), I will NOT deduct speaker points. Make sure that any claims you are making can be backed up reasonable, logical lines of thoughts. Try to be as respectful to the other team as you can.
• CROSS X: Debate, in essence, should be the diplomatic exchange of ideas. We practice how to exchange ideas in this form so that we avoid yelling at one another. I will deduct speaker points if you are rude or disrespectful to your opponent in cross x, no questions asked. There is an exception to this rule: if I see that another team is yelling, and the opposing team needs to speak up, I will allow the team being yelled at to get louder so that they can carve out space to talk. I will not take off speaker points to teams who merely decided to stand up for themselves.

*My normal range for speaker points is 26-29, but I have given rare 30s to truly deserving debaters. 25's are distributed only in special circumstances.*

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My Judging Philosophy for POFO and Parlimentary:

As A Team

I only judge on what you actually said in the round. I will stick to my flow and nothing else. So you have to make sure you are clearly defining terms and positions on issues that are raised in the round. Evidence is key in pofo and parli and the rules must be followed thoroughly as to set up fairness for every student in the tournament. Contention of the rules is reserved, in my opinion, only to policy and LD debaters. In making the decision, judges are expected to ask the following questions:

1. Which team was more persuasive?

2. If yes to number 1, did the debaters back up their claimswith evidence?

3. Based on my flow, were the ideas understandable enough that I can repeat (almost word for word) the argument that they made?

4. Were the debaters polite and professional throughout the entire round? (speaker points)

As Individuals

Debate, in essence, should be the diplomatic exchange of ideas. We practice how to exchange ideas in this form so that we avoid yelling at one another.I will deduct speaker points if you are rude or disrespectful to your opponent in crossfires, no questions asked. There is an exception to this rule: if I see that another team is yelling, and the opposing team needs to speak up, I will allow the team being yelled at to get louder so that they can carve out space to talk. I will not take off speaker points to teams who merely decided to stand up for themselves.

*My normal range for speaker points is 26-29, but I have given rare 30s to truly deserving debaters. 25's are distributed only in special circumstances.*

General Notes about my judging preferences:

I mimicked my judging philosophy from many of my past coaches and through my experience in debate, but I found a great breakdown of what most judges will judge like by looking at Mike Maier's judging philosophy. He has great tips on what you should be doing in almost every form of debate and recommendations for you as well. I highly recommend that you read it. I do hold different positions on some of his ideas, so please make sure to note those distinctions by reading my paradigm thoroughly. Do not expect me to give you a thorough breakdown of my judging philosophy before the round!

Mike Maier's judging philosophy link: https://judgephilosophies.wikispaces.com/Maier,+Mike

isaiah1415@gmail.com

I did policy debate at Townview Law Magnet & UTD. Minor experience in LD & World Schools. Currently work with the Dallas Urban Debate Alliance.

Make the debate what you want it to be. I like creativity, think outside of the box, take risks, warrant everything.

Im not partial to anything, nor do I not like to see any particular arguments.

I will be listening to you, not reading your docs.

Feel free to ask me any specific questions.

I debated for Ravenwood for 4 years, and was moderately successful on the national circuit. Just make sure you're extending all the offense and defense you want to go for in both summary and final focus, second rebuttal should respond to offense in the first rebuttal, weigh, and Be Nice. Most importantly, SAY A LOT OF MEANINGLESS STUFF.

Debate is a game! Have fun, and feel free to ask me any questions not answered in the paradigm.

+1 speaker point if you make a bird call and incorporate it into the speech.

I debated policy in high school, and look at most debates through that lens. I am open to any argument, including theory. I usually agree that the USFG should be the actor in the resolution.

Public Forum:

I have competed in Public Forum for my entire high school career so far. I will keep a clean flow of the round and not use my outside biases to judge the round. However, I do have a few preferences:

1) Keep your own time. I will not time you.

2) Make sure you’re clear in your speaking. If I can’t understand you, I can’t flow what you’re saying.

3) Make sure to extend and warrant throughout the round. Even if your opponent doesn’t respond to a card, it’s still helpful to extend and explain it if you truly want me to remember it.

4) Clear impacts and how you’re winning on them makes it easier for me to both contextualize the topic in the world and why I should vote for you. Make sure to do this throughout.

5) Avoid getting into debates about the quality of each other’s evidence. If it is vital to the round, I will look at the evidence in question, but I generally tend to prefer the team with the best analysis.

6) I usually won't pay attention to crossfire. If you want me to remember something from it, bring it up in your next speech.

7) PLEASE DO NOT SHAKE MY HAND.

Otherwise, have fun and do your best. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me in round.

TLDR: I like when people are kind and have fun. It's cool to be smart but it's even cooler to be kind. Talk to me like a human, make a compelling argument and I'll listen. I am not a robot and will not vote on some concept of the flow simply because it exists, but complex arguments (when explained well) are great to hear and impressive to observe.

email if needed for evidence stuff: cal8371953@gmail.com

I have some general expectations for round:

1.) Important stuff in Final Focus needs to be in Summary. You can clarify analysis present in the round and explain the warrants/links already extended in summary, but there should be no new warrants/impacts that are key to the round. A good rule of thumb is that the earlier I am able to hear/comprehend an argument, and the more you explain the argument, the more likely it is for me to vote for the argument. Even in front of "flow" judges I believe there is an advantage to the "narrative" style of debate (even when combined with line-by-line).

2.) Make sure to weigh in round. The easiest way for me to decide a round is if you are creating a clear comparative between your opponents arguments and your own. Many rounds I have to intervene and do work for the teams as they don't tell why their arguments are more important than their opponents. If teams don't weigh, I tend to give more credence to the first speaking team as they are still somewhat disadvantaged.

4.) Racist, xenophobic, sexist, classist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and other oppressive discourses have no place in the debate community (and really any community).

5.) Progressive argumentation if accessible is cool but I haven't judged in a while and it'd be a big risk to run in front of me.

Don't forget to have fun in round and be kind! It's cool to be smart but it's even cooler to be kind.

Don't spread or use wacky definitions, and don't make your arguments super jargon-laden, I was never heavily trained in that in the first place, and it's not the transferable skill you get from doing debate. Communicate the logic of your arguments as clearly and effectively as possible. I remain somewhat salty about many rounds in which my arguments were better but the opponents out-jargoned and out-spread me, and basically won the judge on confident aesthetic. Make no mistake that trick will not work on me.

I'm a Senior at Mountain Brook High School and have done Public Forum debate since I was in seventh grade so can understand what's going on and most of the technical terms. I'd say that I prefer a more traditional debate round but most importantly, be respectful and have fun.

My important preferences to keep in mind:

1: Be respectful of your opponents and please do not be rude in cross

2: I don't flow cross so if an important point was made, bring it up in your later speeches

3: I will assume a cost benefit analysis which is perfectly fine unless you tell me otherwise

4: Speed is ok but Public Forum should be accessible to anyone so be clear

5: I don't mind and even encourage teams to call for evidence from the other team but don't overdo it

6: I will keep time during the round but y'all should also. Be clear on when and how much prep you're using

7: Please extend arguments through all of your speeches. If you don't and your opponent calls you out I will have to drop the argument

8: Sign post where you are going with your speech so I know where to flow

9: I encourage off time roadmaps at the beginning of your speeches

Feel free to ask me any questions before the round about anything in my paradigm or that I didn't address

I am a 3rd-year public forum debate from Missouri. I can handle some speed but don’t spread. I keep a detailed flow of arguments and evidence. Use evidence to refute not just assumptions. Be respectful and friendly. Summary speeches should be used to refute attacks made on your case and Final Foci should be used to respond to attacks as well as extend voters. Impact calc will sell me on why I should vote for you. You'll sell me on terminal impacts only if they're well warranted and thought out. Don’t get into a recency debate on evidence and if you’re going to argue something is flowing to your side, tell me why. I like clean debate.

I competed in public forum debate and congress at Shrewsbury High School for four years and competed on the national circuit during my senior year.

How I Vote: I vote by resolving the weighing debate and then looking at who best links into the weighing. If both teams weigh, please use meta-weighing to help me resolve the round. I presume for the neg/squo.

Preferences:

1. Well-warranted, analytical arguments are better than unwarranted, blippy card dumps. Well-warranted carded arguments still trumps all.
2. Start weighing early.
3. Most speeds are fine as long as you are clear. Do not use it as a tool to exclude.
4. Theory should only be used to check back egregious abuse in the round. If you plan on reading theory, please read standards.
5. Paraphrasing is fine but do not misconstrue evidence.
6. I usually only call for evidence if it is really important by the end of the round and the interpretation is contested in the round OR if an indict is extended all the way through the round.
7. Just tell me where to start before speeches from rebuttal onward. Roadmaps are fine but not too long.
8. Overviews are fine in either rebuttal but don’t make them too long (<30 sec), especially in second rebuttal. The exception is weighing overviews, those rock!
9. 2nd rebuttal needs to frontline all turns- I would be happy to see teams frontline defense as well but it is not required.
10. All summaries need to extend full link chain and impact, just frontlining an argument is not extending.
11. 1st summary only needs to extend offense but not defense, as long as it is not frontlined in 2nd rebuttal
12. 2nd summary is required to weigh, no new weighing in 2nd FF
13. Consistency between summary and final focus is important
14. Clarity of impact weighing doesn't exist
15. Yelling a bunch of buzzwords like scope and magnitude is not weighing

Speaks: I give speaks on how strategic a team is during the round. Make good decisions and you will get good speaks. If you are overly aggressive or rude during the round your speaks will take a significant hit. If you have completely lied about evidence, your speaks will tank as well. Expect a L0 if you make any ___ist arguments

Plano Senior '20

Indiana University '23

3X NDT Qualifier (21,22,23)

Add me on the email chain ajasanideb8@gmail.com

Please name the email chain: "Tournament - Round X - Team (AFF) vs Team (NEG)" - "Kentucky - Round 1 - Indiana JP (AFF) vs Indiana GJ (NEG)"

CONFLICTS: Plano Senior(TX), Clark High School(TX), Stanford Online(CA), Southlake Carroll(TX), Indiana University(IN),

TLDR: Flexible, but don't read anything that is offensive.

Largely agree with

-Brian Delong

-Jacob Bosley

-Adam Tomasi

-Jamie Davenport

-Matthew Bricker

-Alex Yoakum

Some Generic Stuff

1)I believe that debaters should have fun while debating. I realize that certain debates get heated, however do your best not to be mean to your partner, and to the other team. There are few things I hate more than judging a debate where the teams are jerks to each other

2)No judge will ever like all the arguments you make, but I will always attempt to evaluate every argument fairly. I will always listen to positions from every angle. Be clear both in delivery and argument function/interaction and WEIGH and DEVELOP a ballot story.

3) Don't cheat - miscutting, clipping, straw-manning etc. It's an auto-loss with 0 speaks if I catch you. Ev ethics claims aren't theory arguments - if you make an ev ethics challenge, you stake the round on it and the loser of the challenge gets an L-0. (this only applies if you directly accuse your opponent of cheating though - if you read brackets with an ev ethics standard that's different).

4)The quickest way to LOSE my ballot is to say something offensive (racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc.)

5) I will assume zero prior knowledge when going into a round on any subject, which means it's on you to make me understand your warrant purely from the speech itself.

6) Use all of your speech and cross-ex time. I will dock speaker points if you use cross-ex for prep, or if you end a speech early. I think that there's always more you can ask or say about an argument, even if you're decisively ahead.

7) I care a lot about evidence quality. Use your cards well and utilize them the best you can. Unpack your warrants and be comparative; use lines of your own and your opponents' evidence to flag important arguments that matter to my decision.

8) I can handle speed as long as you are CLEAR, BUT please accommodate for your opponents who have disabilities

9) Tech>Truth

10) NOTE FOR ONLINE: Record your speeches. If anyone's internet goes out you should immediately send the recording to everyone in the round. If you don't have a recording, you only get what I flowed. I would strongly prefer that we all keep our cameras on during the debate, but I obviously recognize the very real and valid reasons for not having your camera on. I will never penalize you for turning your camera off, but if you can turn it on, let's try. I will always keep my camera on while judging.

Policy Paradigm

K Affs: I don’t care whether you read a plan or not, but affs should have a specific tie to the resolution and be a departure from the status quo that is external from the reading of the 1AC. Impact turning framework is more strategic than counter-defining words or reading clever counter-interps, but you should have a clear model of debate and what the role of the negative is.

Framework: Affirmatives should have some relationship to the topic, even if not traditional endorsement or hypothetical implementation of a policy. At the bare minimum, affirmatives should "affirm" something. I am much less sympathetic to affirmatives that are purely negative arguments or diagnoses. Teams should have a robust defense of what their model of debate/argument looks like and what specific benefits it would produce. Teams tend to do better in front of me if they control the framing of what I should do with my ballot or what my ballot is capable of solving. Whether it signals an endorsement of a particular advocacy, acts as a disincentive in a games-playing paradigm, or whatever else, my conclusion on what the ballot does often filters how I view every other argument. Teams tend to do better with me the more honest they are about what a given debate or ballot can accomplish."TVAs" can be helpful, but need to be specific. I expect the block to provide an example plan text. Solvency evidence is ideal, but a warranted explanation for how the plan text connects to the aff's broader advocacy/impact framing can be sufficient. If the 2NR is going to sit on a TVA, be explicit about what offense you think the TVA accesses or resolves.

Policy v K: Don't lose the specificity of the aff in favor of generic K answers. Reading long framing contentions that fail to make it past the 1AC and 2ACs that include every generic K answer won't get you as far as taking the time to engage the K and being intentional about your evidence. You should clearly articulate an external impact and the framing for the round. I'm more likely to buy framework arguments about how advocating for a policy action is good politically and pedagogically than fairness arguments.

K v Policy: Ask yourself if you can explain your position without the use of buzzwords, if the answer is no, you risk being in the latter category. Take time to clearly explain and implicate the links/impacts/framing arguments and contextualize them to the aff. Make sure to tell me why the impacts of the K come first and weigh the impacts of the K against that of the alt. Absent serious investment in the framework portion of the debate/massive concessions, the aff will most likely get to weigh the aff's impacts against the K so impact comparison and framing are vital. Framework arguments should not only establish why the aff's framework is bad but also establish what your framework is so that my ballot is more aligned more closely with your framework by the end of the debate. K's don't have to have an alt and you can kick out of the alt and go for the links as case turns.

K v K: Affs should have an advocacy statement and defend a departure from the status quo. Affs don't have to have a clear method coming out of the 1AC, although I am more likely to vote neg on presumption absent a method. I have a higher threshold for perms in debates where the aff doesn't defend a plan but just saying "K affs don't get perms" isn't sufficient for me to deny the perm.

Policy v Policy: Nothing much to say here, but please weigh!!

T: I enjoy a good T debate and think T is very underutilized against policy affs. Make sure you are substantively engaging with the interpretation and standards and aren’t just blitzing through your blocks. I default to competing interpretations unless told otherwise.

CP: Explanation is crucial. I need to be able to understand how the CP operates. 2NCs/2NRs should start with a quick overview of what the CP does. Blazing through this at top speed will not contribute to my understanding. Fine with you reading PICS

DA: Framing is everything: impact calculus, link driving uniqueness, or vice-versa, the works. Smart arguments and coherent narratives trump a slew of evidence.

Theory: I will default to competing interpretations unless told otherwise. Conditionality is fine within reason. When it seems absurd it probably is, and it's not impossible to persuade me to reject the team, but it is an uphill battle. It's hard to imagine voting aff unless there are 4 or more conditional advocacies introduced.

LD paradigm

Theory: I believe that RVI is very illogical and non-sensical, thus I will not vote on RVIs. Everything else look at the policy paradigm.

Philosophy/FW: I really like a good framework debate. Please make all framework arguments comparative. I will default to truth testing unless told otherwise.

Tricks:After doing policy for a while, I just think tricks are silly and are usually very underdeveloped. If the strategic value of your argument hinges almost entirely on your opponent missing it, misunderstanding it, or misallocating time to it, I would rather not hear it. I won't vote on a trick that I don't understand or doesn't have a warrant. Please don't blitz through spikes. I am quite willing to give an RFD of "I didn't flow that," "I didn't understand that," or "I don't think these words in this order constitute a warranted argument.

Policy and Kritik: Look at the policy paradigm.

PF Paradigm

I prefer line-by-line debate to big picture in summary, rebuttal, and final focus. I am fine with Policy/LD arguments in PF.

1) The only thing that needs to be in summary and final focus besides offense is terminal defense. Mitigatory defense and non-uniques are sticky because they matter a lot less and 2 minutes is way too short for a summary. BUT, if you do not extend terminal defense, it doesn't just go away; it just becomes mitigatory rather than terminal ie I will still evaluate the risk of offense claims.

2)The First summary only needs to extend the defense with which 2nd rebuttal interacts. Turns and case offense need to be explicitly extended by author/source name. Extend both the link and the impact of the arguments you go for in every speech (and uniqueness if there is any).

3)2nd Rebuttal should frontline all turns. Any turn not frontlined in 2nd rebuttal is conceded and has 100% strength of link -- don't try to respond in a later speech.

4)Every argument must have a warrant -- I have a very low threshold to frontlining blip storm rebuttals.

5) If you want me to evaluate an arg, it must be in BOTH summary and Final Focus.

6)I'm fine with progressive PF- I don't have a problem w plans or CPs. PFers have a hard time understanding how to make a CP competitive- please make perms if they aren't. Theory, Kritiks, and DAs are fine too. If you wanna see how I evaluate these, see my Policy/LD paradigm above.

7)You get a 1:15 grace period to find your PDF, and for every thirty seconds you go over, you will lose .5 speaker points. If you go over two minutes and thirty seconds, the PDF will be dropped from the round.

8)Please have a cut version of your cards; I will be annoyed if they are paraphrased with no cut version available because this is how teams so often get away with the misrepresentation of evidence which skews the round.

9)If you clear your opponent when I don't think it's necessary, I'll deduct 0.2 speaks each time it happens. Especially if there's a speech doc, you don't need to slow down unless I'm the one clearing you.

10)Because evidence ethics have become super iffy in PF, I will give you a full extra speaker point if you have disclosed all tags, cites, and text 15 mins before the round on the NDCA PF Wiki under your proper team, name, and side and show it to me. I would love for an email chain to start during the round with all cards on it.

Speaker Points Scale

29.3 < (greater than 29.3) - Did almost everything I could ask for

29-29.3 – Very, very good

28.8 – 29 – Very good, still makes minor mistakes

28.5 – 28.7 – Pretty good speaker, very clear, probably needs some argument execution changes

28.3 – 28.5 – Good speaker, has some easily identifiable problems

28 – 28.3 – Average varsity debater

27-27.9 – Below average

27 > (less than 27) - You did something that was offensive / You didn’t make arguments.

I debated PF for Centerville High School in Ohio for four years and coached the middle school team for three years. I am a senior at Vanderbilt University coaching the University School of Nashville's debate team.

I competed at a few national circuit tournaments, but most of my debating was done on the local circuit. I have judged all debate formats but have not competed in all of them. Most of this paradigm relates to PF but in terms of Policy, I am open to hearing every argument and will evaluate based on the flow.

Add me to the email chain at sung.jun.jeon@vanderbilt.edu. If you spread, send a speech doc.

In terms of a PF round, here are a few things that I want to see:

1) You don't have to read direct quotes. I am fine with paraphrasing. However, if I find that you are misconstruing your evidence to make your claim, then I won't vote for that specific argument. Your speaks probably will go down as well if your opponents call you out for misconstruing evidence.

2) If you are speaking second, make sure to frontline any offense. I think it is strategic to frontline everything but at the minimum frontline turns.

3) I won't flow cross-fire, but if something major happens, make sure to address it in the next speech.

4) When extending cards and offense in the latter half of the round, make sure that you explain the warranting behind it.

5) If evidence is called, make sure to produce it in a timely manner. Also, I will call for evidence if you tell me to call for evidence.

6) Don't just dump responses. Explain what your evidence indicates and how this piece of evidence is significant in responding to your opponent's case.

7) I like to see you start weighing in rebuttal. I think it is strategic to set up the weighing earlier in the round and then carry that through summary and final focus.

How I vote:

If you want me to vote on a certain argument, it should be in both summary and final focus. Your argument should be explained in a clear manner and your impacts should be extended. Weighing your argument and impacts against your opponent's argument and impacts will make your path to the ballot easier. I will try not to intervene, but please weigh arguments comparatively to make my job easier as a judge. If not, I will have to decide which arguments are more important.

If there is no offense generated from each side (highly unlikely), then I will default to the first speaking team. If you say things that are sexist, racist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, or are extremely rude in any way, I will drop you and give you low speaks. The debate should be civil and debaters should be respectful.

Please do not postround me. I do encourage you to ask questions about the round and why I voted the way I did. I am always looking for feedback to improve my judging.

If you have any additional questions, let me know.

For your email chains: jatikohn@gmail.com

Tldr;

NonT & Performance: 1

Kritiks: 1

Phil: 2

LARP: 2-3

Topicality: 2-3

Theory: 3

Hello everyone, I’m Kati (she/they). I am the lead PF coach & curriculum writer for Bergen Debate, and I regularly teach LD at various summer camps (NSD every summer since I graduated high school: 2019, ’20, ’21, ’22 & War Room in 2020). As a debater, I competed primarily in LD, clearing at every nat circ tournament I went to my junior/senior year, reaching the bid round at all but one. I was the first freshman to qualify to TFA State & Nationals at my school, amassing over 60 state points compositely & was top 30 in extemp debate nationally as a fish. Throughout undergrad, I continued coaching LD and Policy, and upon graduation began working in PF. All of this is to say that I’ve been in the activity for a while and really love it, and I very much look forward to judging your round:)

If you have any specific paradigmatic questions for me, feel free to ask before we get started, but I pretty much am a blank slate. What matters to me most is that arguments make sense & I know what I'm voting for and why it matters.

General Prefs:

-Speed is fine/good! But don’t sacrifice your clarity & please don't yell into your mic if we're online.

-Good Extensions clarify warrants. It’s not a real extension if you are just restating the tag; spend time fleshing out why it deserves my ballot.

-Weigh everything, even/especially your weighing! Not referring solely to those mechanisms, you need to be comparing all of the arguments on my flow and telling me what is the most important to vote on & why.

-Overviews are awesome / Final Speeches should be attempting to write my RFD. This means take me through each layer of the debate and tell me how/why you are winning (framework, contentions, link or alt, the RVI, etc.). Go through everything that matters, identifying independent voters for your side.

-Lastly, don’t read radical arguments that you don’t have the agency to. An L 26 is the most likely conclusion of a round like that.

Be professional. Speak understandably. Time yourselves. When you extend arguments, give me the warrant rather than just stating the tagline, tell me why. Provide analysis in addition to citing evidence. Your summary speech and final focus should share a congruent message. I care more about the strength of your links in topic relevant arguments rather than your general impacts. Don't push impacts in later speeches if you haven't proven how they link to your arguments.

Hi, I'm Rohan!

Debate is a game; tech > truth. Frontline in 2nd Rebuttal. Warrant your arguments. Weighing wins rounds.

I appreciate kindness, humor, and good strategy. Try to have fun :)

Impacts good. Links within your arguments and from point to point also good.

Hi! I'm Danielle and I'm a current junior at the University of California, Berkeley. I competed in Speech and Debate for four years during high school, with my first year being in PF and the remaining three years being in speech. My main event was OO, but I also competed in Extemp, INFO, and Impromptu. I do not have much experience in Interp, but I do have tons of experienced in prepared platform events.

OO/Info- The most important thing I am looking for is just the natural connection you have with your topic. Yes, all the tactical parts of the performance are super important, but I want you to deliver your speech in a way that is authentic to YOURSELF. I look forward to hearing all your stories!

Extemp- I do tend the base off the three-part answer model, but what I am really looking for is a well crafted argument. I want you to be able to come into the round and teach me about the topic, and convince me in why I should care about it. Evidence is KEY and citing evidence is crucial.

PF- I don't like spreading, but it will not be a make or break to speaks. However, if I can't understand what you are saying, you will get voted down. Both sides need to give clear voters in summary and final focus. I won't flow cross, but if something crucial happens during cross it will be considered. Most importantly, tell me WHY I should vote for you. What makes your case better than your opponents? Again, clear voters are key.

Your reasoning should be plausible with credible evidence that is able to sway the audience, considering the classical modes of persuasion. Articulate your words clearly, follow what you say, thereby connecting with the audience. Furthermore, if a case is made and not countered/refuted, then it will be deemed as true in the round.

I did PF in high school, graduated in 2019. I was assistant coach at Salem Hills for a year, but it's been a while since I've been in the debate realm. I should be able to hold my own just fine in any round, but let me know if you have any specific questions about my paradigms.

Good luck in all your rounds!!!

"And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence they will both stand, or their controversie must either come to blowes, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature."

- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Pt. 1, Ch. 5, para. 3

General

I did LD debate for four years in high school, so I understand the event's jargon and how arguments interact with each other in terms of the framework and contention level. This means that I also flow the debate and will make note if a debater extends a conceded argument (so don't expect to win me over with a flowery 2AR if your 1AR was a dropfest). I am definitely tabula rasa, so I'll accept any arguments made in the round as long as they are either uncontested or better upheld in terms of clash, even if I personally disagree or know a given statistic is misleading. However, I will not accept any arguments that are blatantly offensive or abusive (ex: racism and ridiculous "observations" that make it impossible for your opponent to win the round). I cast my ballot by picking the superior framework and weighing who has the most offense under that framework in terms of cards and contentions.

Speed

I'm alright with a faster than normal pace, but please don't go full blast. If you feel the need to send me your speech doc via e-mail, then you're definitely going past the line.

Counterplans/kritiks/other policy stuff

I'm alright with you running these in the right context (i.e. it's pretty unfair to run a policy-esque plantext at a traditional tournament in which your opponent almost certainly has no familiarity with such arguments). However, I'm probably less likely to vote on these arguments compared to a traditional 1AC or 1NC, so run them at your own discretion. I'm most open to counterplans, as those are pretty intuitive and they already get run all the time in oblique fashion anyway.

Policy

Unfortunately, I am sometimes dragged into judging this event. I did policy a handful of times in high school, but I don't have the same level of familiarity with the event that I do with LD. Most of the stuff from above applies (i.e. no new arguments in your rebuttal speeches, an argument that's dropped and extended is considered true within the round).

I understand that you generally have to spread in order to read your 1AC or 1NC in time, so I simply ask you to slow down (relatively speaking) in your rebuttals and speak clearly when you spread.

Don't run ultra-esoteric kritiks. If your K asks me to do something like "embrace the queer suicide bomber," "embrace the death drive," or embrace whatever form of ______ futurism, I will probably be less likely to vote for it (to put it lightly). My paradigm is generally tabula rasa, but I'd rather be upfront about arguments I'm skeptical of and often don't follow. If you run these arguments, you will probably get killed by utopian fiat, or your opponent will respond at the level of the K and the round will essentially become a coin flip because I won't follow a lot of the clash.

Collapse and focus on a few key arguments if you're arguing over theory. The last thing I want is to have to vote based on some three second blip you made in one of your rebuttals and I didn't even have time to flow properly.

I am an experienced public forum debater from North Carolina and also debated on the national circuit several times.

Edit: If I am judging LD, just apply what I wrote here for PF for your LD round. I do not know the timings of speeches so please time yourself. I'd rather not focus on keeping time and would like to focus on flowing.

Things to look out/consider while debating.

- I can handle fast speaking but if it is so fast that I can't understand, I won't flow it. I would prefer speaking slower than faster

- NO SPREADING

- Anything that was said in final focus must be extended from summary otherwise I won't vote off of it.

- PLEASE GIVE ME VOTERS. I will only vote for you where you tell me to vote. Even if the argument that you want me to vote off of is absurd, I will sign the ballot for you if there is no response, conceded, or flat out won.

- Signpost where you are going, ESPECIALLY IN SUMMARY. If you are going to give me a big picture summary, let me know before you start what side of the flow the extensions are on. If you are giving me a down the flow summary, give me a roadmap on where you are starting and where you will go to.

- Evidence. When reading evidence in case, slow down while saying the author's name or publisher so I can correctly identify it when it is extended later in the round. Paraphrasing cards is ok but do not take it out of context. If a card is called and is deemed to be incorrect from what was said in round, tell me to call for the card and stress it. I will call for it if it is an important card in the round. Do not tell me to call for the card if it actually says what is said, I will drop you for wasting my time.

Please have your evidence pulled up in a timely manner when pulled up. I understand that it takes time to sort through many different files to find the right card, but if it takes way longer than it should, I will drop the card.

- WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH. If you do not tell me why your side is more important when both sides have offense extended, I will have to use my own cost-benefit analysis to determine which is the best outcome. Don't just tell me that the long term is more important than the short term, explain why. Even if you tell me that econ is more important than lives, I will buy it as long as you tell me why this is true.

- Lastly, WARRANTING. If you are not able to provide a reason to why a claim reaches its impact, I am most likely going to drop that argument. Just cause John Doe from Harvard says that something happens, it really doesn't matter to me. Explain the logic and paint a narrative of what is going to happen if I don't vote for your side.

- Frontlining in second rebuttal is not necessary but is very helpful for you as the 1st speaker will not have to frontline everything in summary. No new responses or arguments in final focus. Responses in summary can happen but only if the argument that is being responded to came in the speech just prior.

- Do not offend or personally attack anyone in the room at any point in the debate. This will most certainly make me not like you and lose speaks or potentially lose the round.

Yes I know this may seem a little bit scary but please do have fun in round as I believe that debate is an activity that is meant to be enjoyed. Even small jokes/exchanges in crossfire is enough to lighten up a heavy debate. I will give you a bump in speaks if you are seen as lighthearted and funny, but debate correctly as well.

PLEASE if you have any questions about my RFD come ask me if you see me in the hallways (even if you lost) as I will most likely give you some advice for your next round or tournament.

hello friends! I debated for 4 years at Plano West.

chain: adikumar0306@gmail.com

If you have any questions that weren't answered here, I'll be happy to clear them up before round.

1. the warranting of an argument must happen completely the first time you read the response and should ideally be implicated out fully (new warrants/implications from a new warrant will be disregarded, should have theory read against them, and will tank your speaks)

2. I'm a big fan of early weighing in PF. With that being said, if you're just gonna restate your impact and throw out a buzzword, you might as well not weigh at all (make your weighing comparative). I also don't evaluate new weighing in second final unless there is no weighing done in the round prior to that.

3. If you want to dump turns against your opponents, go for it (just make sure the responses are actually responsive because if either a. the response isn't originally responsive and gets turned into something responsive or b. the response gets extended as a blip until final focus, I will intervene to drop the response even if your opponents dropped it completely). I want to make it clear that I am not opposed to reading lots of responses against an argument, but a response must consist of a claim, a warrant, and an implication to how it affects the original argument. offensive overviews in rebuttal are kinda abusive imo, so while ill evaluate it like any other DA/Advantage in the round, I have a lower threshold for responses against the argument and encourage people to read theory against it.

4. With the new three minute summaries, the extension of an argument consists of a re-explanation of the uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact (failure to extend any one of these in summary or final focus drops the argument from my flow). For specific card extensions, idrc if you extend the card name, but it would be preferred.

5. I've debated my fair share of theory rounds, so I think I feel comfortable evaluating a basic theory debate. Additionally, I have a low threshold for responses against "no RVIs" and friv theory. With that being said, while I will do my best to understand non-topical K positions, high theory, tricks, and counter-plans, I can't promise that you'll like my decision at the end of the round.

6. I debated at a fairly fast pace throughout high school, so speed is fine. if you're gonna be spreading, please use an email-chain. If you don't send a speech doc and you're going too fast for me, I will clear you once and proceed to put my pen down and stop flowing.

8. at a base level, i really enjoyed my time in the debate space. I know I'm one of the lucky ones who was surrounded by great friends and coaches that genuinely cared. My number one goal is always to make that space more accessible to others. For that reason, any exclusionary language or action will result in a loss and the lowest possible speaks tab will let me give you.

good luck!

What's up I'm Ankith

Carroll Senior High School (Southlake, TX) '19

Cornell University '23

email: ankith.kurapati@gmail.com

Background

I debated for all 4 years in high school at local, regional, state and national circuit tournaments.

General

The best way to get my ballot is to use comparative weighing. Explain why your links are clearer and stronger and how your impacts are more important than those of your opponents. The quickest way to LOSE my ballot is to say something offensive (racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc.). Other than that, if your final focus is not related to your summary at all you will probably lose.

Other Things

- First summary does not need to extend defense (unless it is responded to in second rebuttal)

- I encourage second rebuttal to cover case but I do not require it

- I do not flow cross so if anything important was said mention it in a speech

- I can flow fast PF rounds but don't spread

- I'm cool with progressive arguments just explain and implicate them well because I never ran them and rarely encountered them

- Tech>Truth but if something egregiously illogical is said the level of rebuttal I expect is much, much lower. This does not mean I don't like unique arguments, I definitely do, but there is a difference between unique and implausible.

Speaks

- I'm not too harsh with speaks and I generally will not give below a 27 unless something offensive is said.

- Speaking fluently obviously helps but making sound, logical arguments, extending the right pieces of defense, and properly executing your case will also help your speaker points.

If you're reading this 5 minutes before round:

TLDR: I'll flow, only go fast if you can still speak clearly, it'll help you lots if you go back in 2nd rebuttal, I won't flow something in cross unless you tell me to, if your offense isn't in summary AND final focus I won't vote on it, and DON'T BE RUDE :D

For more detail, keep reading :)))

___________________________________

I debated PF for 4 years at Madison West High School and I've only been out of high school for 6 months so I'm PRETTY sure I still remember how this works.

SPEECHES/CROSS/VOTING

-2nd Rebuttal should return to case and respond to 1st Rebuttal, 1st Rebuttal doesn't need to restate case

-Offense has to be in BOTH Summary and Final Focus for me to weigh it at the end of the round but you don't have to cover terminal defense in 1st Summary as I'll flow it through to 1st Final Focus

-I won't flow cross unless you explicitly tell me "write that down"

-I'll vote off the flow, and whatever I'm able to get down during your speeches SO if you talk so fast or so unclearly that I can't write it down, I won't weigh it

-It'll be easier for me to vote for you if you're able to tell me a continuous narrative throughout the round and weigh why it wins at the end

-I'm inclined to vote for any argument that you're able to explain well

SPEAKER POINTS

-I'll give you a 10 second grace period at the end of speeches to finish your sentence but if you consistently are going over time, I'll start dropping speaker points

-Don't be rude, patronizing, etc. etc.

I debated four years of public forum debate in high school for The Altamont School and now do APDA at Brown U.

I consider myself to be a really normal judge and don't have any really interesting demands, but here are some things that can help guide how you take on the round!

1) PRE-FLOW: please preflow before round! I will not let yall do it in the room if the round should have started already.

2) EXPLANATION: contextualize cards; explain why they are important and how they support your point/ interact with your opponents case. not doing this makes it really difficult as a judge to understand how you want the round to play out and usually leads to forced intervention

3) 2ND SPEAKING TEAM: you gotta cover turns in 2nd rebuttal. if you don't cover turns then it is offense for the first speaking team.

4) 1ST SPEAKING TEAM: you can extend defense from first rebuttal to final focus but pls try to have some in first summary. I expect at least some defense in 1st summary, especially since there are 3 minutes for the summary now.

5) WEIGHING: even if something is "clean-dropped" you still need to weigh it. I will have a hard time voting on any argument (no matter how cleanly extended) if I am not sure why it's important.

6) ARGUMENTS

A)if you are making an argument about harms to countries that are viewed as "developing" by a western hierarchical perspective, or discussing in your case or in weighing, please be respectful and don't make your own uncarded analysis about the struggles these countries have. I would also prefer not to hear weighing analyses about these countries that mention anything about "these countries have so little" etc.

B) if you are running an implementation/process of getting the bill to the public argument, do so at your own risk. I generally do not find these arguments persuasive or topical, and chances are that if your opponent says I should not evaluate those kind of arguments in a debate round I will drop it from my flow. An example of this is "the united states should not pass ____ because it would be torn up in the courts/loaded with riders."

C) if you are running an econ argument, please be sure to explain it really well in extensions in ff and summary. in my experience, econ rounds are the most difficult to judge because of clarity problems in link extensions and warranting, so make sure you spend time explaining it!

7) EXTENSIONS: don't extend through ink. interact with the argument you are responding to and dont just say "my opponents dropped ___" when they really did not. Frequent issues with extensions through ink lead to lower speaker points and a worse round :(

8) EVIDENCE: I will call for cards you tell me to call for if they are highly important to the debate round. I will also call for any card that seems too good to be true. Evidence ethics is very important and I will intervene if I catch faulty evidence

Updated for Fall 2021:

I'm currently a sophomore at Rice University studying natural sciences. I have roughly 3 years of PF experience from high school.

Some general things to keep in mind:

a. Please be a nice person. I encourage you to debate however you want, but don't cross any lines while doing so or else your speaker points will suffer.

b. Please add me to the email chain or any other evidence-sharing equivalent if it exists. My email is lidaniel355@gmail.com

c. For online debate specifically, I strongly encourage (but don't require) that you keep your camera on for the entirety of the round.

For Public Forum:

a. I'll vote off of the least mitigated narrative that has a clearly extended impact.

b. Please weigh as early as summary, it makes evaluating rounds much easier.

c. Frontlining is necessary in second rebuttal.

d. Anything dropped is conceded for the purposes of the round.

e. Evidence ethics is pretty awful in PF debate. If you think your opponent has egregiously misconstrued an important piece of evidence, you can ask me to call for the evidence during your speeches (I won't entertain these requests if it's after the round or during prep time). I have no problem dropping entire arguments over bad evidence and in extreme cases, I'm not entirely impartial to the idea of directly dropping the team.

f. I think there is merit to many theory arguments, but I would still advise not to read them in front of me because I don't have the background to competently evaluate theory debates. Same goes for basically any other form of "progressive" argumentation.

As a parent judge, I prefer that you slow down the talking pace in your speech to ensure that I clearly and fully understand your arguments to provide proper feedback. I would also like to receive and review your cases during the debate round(email address is rongli916@yahoo.com).If you can time yourself, that will be the best.
My goal is to make myself a fair judge, more importantly, to support your passion and efforts as a debater!

*TOC* '22 - Helping some kids out, guess I'm back just for this one tournament

Conflicts: Walt Whitman DP and Marist School

Background: Plano West Class of '18, Was affiliated with Hebron ('18-19), Colleyville Heritage ('19-20), The Marist School ('20-21), Worked with debaters from Plano East ('19-21), Coppell ('19-21), Westlake ('19-20), and Walt Whitman ('20-21)

If you're really that curious about anything else check judging record I guess.

My speaks used to average in the mid 27's if that matters

I don't even know why I have to say this, safety is critical to participation, if you make the round unsafe it's a stop the round L0, trip to tab

Top level notes (I.e. Important Stuff):

-I have not been involved in circuit debate since this tournament last year. I have not thought about arguments, I have not done research, I have not coached. My level of competency for fast, technical debates is undoubtedly lower than it used to be

-Arguments and styles that appeal to a lay audience are both good and useful but do not confuse this with the "truth > tech" nonsense. Full link chains are still required and any argument is founded on a warrant. Conceded arguments are 100% true, I don't care how ridiculous you make them out to be. If you think they're non-sensical the burden's on you.

-Speeches are meant to build on top of one another. The role of the rebuttal is to address offense - this means you should be covering turns/disads/etc. in the 2R. No, "sticky defense" is not a thing. What is in summary should be in final focus and vice versa. No new arguments in the second final focus, that's ridiculous.

-You should be weighing. Weighing should be comparative. Weighing is an argument and therefore should be warranted. Weighing should be introduced as. early. as. possible.

-Your backhalf extensions ought to be extensions of the full argument. UQ -> Link -> I. Link -> Impact. Don't forget the warrants or the impact, those are kinda important and tend to be left out more often than not.

-Crossfire does not matter, I do not listen to crossfire, I'm probably writing notes on the ballot. If something important happens in cx bring it up in speech proper

Other Stuff:

-Progressive arguments? Used to be okay with them, now it's a run at your own risk. I probably don't remember much. I was kinda a disclosure and paraphrasing-bad hack but if you win the argument you win the argument. No I will not vote on impact turns that teams should lose for disclosing or cutting cards. Yes you need an offense to win an RVI. Yes you automatically lose if it's competing interps and you don't defend a competing interp. Yes theory is apriori to case.

-Speed? I used to be able to process things pretty quick but I'm old now and out of practice so my brain probably can't handle super speed too well. Go at your own risk.

-Evidence? If I can resolve the round without looking at evidence, I will not call for evidence. I will not call for evidence if the round is difficult to resolve. However, I will call for evidence if I am told to do so and it affects the outcome of the round or if I am told that evidence is misrepresented or miscut. If your evidence ethics are hot steaming garbage that's an easy way to get L20. You've been warned

-Presumption? Used to presume neg, I guess that's still a thing? Convince me otherwise, y'all are debaters.

-Speaks? Speaks for content, I don't care about delivery unless I can't understand you. You get three clears before I put my pen down. If you've disclosed, remind me and I'll bump you.

If you have any other questions please ask. I've undoubtedly forgotten something that's probably important

I was a NSDA Qualifier in 2018, JV State Champion in 2018, & IHSA Varsity State Runner-up in 2019 in LD. I also qualified for NSDA in 2019 for PF. I debated my junior ('17-'18) and senior year ('18-'19) in LD and PF. I am an extremely traditional debater from a traditional circuit (Chicago).

My general paradigms:

*I can handle speed as long as you are clear. If you are unclear, I will drop my pen and stop flowing.

*If you have a card that discusses a hypothetical (or anything, really), but cannot explain what/why and you are called on it, I will be more inclined to believe your opponent and their evidence if they are able to elaborate on it. PLEASE know your own evidence.

*Please back up your evidence with logic. Don't just say "my card says this"; what does it mean, what does it contribute to the round, and why is it true on a logical level?

*If your opponent asks for evidence, cross examination / prep time will be paused until it is provided. If this is during prep time, all debaters must drop their pens and look forward until the evidence is provided.

*Please be kind to your opponent. This is cliche, but debate is an educational activity. Roasting intellectually (picking apart flawed logic, logically) makes a more entertaining and friendly debate.

LD Specific:

*Your framework is incredibly important in the round. Your value is what we are aiming for; your value criterion is a method to strive for your value. If your case is about freedom, yet your value is progress, winning the framework will mean you lost the round (since your case doesn't flow under it.) If you feel you've lost framework, or you and your opponent have similar frameworks, flowing under that will be your best shot at winning.

PF Specific:

*Frameworks are allowed, but not essential. However, if you do not respond to your opponent's framework, you have conceded to it and your best shot is to flow under it.

In general I should be considered a lay judge. I have a history with Speech and Debate as well as a background in political science, but I prefer debaters that can communicate with a diverse audience. I used to say that I was okay with fast talking, but found that students would either start to spread beyond my comfort zone or speak incoherently. I theoretically am open to all T and K arguments as I think policy debate gets stale after one year of the same debate. I have to warn all debaters though that I do not often vote for them as they are often presented as either a time suck or with unclear components.

Stock Issues: I know this is very basic, but my favorite debates are the ones where the AFF presents a well researched plan with clearly labeled stock issues and relevant evidence. The NEG then can bring up relevant DAs and convince me that the plan is somehow flawed. The debate should be sign posted, clean on the flow, and use logic or evidence to address all points of contention with one or more responses.

Counterplans: Most CPs are on the table as long as they take into account uniqueness. If you want to adjust the timeframe, there needs to be a compelling reason. There needs to be a clear piece of evidence about the harms of doing something at a particular time. The same logic applies to consult CPs, give me specific evidence about why your proposed org is better. AFFs should avoid the perm. Just argue the CP (weigh agency, timeframe, etc.). Likely unpopular: I don't like the 50 states fiat. There are legitimate reasons as to why a federal actor is uniquely important, depending on the situation. The only time 50 states unanimously adopt a policy is when its federally mandated ( feel free to tell me if I'm wrong). Mobilizing resources to fund a plan is different than mobilizing 50 state governments to incorporate an uniform policy.

T/K: I am never sure how to accurately convey my position on these arguments. I think in a perfect world, they are mechanisms that bridge educational/institutional gaps between debaters. However, I rarely vote on them because of poor links and labeling. The shell should be outlined somewhat like stock issues. Let me know the interpretation, violation, standards, and voters. It should be noted, "education" isn't a voter. You have to tell me what education does for us outside of the round. If you're running topicality, you should do your best to address your opponents case. Too many times I have heard students run topicality and spend 8 full minutes talking about how they had no time to come up with an adequate response. Not only is that speech terribly repetitive, it seems self defeating. Topicality should be used to bridge legitimate gaps in research, but even in the worst case we are all still capable of debating with logic. A legitimate K will demonstrate an actual barrier that prevents a contextual discussion.

Oversimplified ex. I don't like: K must be resolved before the Resolution because of more pressing impacts. Oversimplified ex. I do like: K must be resolved before the Resolution because of specific reasons that prevent/affect a contextual discussion of the plan.

Extinction Arguments: The more steps/links it takes to get to Nuclear War the more likely you are to lose me. The argument needs to have uniqueness and probability.

Evidence sharing: This is wildly unpopular, but I do not believe that judges should be on the evidence chain. While there are occasions where the actual card in question is unclear, debate is about the speaker's ability to read, evaluate, and respond to the opponents evidence. When judges look over evidence they expose themselves to bias. Additionally I have found when I look over evidence, I start to make arguments for students myself. The best way to avoid this is to not get involved at all. If your opponents' evidence is poorly written, power tagged, etc. TELL ME. Read me the quote in question with your interpretation. That is the best way to evaluate these disputes.

Decorum: I absolutely do not need us to treat each other like we are in MUN. However, we need to set basic rules of respect. Ex, one speaker accuses another of cheating because they have a disagreement over interpretation is definitely disrespectful. Not only does that kind of behavior unnecessarily aggravate your opponents (or even your teammate I have seen), it makes me feel as though the character judgement is intended to manipulate judge perception.

Hello! I competed in public forum for 4 years on the local and national circuit at Kennedy High School (2017-2021).

email: lamackey@usc.edu

There are a couple of things to do to win my ballot:

1. Have a clear narrative throughout the round. This helps me understand which argument is most important to each team rather than having a ton of random arguments that aren't clashing.

2. Extend claim+warrant+impact (don't forget links or you lose impacts and have nothing to weigh)

3. Extend the cleanest piece of offense

4. Weigh!!! It is important that you weigh because if you don't I am forced to choose what I think is important and you lose control over my ballot

Flowing

- Please signpost. At the end of the round I evaluate what is on my flow so it is important to be clear where you are making arguments.

- I can handle fast PF speed, but be aware of how fast I can write- speed is not always an advantage if I am unable to write it on my flow in time (also if you do choose to speak faster than normal do not exclude the other team)

Rebuttal

- I prefer well thought out articulated responses over a bunch of blippy responses (quality>quantity)

- I really like carded responses, but don't card drop excessively

- For 1st rebuttal just solely respond to the opponent's case- please don't go back to your case because I just heard it and there are no responses on it yet

- For 2nd rebuttal it is your choice what you do strategically. It would be smart to do some frontlining, but I have no personal preference

Summary

- Please collapse and make grouped responses

Evidence

- I will call for a card if the other team calls for it and it becomes a point of discussion within the round or it you bring up a specific card that is very important to winning your point

- If it takes you more than 2 minutes to find a card we will have to move on and I will cross that card off the flow

K's/Theory

- I do not like theory and would prefer if it stayed out of the PF space. If you do choose to run theory, please make sure you dumb it down for me and your opponents, otherwise debate becomes an inaccessible space.

Other Things

- pre flow before the round! please don't delay

- I am open for discussion after the round, but please be respectful

- rude or disrespectful comments of any kind will not be tolerated and will surely result in a loss for your team

- Have fun, debate doesn't always need to be so serious!

About me:

I mostly end up judging PuFo, so my paradigm is for that.

Judging style: Team

I like civility in the room. Be respectful and gain respect.

You don't need to change your style of speaking for me, I can follow fast speech, if I miss something, I do ask for cards mentioned.

Don't use too much technical stuff, if you do - explain it in short. Otherwise the argument will be lost on me. I have a daughter who does policy and LD and she has explained me what it is and how to evaluate it. Feel free to run it with me.

I give a lot of weight to impacts and mostly award points based on that.

Do not bring in a controversial topic in the debate unless it is absolutely necessary (eg: terrorism, 9/11, etc)

I do take notes so don't try to pull fast ones, chances are I will catch it (Not all the time though)

I like off time roadmap. Helps me be organized.

Judging style: Individual Speaker:

I award points based on how you speak, and how you conduct yourself in cross. If you are blatantly rude, offensive, racist, sexist, etc, you will be marked down to the lowest.

Let your opponent complete their thought in cross before interrupting.

General:

Do not try to shake hands.

If you need any clarity on paradigms, more than welcome to ask me before debate on a 1-1 basis or anyways.

talk about arguments, not just cards, and just don’t be stupid

Jeffrey Miller

Current Coach -- Marist School (2011-present)
Lab Leader -- National Debate Forum (2015-present), Emory University (2016), Dartmouth College (2014-2015), University of Georgia (2012-2015)
Former Coach -- Fayette County (2006-2011), Wheeler (2008-2009)
Former Debater -- Fayette County (2002-2006)

jmill126@gmail.com and maristpublicforum@gmail.com for email chains, please (no google doc sharing and no locked google docs)

Last Updated -- 2/12/2012 for the 2022 Postseason (no major updates, just being more specific on items)

I am a high school teacher who believes in the power that speech and debate provides students. There is not another activity that provides the benefits that this activity does. I am involved in topic wording with the NSDA and argument development and strategy discussion with Marist, so you can expect I am coming into the room as an informed participant about the topic. As your judge, it is my job to give you the best experience possible in that round. I will work as hard in giving you that experience as I expect you are working to win the debate. I think online debate is amazing and would not be bothered if we never returned to in-person competitions again. For online debate to work, everyone should have their cameras on and be cordial with other understanding that there can be technical issues in a round.

What does a good debate look like?

In my opinion, a good debate features two well-researched teams who clash around a central thesis of the topic. Teams can demonstrate this through a variety of ways in a debate such as the use of evidence, smart questioning in cross examination and strategical thinking through the use of casing and rebuttals. In good debates, each speech answers the one that precedes it (with the second constructive being the exception in public forum). Good debates are fun for all those involved including the judge(s).

The best debates are typically smaller in nature as they can resolve key parts of the debate. The proliferation of large constructives have hindered many second halves as they decrease the amount of time students can interact with specific parts of arguments and even worse leaving judges to sort things out themselves and increasing intervention.

What role does theory play in good debates?

I've always said I prefer substance over theory. That being said, I do know theory has its place in debate rounds and I do have strong opinions on many violations. I will do my best to evaluate theory as pragmatically as possible by weighing the offense under each interpretation. For a crash course in my beliefs of theory - disclosure is good, open source is an unnecessary standard for high school public forum teams until a minimum standard of disclosure is established, paraphrasing is bad, round reports is frivolous, content warnings for graphic representations is required, content warnings over non-graphic representations is debatable.

All of this being said, I don't view myself as an autostrike for teams that don't disclose or paraphrase. However, I've judged enough this year to tell you if you are one of those teams and happen to debate someone with thoughts similar to mine, you should be prepared with answers.

How do "progressive" arguments work in good debates?

Like I said above, arguments work best when they are in the context of the critical thesis of the topic. Thus, if you are reading the same cards in your framing contention from the Septober topic that have zero connections to the current topic, I think you are starting a up-hill battle for yourselves. I have not been entirely persuaded with the "pre-fiat" implications I have seen this year - if those pre-fiat implications were contextualized with topic literature, that would be different.

My major gripe with progressive debates this year has been a lack of clash. Saying "structural violence comes first" doesn't automatically mean it does or that you win. These are debatable arguments, please debate them. I am also finding that sometimes the lack of clash isn't a problem of unprepared debaters, but rather there isn't enough time to resolve major issues in the literature. At a minimum, your evidence that is making progressive type claims in the debate should never be paraphrased and should be well warranted. I have found myself struggling to flow framing contentions that include four completely different arguments that should take 1.5 minutes to read that PF debaters are reading in 20-30 seconds (Read: your crisis politics cards should be more than one line).

How should evidence exchange work?

Evidence exchange in public forum is broken. At the beginning of COVID, I found myself thinking cases sent after the speech in order to protect flowing. However, my view on this has shifted. A lot of debates I found myself judging last season had evidence delays after case. At this point, constructives should be sent immediately prior to speeches. (If you paraphrase, you should send your narrative version with the cut cards in order). At this stage in the game, I don't think rebuttal evidence should be emailed before but I imagine that view will shift with time as well. When you send evidence to the email chain, I prefer a cut card with a proper citation and highlighting to indicate what was read. Cards with no formatting or just links are as a good as analytics.

For what its worth, whenever I return to in-person tournaments, I do expect email chains to continue.

What effects speaker points?

I am trying to increase my baseline for points as I've found I'm typically below average. Instead of starting at a 28, I will try to start at a 28.5 for debaters and move accordingly. Argument selection, strategy choices and smart crossfires are the best way to earn more points with me. You're probably not going to get a 30 but have a good debate with smart strategy choices, and you should get a 29+.

This only applies to tournaments that use a 0.1 metric -- tournaments that are using half points are bad.

For PF: The event is designed to be realistic and "public". I am not a "flow judge", I vote on holistic debating. If you want to impress me as a judge, combine logos, ethos, and pathos. If you overly emphasize any single one of those three elements, I see that as weaker debating. Since the idea of the debate is to be accessible to the average citizen, I act as if I have only little basic knowledge on the issue at hand, so arguments that depend on large amounts of knowledge you don't provide me will not work for you. Do not speak too quickly or without clarity, I will not listen, and I'll make it obvious I'm not listening. I love to be entertained, because your ability to do so makes me believe you are confident and will help your ethos. Above all, stay calm, and stay confident, because I firmly believe that you're capable of much more than you might think.

A little bit about me: I competed in speech and debate for three years during high school, specifically in PF, Congress, limited prep, and interp events. I even dabbled a little in LD and World Schools. Now, I stay involved with the speech and debate community by coaching PF at Phoenix Country Day School in AZ.

As far as paradigms go, I'm open to pretty much any argument you can warrant properly and impact out. I will vote off the flow, but that means your arguments need to be made clear to me. I can keep up with speed, but if I put my pen down, you've lost me. At the end of the round, I am looking for offense, which includes both the impact and the link into that impact, that has been extended cleanly through the debate. Then, it comes down to the weighing that you have done for me on that offense. Don't make me do that work for you because it probably won't turn out the way you want it to!

General things to note:

• Please stand for your speeches unless there is a legitimate reason you are unable to. It helps your public speaking, your persuasiveness, your confidence, you name it.
• For the love of all things holy, SIGNPOST, SIGNPOST, SIGNPOST!!!! I want clear taglines and numbered responses. The more organized you are in your responses, the more likely I will follow every piece of your argument, meaning the more likely I am to vote for you.
• I like off-time roadmaps. That means something short like, "I'm going aff then neg," or, "The order will be overview, their case, our case." It shouldn't be anything more than telling me where I will be flowing.
• I will not call for a card unless you specifically ask me to during one of your speeches.
• If something important happens during CX, bring it up during a speech.
• Don't be rude to your opponents. I love a little sass and sarcasm because debate definitely calls for that sometimes, but don't blatantly disrespect one another.

Technical things to note:

• Second rebuttal should frontline (quickly) anything that will be extended in summary.
• Extend important defense. Defense is sticky, but it strengthens your position if you hang onto important defense throughout the round.
• Counterplans: These don't belong in PF. They are a clear violation of rules. Counter advocacies with the necessary probability weighing are fine, but no plan text or specific implementation plan.
• Kritiks: I find Ks really interesting, and I am all for their entrance into PF when you have a tech judge/panel. I want you to read your K to me as if I have not read the literature surrounding the issue though. Just because you say a buzz word, does not mean I understand the argument. Make sure it is well formulated if you want my ballot.
• Theory: If there is a clear violation of PF rules, don't run a shell. Just tell me about the violation during a speech, and that will suffice. If there is a violation of norms that you feel is genuinely worthy of bringing up (i.e. no frivolous theory), I am willing to hear it out. That being said, I am not super well-versed in theory debate, so you just need to make sure you explain to me what the impact of your argument is on the round and why I should care about it. In all honesty, if a team runs theory, you are probably more likely to get my ballot without running a counterinterp and just responding to it the way you would any other argument. All the jargon starts to get lost on me.

I started this technical section based on questions I am frequently asked in round. It is nowhere near exhaustive, so if you have any additional questions or concerns, feel free to ask me when both teams are present before the round!

Also, please include me in the email chain: mittelstedt.taylor@gmail.com

General thoughts: I want your debate experience to be fun! That means a couple things, but most importantly everyone should be kind and respectful. Also, please ask questions about my paradigm if anything is unclear. These are brief thoughts but I'm happy to expand on any of them.

My forensics experience: I competed for four years in high school, primarily in congressional debate but also in PF at times. I competed for two years college forensics, primarily in NFA-LD (one-person policy) and extemp. I have some limited experience coaching PF and congressional debate.

Substantive thoughts on PF: Arguments have uniqueness, warrants, and impacts; if you're missing one of those it's a problem. Clash should focus on one/multiple of those areas and nothing else. I default to a pretty standard offense/defense paradigm and will weigh impacts against each other as magnitude times probability. I'm willing to evaluate a debate a different way if you want, but the burden is on you to make a framework argument convincing me to do so. I'll listen to most types of arguments as long as they're well executed, so if you want to be bold and run a K just do it well. Generally speaking I lean tech over truth.

Stylistic thoughts on PF: I really don't care about your speed or other aspects of your presentation as long as it's not exclusionary. As the debate progresses definitely collapse; it's good strategy and makes life easier. Towards the end of the debate your job is to do my job for me, meaning laying out how I should write my ballot in your final speeches, with clear discussions of voting issues, weighing, etc. Debate cleanly and explain why your side won the debate.

es.motolinia@gmail.com and please add blakedocs@googlegroups.com to the chain as well (this is just how Blake keeps track of our chains because otherwise they get lost).

Just send speech docs from case through rebuttal. We don't need to wait for it to come through but it speeds up ev exchange. If you are in a varsity division and don't have a speech doc, pls do better.

TL;DR clean extensions, weighed impacts, and warrant comparison are the easiest way to win my ballot.

I debated for 2 years in the UDL at Clara Barton and 4 years in PF at Blake (both in MN). Please don't mistake me for a policy judge, I was only a novice and didn't do any progressive argumentation. I have been judging for 5 years.

My judging style is tech but persuasion is still important. I prefer a team that goes deeper on key issues (in the 2nd half of the debate) rather than going for all offense on the flow. There can/ should be a lot on the flow in the 1st half of the debate but not narrowing it down in summ and FF is extremely unstrategic and trades off with time to weigh your arguments and compare warrants.

Use evidence, quote evidence, and we won't have a problem. Don't paraphrase and don't bracket. Bad evidence ethics increases the probability that I will intervene against you, especially in messy debates. I'll start your prep if you take longer than 2 minutes to find and send a card.

Responding to defense on what you're going for and turns is required in the 2nd rebuttal. Obviously respond to all offense in second rebuttal, new responses to offense in second summary will not carry any weight on my ballot. I am very reluctant to accept a lot of new evidence in the 2nd summary because it pushes the debate back too much. (Note: I still accept a warrant clarification or deepening of a warrant/ analysis because that is separate from brand new evidence.)

Defense needs to be in first summary. With 3 minutes, summaries don't have an excuse anymore to be mediocre. Bottom Line: If it is not in summary then it cannot be in final focus. If it is not in final focus then I will not vote on it.

In order to win, you gotta weigh. The earlier you start the weighing, the better. I don't like new mechanisms in 2nd FF (1st FF is still a bit sketch. I am fine with timeframe, magnitude, probability new in the 1st FF but prerequ should probably come sooner). The 2nd speaking summary has a big advantage so I don't accept that there is no time to weigh. It is fine if the summary speaker introduces quick weighing and the final focus elaborates on it in final focus (especially for 1st speaking team). If both teams are weighing, tell me which is the preferable weighing mechanism. Same for framework. Competing frameworks with no warrant for why to prefer either one becomes useless and I will pick the framework that is either cleanly extended or that I like better.

I vote on warrants and CLEAN extensions. A proper extension in the 2nd half of the round is the card name, the claim+ warrant of the card and the implication of the card. Anything short of this is a blippy extension, meaning I give it less weight during my evaluation of the flow. Name of the card is the least important part of the extension for me so don't get too caught up on that, it will just help me find the card on the flow.

I vote on the path of least resistance, if possible. That means that I am more inclined to vote on a dropped turn than messy case offense. But turns need to be implicated, I won't vote on a turn with no impact. Even if your opponent drops something, you still have to do a full extension (it can be quicker still but I don't accept blippy extensions).

You can speak fast, but I would like a warning. Also, the faster you speak, the less I will get on the flow. Just because I am a tech judge, does not mean I am able to type at godly speeds. Don't sacrifice persuasion, clarity, or argumentation for speed otherwise it will be counterproductive for the debate and (possibly) your speaker points. Sending a speech doc (before or after the speech) does not mean that you can be incomprehensible. I still need to be able to understand you verbally, I will not follow the speech doc during your speech.

I am still learning when it comes to judging/ evaluating theory and Ks. I am more familiar with ROB but still need a slower debate with clear warranting. I am more familiar with Ks than theory but never debated either so the concepts are taking me longer to internalize. You can run it in front of me but combining it with speed makes me even more confused. I understand a lot of basic ideas when it comes to theory argumentation but your warranting and extensions will have to be even more explicit for me to keep up. I am in favor of paraphrasing bad and disclosure good theory. I don't have many opinions on RVIs or CI vs reasonability so you should clearly extend warrants for those args.

IVIs are silly and avoid clash. If there is abuse, read theory. If there is a rule violation, stop the round.

Similarly, any sort of strategy that avoids clash is a non starter for me and I will give it less weight on my flow. An example of this is reading one random card in your contention that doesn't connect to anything, then it becomes an argument of its own in the back-half with 3 pieces of weighing.

Also, be nice to each other (but a little sass never hurt anyone). Still, be cognizant of how much leeway you have with sass based on power dynamics and the trajectory of the round/ tone of the room. Sass does not mean bullying.

Take flex prep to ask questions or do it during cross. Essentially, a timer must be running if someone is talking (this excludes quick and efficient ev exchange). You don't get to ask free questions because the other team was too fast or unclear.

If I pipe up to correct behavior during a round, you have annoyed me and are jeopardizing your speaker points. I have a poker face when I observe rounds but am less concerned about that when judging so you can probably read me if I am judging your round.

Sometimes messy rounds will come down to nitpicky things so here are some clarifications:

Warranted Cards > warranted analytics > unwarranted cards > unwarranted analytics

Qualified source and author > qualified source only> qualified author only > no qualified author or source

Link +impact extension > Link with no impact > impact with no link

Comparative weighing > weighing that is only about your impact > weighing that is about opponents impact only

I only have this list because some rounds have come down to each team doing one of these things so this list explains where/ how I intervene when I need to resolve a clash of arguments that were not resolved in the debate.

If the tournament and schedule allows, I like to disclose and have a discussion about the round after I submit my ballot. Ask me any questions before or after the round.

You can ask me specific questions if you have them...but my paradigm is pretty simple - answer these three questions:

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. If you are racist, homophobic, transphobic, nativist, sexist, or pretty much any version of "ist" in the round - I will drop you. There's no place for any of that in debate.

Hello,

I am from North Carolina and have competed on the Carolina West circuit for 3 years. Thus, I can flow almost anything that I can understand. I am fine with speed but if you are excessively fast than I will gesture to slow down (don't be startled, it typically means I actually am interested in what you are saying, I just am missing key points). Moreover, this means I can pick up on the jargon that you will use in round, but if I am really lost I will give you a very confused look. Below are things I want and don't want in a round.

UPDATE: I am a sophomore in college now, so I am just a bit rusty. Please note that I am not in my prime anymore :(

UPDATE 2: I honestly do not know anything... go easy

UPDATE 3 (Oct. 8 2022): IT HAS BEEN SO LONG PLEASE HELP.

Things that will get you speaks and wins:

1. Argumentation. I will vote on arguments NOT on presentation. Please, please, please extend your arguments properly, preferably with cards and impacts, it makes them easy to vote for.

2. Weighing/Framework. If you can tell me WHY I should vote for economic benefits over lives lost with a good reason, I am fine with signing the ballot that way. However, that doesn't mean you can just tell me in final that lives don't matter and expect an easy win because you lost the lives argument.

3. Signposting/Roadmaps. Please use these techniques in order to make it easier for me to flow your speeches and apply your arguments correctly. If I have to guess on where your turn belongs than I will probably get it wrong and you won't be happy.

4. Crossfire. This is not vital to the round and will not get you a win unless it is critical to the round. If you absolutely slay your opponent in cross, great! I love a bit of humor, banter, and even satire in cross. I think it makes the round more enjoyable, and therefore will give you a bump in speaks. If something really critical comes up in crossfire and you think that I should flow it, please address the idea in the following speech.

5. Evidence. This is obviously the most important part of Public Forum. A few key issues with evidence. One, please at least tell me the last name of the author and date of the card in case and in subsequent speeches. Also, if you are trying to indict a piece of evidence, expect me to call it if it is really important to the round or if that is your only response to their entire argument. Lastly, please give me the reasoning and warranting behind the card instead of just saying "we are right because Callan Hazeldine said so"

Things that will lose you the round and get bad speaks:

1. Being A Jerk. There is a fine line between standing your ground in cross and defending your time to speak and steamrolling your opponent. Just be careful (profanity, abusive, or harsh language). Also, any racist, xenophobic, sexist, or any discriminatory remarks will almost certainly lose you the round and possibly have consequences beyond that.

2. Summary/Final Discrepancy. If your summary goes for your C1 and the final goes for C2, I may throw a fit. I know that the summary is one of the most difficult speeches in the round, but it should match the weighing/impacts given in final. If these speeches don't give me basically the same narrative, or at least FF be a part of the summary narrative, I will have a hard time signing my ballot for you.

A couple more key pieces of information:

1. Please have your evidence. I understand that it can take a minute to try and find anything that they call for but if it lasts more than 3 minutes, I will begin to become skeptical. I probably will not interfere but I will definitely not enjoy my time being wasted.

2. Timing. I may time if the round really needs it but I much rather prefer that the opponents keep each other in check with time. For prep, please take care of that as I will be evaluating the flow during that time, not counting your seconds.

3. Have Fun! Remember, this event is supposed to be enjoyable for everyone (including you!). I would love to see your passion on the topic and I know how intense a debate round can get. However, please understand this community is a second family for some. While the topics and solutions we debate are super important and have real-life consequences, I do not think that rules out enjoying the round.

4. About the decision. I will try and give my RFD at the end of every round I judge because I prefer to have it still fresh in my mind while also giving you the opportunity to ask questions. So, if you feel like I missed something or want clarification, then please feel free to ask questions, bring up concerns, or anything you feel as if you want to talk to me about. Moreover, if you want more detailed feedback (specific speeches, case ideas, etc.) then go ahead and either meet with me later in the day or get my contact info. I love this event with all my heart and all I could ask for is to see some great debate. I want to help you all learn and get better so take advantage of that.

I debated for 3 years at Ravenwood.

Speed

-I can keep up with most pf speeds but I don't like spreading.

-Don't be exclusionary with speed

Rebuttal

-I think second rebuttal should respond to turns, but you don't have to frontline everything.

-I'm unlikely to vote off disads or third contentions in second rebuttal, I won't reject it on face, but I'm fine with first summary frontlining it by saying it's abusive and bad for debate.

-plz contextualize/weigh your turns

Summary

-First summary needs defense if the second rebuttal frontlines it.

-Second summary always needs defense.

Final Focus

-Try to mirror summary

-I don't like new weighing

Theory/Ks

-I have little experience with theory, the only thing I'm comfortable voting off of is evidence ethics. That being said I have a kind of high threshold for dropping a team, 2 or more pieces of evidence have to be misconstrued.

-I don't even know what a K is.

Other

-I am not perfect, sometimes I miss things. This means if you get a concession in cross, something gets dropped in a speech, or you want me to call for a piece of evidence let me know in your speech.

-I'm really unlikely to vote off a nuke war impact, unless it's really relevant to the topic.

-Econ args confuse me, so its probably best if you spend more time explaining/warranting on econ topics.

-If your pen spinning impresses me I will give you +1 speaker points.

-email me at jowens1133@gmail.com if you have any questions.

-Be Nice

I prefer a moderate speaking tempo. I pay a lot of attention to dropped arguments and do not appreciate abusive definitions or observations.

1. I can handle as much speed as you want as long as you’re speaking comprehensibly. If you’re no longer enunciating, I’ll drop my pen so you know to slow down.

2. I’ll vote off the flow. Weigh arguments clearly, use warrants, don’t just spit out cards/extensions, signpost, and give me voters.

3. I’m down for more progressive debate, but it has to be done well. Make sure if you’re running something non-traditional, it has a purpose and isn’t just there to confuse your opponents.

4. Don’t be rude to your opponents or yell in crossfire. I like humor/sass but keep it under control.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask before round!

Coming from a dominantly PF/Parli background, I'm comfortable with most things so long as debaters let me know beforehand.

Want to spread?

A-okay, just let me know.

Off time roadmap?

A-okay, just let me know.

Self time prep?

A-okay, just let me know.

Anything else?

Just let me know and we can talk it out.

The only things that I'm nitpicky about are intelligibility when speaking and timing for crossfire. Otherwise, it'll be round-by-round what I'm looking for in the debaters. Don't worry about what you think I'll want to see as a judge, just do your thing.

The most important thing to me is that both teams have fun :) Debate is alot more than just winning, its a fun event and at the end of the day we all came to get more experience and do what we love!

With that being said... if you want to have fun and win, there's only 2 thing I really NEED to see for you to win: clear speaking and clash!

If you have any other questions on my paradigms, feel free to ask me before the round starts! I will gladly answer any questions you have.

Krish Patel:

History: Debated 4 years at Hebron High School and 1 year at UTD, qual to TOC my senior year in policy (2019-2020 season), been both a 2a and 2n if that makes a difference to you. Debated mostly kritiks (Warren, Moten, Afropess, Set Col, Cybernetics, Baudrillard, Deluze, University)

Email chain: patelk3511@gmail.com

*** IF anything in my paradigm is unclear, feel free to ask before the round starts ***

At the minimum I would like all debaters to send their cards to one another and me, preferably through an email chain. Not sending your evidence is a good way to lose speaks in front of me. I want to read your cards and you should want me to.

*edit for online debate - typing your remaining prep in chat will result in higher speaks

My debate philosophy is summed up here:

"If you want my ballot, this is really a simple concept. Tell me 1) what argument you won; 2) why you won it, and 3) why that means you win the round. Repeat."

I spent most of my debate career debating K's, however I will obviously try to evaluate each argument to the best of my ability. I am not very familiar with the topic so be clear on what specific acronyms stand for. I am very familiar with identity arguments and pomo arguments. That being said I also enjoy a DA CP round so you do you.

----For Prefs-----

Ks - 1

Policy/Larp - 2-3

Theory 3

Phil - 4

Tricks 4-6

Speed

I am fine with speed however slow down on tags and analytics.

An on-going list of things I've noticed I commonly say were insufficient (doing these things will likely make my decision easier) :

1. Judge Instruction- what I mean is tell me what arguments you're winning and the implication, doing so makes my judging experience much better

2. Fleshed Out Extensions- beyond just a reiteration of the tagline

K aff v FW debates - I don't believe fairness is an independent impact but can be persuaded otherwise. I usually lean internal link to education in most debates however unless poorly handled by the affirmative. I also don't think the aff needs to win a counter interp if they are winning an impact turn to the negative's model of debate

------For LD-------

Phil and Tricks- I never really debated these, but it's not like I won't vote for it- I just might require more explanation than a judge more familiar with the argument.

RVI - Love em though I can be persuaded otherwise

Defaults- all of these can be persuaded differently you just need to give me a reason why:

1. Competing Interps > Reasonability

2. Default Framing = Util

3. Tech > truth (it all instances except for things like racism good, sexism good, etc)

I’ve had the most experience with policy debate on more traditional circuits. I’ve done all the debate events except PF. I can follow speed but—do to my more traditional background—would prefer you to not super-spread (you’ll know you’re going too fast if I haven’t been flowing). I love clash, weighing impacts, logical communication, and good cross examiners. Lastly, using bigotry is not a good idea if you want to win a round with me.

May the panda be on your side of the bamboo forest (<---translation, "good luck ").

(More specific paradigms below)

CX/Policy- I'm a Stock Issues judge that is okay with any argument that can be justified. I'm okay with Kritiques, Theory, and Framework arguments; I just need weight for those arguments to become voting issues. I am one of the few judges who actually likes Topicality arguments, but the violation has to be clear and logical.

LD- If your opponent drops an argument, it helps to point that out to me and include it as a voting issue. In LD, I tend to vote for the debater who had the most control of the flow and offered the most substantive clash. I guess I would be considered closest to a Tabula Rasa judge in LD

Trey Roark

She/Her/They/Them

If you have any questions about the round or anything in general, don't hesitate to email me at trey.roark3@gmail.com (Also add me to the email chain)

Just have fun with the debate I promise I'm not mean it's just my face

TL;DR:

Go off on whatever you want

Truth Over Tech (Tech is obviously amazing, but don’t go reading racism/homophobia good args or something like that because that ain't the truth, and arguments that are just not true are not persuasive)

Love speed especially when clear

Also, cross-ex is something I pay attention to a lot.

Top Level:

I think that debate is based on the contextualization of the round. Whatever comes out of your mouth is what I evaluate (which on paper sounds really weird but you get the point).

Don't be rude, but that doesn't mean you can't be bold, if fact I encourage it, if you know a claim is ridiculous call it out, clown on them, and CX is a perfect place to do this.

IMO CX is CX because of CX so I evaluate Cross-Ex ALWAYS. It's my favorite part, so y'all better know whatchu talking about because CX can be pretty damning for a lot of teams

Arguments:

KvK: I'm all for them, especially if it's done well. I love talking about specific theories and reading various literature on them. I do a lot of QT and Sex Worker research so if you're planning on running with that I'd have a pretty good background on it before reading it in front of me. Anything else is totally fine, but I evaluate this in terms of a method v. method, not in terms of which method I think is better but which is better framed, linked, and described materially throughout the round. So tech helps you a lot here.

Plans: Sure! I read soft left affs in high school, so I have a soft spot for em........ If you're not reading one, topic analysis is obviously almost necessary, but even then if it says "screw the res" that's cool too, C/I can help you with this as well. I read k affs, but I love clash debates.

Framework: I read both K affs and Policy affs, so I've voted on FW before. I will say there better be a lot of impact framing on this, especially in the context of the round, cause I believe that the aff in itself is scholarship so that's already a plus for in-round analysis.

TvPlans: You can go for T in the 2NR, but there needs to be quite a bit of articulation, mostly just because I don't really understand it and I didn't do much of it in high school. I've never gone for T before, so if that gives you any information. Affs that are obviously untopical sway my vote in this case. Grammar T's are pretty strong tho to ;)

DAs: I like these, but at some point, I think they not only get repetitive but also boring. In this case, quality over quantity, because if not, it's a waste, so if you're running it into the block, there needs to be a lot of contexts and in-round descriptions.

CPs: I like these, condo is definitely good in this case. I think theory on CPs can be strategic, I also like the creativity of CPs, but I think Fiat in all cases needs to be explained to me in the context of what we fiating and why we should be able to. I don't just buy a "we get fiat" argument, I need to know why you do.

Theory: Perm debate is good, but it isn't just about specific theories and why you deserve perms or not, it's also what can the perm do for each side, or why it's unfair for the affirmative to have one, I love out of the box answers to perms and play on words. Other theories are fine but there needs to be more than a 1 line description and a fairness impact though.

KvPlan (K's in general): I like these kinds of debates, especially if there's a good link not just to the topic/overarching usfg, but specifically the plan itself and why voting aff causes specific disadvantages. Tell me why the perm can't work, and why the K and K alone is specific to solving the plan. I also live for how plan debaters respond to this, if done well can make for really good debates.

Also, I love putting DA names on links and examples, creative naming goes a long way for me.

Things I hate

- Blippy Disclosure (Unless breaking new or specific reason)

- Stealing Prep

- Clipping

- Homophobia/Racism/Sexism/Transphobia, etc.

Debate is supposed to be fun and an awesome activity where we all get to hear each other's opinions, voices, and scholarship; don't ruin that. It makes debate inherently harmful and unfun, and I don't think engaging in such an intellectual activity should be either of those things.

If you got this far lol:

+.25 speaking points for each GOOD RuPaul's Drag Race reference ;)

Hello! I competed in public forum for 4 years at Kennedy High School (2015-2019).

While I do find debate to be strategy based, I prefer arguments that follow a logical well thought out narrative. I keep a flow, but I prefer truthful and reasoned arguments.

There are a couple of things to do to win my ballot:

1. Have a clear narrative throughout the round. This helps me understand which argument is most important to each team rather than having a ton of random arguments that aren't clashing.

2. Extend claim+warrant+impact

3. Extend the cleanest piece of offense

4. Weigh. It is important that you weigh because if you don't I am forced to choose what I think is important and you lose control over my ballot

Flowing

- Signpost! At the end of the round I evaluate what is on my flow so it is important to be clear where you are making arguments.

- I prefer teams to not just say "extend Smith 19"- you need to explain the evidence and what that is directly responding to

- I can handle fast PF speed, but be aware of how fast I can write- speed is not always an advantage if I am unable to write it on my flow in time (also if you do choose to speak faster than normal do not exclude the other team)

Rebuttal

- I prefer well thought out articulated responses over a bunch of blippy responses (quality>quantity)

- I like carded responses, but don't card drop excessively

- For 1st rebuttal just solely respond to the opponent's case- please don't go back to your case because I just heard it and there are no responses on it yet

- For 2nd rebuttal it is your choice what you do strategically. It would be smart to do some frontlining, but I have no personal preference

Summary

- For first and second summary I would like you to extend responses on your opponent's case in order to extend it to final focus

- within this speech it is important to collapse and make grouped responses

Evidence

- I will call for a card if the other team calls for it and it becomes a point of discussion within the round or it you bring up a specific card that is very important to winning your point

- If it takes you more than 2 minutes to find a card we will have to move on and I will cross that card off the flow

K's/Theory

- I have no experience in LD or Policy so if you choose to run this type of argument you need to dumb it down for me. Personally, I would prefer a traditional contention over this type of argument. I am not a fan of disads read in rebuttal.

Other Things

- pre flow before the round! please don't delay

- I am open for discussion after the round, but please be respectful

- I understand rounds can get heated and I like respectful humor and sassiness, but do not be condescending or rude to your opponents

- Have fun!

I did 4 years of HS debate (PF, Parli, BQ, Congress), I'm in my 3rd year of debate for OSU (IPDA). Be kind, be confident. Tell me why you should win, not just which points you won. Other than that, I trust you to run a good round.

Add tyrossow@gmail.com to the email chain.

Background: I debated on the national circuit in CX (three years) and LD (one year) for Union HS (OK). I am now a sophomore at Baylor University pursuing majors in economics, philosophy, and political science. I was previously an LD instructor at VBI and taught debate this summer as well.

***General Thoughts***

--- Debate is a game. That does not mean the game should be exclusionary or lack educational value.

--- Tech determines truth. I’m not comfortable imposing my beliefs about the world onto the debate, unless the debate is offensive to a group of people.

----- I enjoy highly technical debates.

------- Speed is fine but be clear.

------- Evidence quality matters, but not if you don’t explain the warrants in said evidence. I’ll call for cards if there is a dispute about what a piece of evidence says, but I won’t vote on warrants in your evidence that are neglected in the debate.

------ If you clip cards or say something offensive about a group of people, I will give you zero speaks and an automatic loss.

----- Tl;dr for the rest of the paradigm: Like all judges, I have preferences, but I am generally comfortable with voting for anything. Win the arguments on the flow and you will almost certainly win my ballot.

***Policy Paradigm***

Policy AFFs: I like them.

*** Against the K: Don’t shy away from defending what you do. I’m more than comfortable with voting for a heg good + util 2AR if that’s the direction your aff takes you.

K AFFs: I have experience reading them and will vote for them. Performance is also fine if you communicate the importance of it. Framework specific preferences are addressed below.

Disads: Yes. Read lots of cards.

CPs: Yes. My views on “judge kicking” aren’t particularly strong either way; give me a warrant and I will evaluate it.

K: Yes. I have a fairly extensive background in K debates. This is mostly on the identity side, but I am okay with continental philosophy as well. In addition:

*** More specific link argumentation is always better. That doesn’t mean I won’t vote for a generic link, but I’ll be much friendlier to your K if you can tie it to the 1AC.

*** On questions of framework, I lean towards the middle ground; the aff can weigh the 1AC, but the neg can garner links external to the plan.

*** The block and 2NR need to clearly articulate the alt for me to vote on it.

*** I will vote for a floating PIK, but if the aff calls it out, I will strongly lean aff on the theory debate.

T: Yes. Don’t be afraid to go for it if you’re winning the flow.

*** I default towards an offense-defense paradigm over reasonability, but can be persuaded otherwise.

Theory: It’s fine. I’m not a huge fan but I’ll vote for it.

*** I was a 2N so I lean neg on most theory debates, including condo, PICs, process CPs, consult CPs, and international fiat.

*** On condo: one counterplan is almost certainly acceptable, two counterplans is probably acceptable, three counterplans is debatably acceptable, and four counterplans is really pushing it.

*** I’ll vote on a perf con arg if it is impacted out and turns the K.

Framework:

*** I lean neg. That does not mean you should be afraid to read a K aff in front of me; I will fully evaluate it like any other argument. Instead, it just means that you need to be going for the right arguments (under my paradigm) to win the debate.

*** On the neg, I am most persuaded by clash and procedural fairness arguments.

*** It helps me greatly if you have some way to suck up most of the aff offense. A TVA, truth testing, impact turns to the aff’s method, or some combination of these will greatly benefit your 2NR.

*** On the aff, I am most persuaded by arguments about how framework creates a poor educational model and/or necessitates exclusion.

*** You need to be defending your aff as a debatable argument. I'm not a good judge for impact turns to clash and fairness. Defensive arguments about how to preserve limits, ground, predictability, etc., coupled with your offense, are a much better strategy in front of me.

*** I would greatly appreciate seeing impact comparison from both sides. I feel that the neg is often ahead on questions of fairness, and the aff is often ahead on questions of education. Determining which impact outweighs is critical.

***LD Paradigm***

General Thoughts:

---- Spreading is fine, but be clear.

---- I am fine with progressive and traditional LD, and I have experience in both.

K AFFs/CP/DA/Framework/Ks: These are all good and addressed in my policy paradigm. Other thoughts I have specific to LD are:

*** I am more lenient towards CP theory in LD rounds due to the time structure. One condo CP or K is probably fine, but anything beyond that is probably abusive.

*** Comparative analysis that typically happens in the policy 2NC needs to be in the LD NC.

Plans: These are acceptable and I enjoy these debates.

*** I am willing to vote on Nebel T, and I am interested in hearing more of these debates.

Phil: Despite my primarily policy background, I enjoy these arguments quite a bit. I find philosophy fascinating, and these cases are the heart of LD, so please don’t hesitate to read them if this is your A strat.

*** Giving examples that prove your philosophy is vital.

Theory: My receptiveness to your shell will largely hinge on a personal “gut check.” If legitimate abuse has clearly occurred in the round, I will grant you more leeway on the theory debate. However, I will be frustrated if it seems as if you are fishing for a theory violation to run from substantive debate. This also means that I lean strongly towards reasonability on theory, not T; I think most experienced debaters intuitively know whether their strat (or shell) is reasonable.

*** This does not mean I won’t vote for frivolous theory. If you win the arg, I will vote for it. However, I cannot promise that you will be happy with your speaks.

*** I am fine with metatheory in instances where there is legitimate abuse.

*** RVIs are possibly fine. I will vote on it if you win the flow.

*** It helps me when you give a title for your warrants. For example, instead of saying “a) x b) y ” say “a) Time skew (or whatever warrant) – x b) (separate warrant) etc.”

I debated throughout high school for Lincoln-Sudbury (in Massachusetts). I currently work with the Public Forum Academy during the summer and throughout the year.

Crossfire:

I will be paying attention to crossfire, unless I am obligated to write down comments within the ballot. I believe that crossfire is a key part of the debate round, and any concessions and answers to questions will be binding.

Frontlining:

I believe that defense should be somewhat sticky. My likelihood of believing/accepting frontlines decreases as the round progresses. For instance, if a response is made in 1st rebuttal, a basic response to it in the second rebuttal would suffice, but a more well-explained response in second summary would be required.

This means that I think it is strategic to frontline in the second rebuttal. But you certainly shouldn't feel obligated to.

Extensions of Defense:

With a three minute summary, I think it's not too difficult to extend defense in the summary speeches. So please do so. At all times, extending defense is a great way of reinforcing your point and persuading me more.

More specifically, you must extend defense in first summary if they frontline their arguments in second rebuttal, or else I think your defense is essentially dropped.

Second summary should definitely be extending defense, but I will allow defensive extensions from second rebuttal to second final focus, because I think frontlining is super important to debate. But, again, the more you repeat/extend an argument, the more likely it is that I understand it and I factor it into my decision.

Extensions of Offense:

an extension of an argument is only accepted if BOTH the link AND the impact are extended. Extend the warrants behind both of these parts as well. This means that if I don't have BOTH of these parts of an argument extended in both the second half speeches, I won't vote for it unless there are severely unusual circumstances

keep your summaries and final foci consistent based on the most important issues in the round (they should be about the same arguments)

Please consolidate the debate as early as possible (2nd rebuttal + First summary) into the most important arguments, then focus on those arguments. I prefer 1 well-explained, well-extended, well-weighed argument over 100 that aren't done very well.

Weighing:

don't just weigh using random buzz words, do comparative weighing between your offense and your opponents' to help me vote for you. If you just repeat your impact and attach a "magnitude" or "scope" to it, I won't evaluate it as weighing.

Evidence Stuff:

I will not call evidence until it is absolutely crucial to my decision. This means that if I don't understand your argument by the end of the round, (link-story or impact scenario), I will not call for your evidence to clarify it, you just won't generate much offense. Please warrant well With this in mind, there are three scenarios where I will call for round-changing evidence.

1. I am explicitly told to call for it as an implication of an indict.

2. There are competing interpretations from the teams and neither team gives me a compelling reason to prefer theirs.

3. The meaning of the evidence has been changed/misconstrued when extending it throughout the round.

I recommend qualifications of sources. Saying Smith 19 doesn't quite do it for me, who is smith and why should i trust his opinion? Oral citations should preferably include Last name, qualification, and the date. If you don't read qualifications, which can be as basic as the website you are citing from, your speaker points won't be over a 28.5

Speed:

You can go pretty quickly in terms of speed for a PF round, but don't be full on spreading unless a) you can be super clear while doing it and b) your opponents are ok with it. I really won't tolerate it if speed is used to exclude more inexperienced debaters from competing.

Tech vs Truth:

i'm more tech than truth. But, I'll have a lower threshold for analytical responses when an argument is super out there, and be more likely to buy the defense it. If you wanna go crazy, do so, but make sure you're not misconstruing evidence, and explain your argument and the warrants behind it super well.

Miscellaneous:

i vote for the status quo on presumption

i will always prefer the more clear, specific, and well-warranted argument.

i am wholly inexperienced with theory and K debate. I don't think you should run it in front of me.

Speaks - they'll be based on your ability to convince me rhetorically, not necessarily on your strategy. This is still Public Forum Debate, it's the name of the game.

please ask any questions you may have before the round

Feedback:

at the end of the round, i will disclose the result and provide feedback. Ask me any questions about anything and I'll be down to give you whatever answer I can provide. I think providing feedback after round is the most direct way to convey my thoughts to you as debaters, so I'll prioritize that over writing down comments when I need to. who knows if this is allowed at nats so if i judge u there you could just find me after or something

Lmao pls read smth fun and non substantive

Fr ill buy anything, but it has to be warranted and weighed well. 2nd rebuttal has to frontline turns but term defense can be responded to in summ. Defense is sticky but new implications need to be made in summary for it to be considered in final. Weighing is vital. Extend card by card esp in summary and extend all warrants and impacts on turns.

u gotta explain shit well

Dont go too fast, im tech but im not that great with spreading :)

I dont have presumption preference pls give me reasons for presuming one side or the other in round

funnier/more entertaining the round = more speaks

on theory:

all parts of the shell need to be extended

I debated for four years at William Tennent High School, mostly LD (but I did a good amount of Policy as well). I am now an Assistant Coach at Pennsbury High School and a student of philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. The details of my personal life may bore you, but I only include them so you can know that I am not completely clueless in the realm of debate.

To save your time and mine, I have attempted to reduce my judging philosophy to a handful of bullet-points:

>The most important aspect of my judging philosophy is tabula rasa.

>I keep a detailed flow and value line-by-line debate. I will probably notice if you drop something.

>I am fine with spreading. Just be sure to say taglines/author names clearly. I will say clear if I cannot understand you.

>I love good framework debate. It's easier for me to pick a winner when I have a clear lens through which I can evaluate the round.

>I guess evidence is nice and a good thing to have. Extending that evidence throughout the round is also nice.

Feel free to ask me any questions that you might have. I will answer them to the best of my ability.

"As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself..." - Arthur Schopenhauer

I did PF for four years, graduating in 2021. I qualified to Gold TOC and Nationals and finaled Blake and Harvard my senior year, so I can keep up with most rounds.

Tech > Truth

I'll vote for anything, but there is an inherent burden of proof that needs to be met for me to consider an argument. I won't assume something functions as offense/defense solely because you tell me it does.

I'm not super strict on evidence ethics. I think it's very easy to respond to evidence the way you respond to any other argument, and I encourage you to do so. Paraphrasing is totally fine. It's more realistic, and you have to actually understand the content. I've seen way more evidence ethics issues with cut cards than paraphrased evidence. That said, please still have all your cards cut so evidence sharing runs smoothly. If you take too long, I'll dock speaks. I'll only call for evidence if it's disputed, and I actually need to read it to make a decision.

I have a surface-level understanding of progressive arguments (Theory, K, etc.). I understand the basics, but if you read them, there needs to be a lot of warranting. I will not vote for your argument if your warranting is just a bunch of jargon smushed together. Generally, I think paraphrasing is fine and disclosure is good, but I can be convinced either way.

If you're going to read an actual warranted framework, it needs to be read by first rebuttal at the latest. "Offensive overviews" in second rebuttal are dumb, and my threshold for a good response is much lower.

evidence < warrant < evidence + warrant

Cross doesn't matter (I'll still listen), but concessions are binding. Also, please be nice, it's really not that hard.

Frontline in second rebuttal. Conceded defense doesn't need to be extended in first summary (but definitely in FF)

Earlier the weighing the better. I'll allow new weighing in first final if there's no other weighing in the round, but nothing expanding on existing weighing (no new evidence, prereq analysis, etc.)

If you're going to do weighing, please do more than just pointing out that your impact number is larger. Obviously, I'll still evaluate it, but I want actual comparisons between arguments. Weighing impacts on probability makes no sense, please stop doing it. Strength of link means nothing to me if I don't have some kind of metric for comparing the strength of different links and a reason for why I should care about a link's relative strength.

I prefer slower tech rounds. Speed is still totally fine, just remember that the faster you go, the more likely it is that I miss something, and I'm not flowing off a speech doc. If you go fast in the first half, please at least slow down a little in the back half, especially in final focus.

If you don't signpost in summary and final focus, I will have no idea what is going on in the round, especially if you're going super fast and ignoring the line-by-line

I don't flow card names. If you say a card name, you need to tell me what the card says (including when you're extending stuff in sum/ff).

Please time each other. No grace period, finish what you were saying if you started before time was up, anything else won't be flowed

Extend the full link chain + warrants + evidence for whatever argument you're collapsing on in both summary and final focus. I will not evaluate something if it's not in both speeches or you just skip over your entire link story. Please don't make me drop you because you didn't extend something.

Pleeeeeease collapse.

Nothing new in summary or final focus unless it's responding to something new the other team read in their previous speech, except for weighing.

I default first speaking team.

I start at 28 speaks, and I'll go up or down based on how well I can understand you and how well you debate. Debating well with poor clarity warrants higher speaks than speaking clearly but debating poorly. I will probably give somebody a 30. I won't go lower than 27 unless you say something bigoted or are just straight up being mean.

Post rounding is fine. If you really think you won, odds are I missed something because you went too fast, and it was super blippy.

You don't have to call me judge, Arjun is fine and kinda preferred

For email chains, use arjunrsingh333@gmail.com

If you have any other questions, you can ask me before the round. I am willing to change any part of my paradigm if both teams agree (speech times are non-negotiable).

TL;DR

Extend through summary/final focus and weigh to win

I have been a member of NSDA for three years.

In three years I have competed in:

- Lincoln Douglas

- Public Forum

- Policy

- Parliamentary Debate

In regards to judging, no matter what debate I am looking at, I flow whatever is said at face value. In other words, please explain why, how, and to what extent the points you wish to make affect the round and the debate.

I understand spreading but do not expect it in Lincoln Douglas or Parliamentary especially. I expect the round to be set up in terms of framework clearly. Framework can be debated on but should never be the main focus in the whole debate.

I enjoy hearing logical and reasonable arguments and always like to see direct clashes while maintaining unique contentions and refutations.

In the end, the debate's purpose is to educate, not to win. Please be respectful and courteous throughout the entire round and have fun. Genuine enthusiasm shows me an interest in the topic and the debate.

I have been a PF debate coach at Ivy Bridge Academy for the past 7 years and I also did policy debate at Chattahoochee High School and UGA. Here are things that are important to me in debates and will influence my decision:

1. Debate is fundamentally about winning arguments, so make good arguments. I will do my best to evaluate your argument as objectively as possible but make sure contentions are well-developed with clear warrants, evidence, and impacts. The more unrealistic the argument, the less likely I’ll vote for it, but I do also believe it is the burden of your opponent to clearly articulate why the argument is wrong.

2. Frontlining - while not doing this isn’t technically against the rules, I highly encourage it and will reward teams that do it effectively with better speaker points. I don’t consider something dropped in the 2nd rebuttal, but I do expect teams to cover everything you plan on extending. I also like teams condensing to one contention in the second rebuttal if it makes strategic sense.

3. Summary - condensing down to a few key voting issues is important to me. If you don’t do weighing in rebuttal, then it should start here. Anything, including defense, must be in the summary if you want me to evaluate it. Don’t drop responses or contentions in these speeches. I will reward summary speakers who make good strategic decisions and manage their time well.

4. Final Focus - Clear voting issues and weighing are important to me. I will only evaluate arguments extended in the summary here. Having a clear narrative and focusing on the big picture is important, as well as answering extended responses. This is also your last chance to win key responses against your opponent's case. Make sure to not just extend them, but explain them, answer the summary, and what the implications are if you win x response.

5. Paraphrasing - I’m fine with it, but you need to be able to produce either a card or the website if asked. If you can’t produce it in time or deliberately misrepresent the evidence, then I will ignore the argument, and in extreme cases, vote the guilty team down.

6. Weighing - this is important to me, but I think debaters overvalue it a bit. The link debate is more important in my opinion and realistic impacts are as well. Try and start the weighing in the rebuttal or summary speeches. Comparison is key to good weighing in front of me.

7. Crossfire - any argument established in crossfire must be brought up in the subsequent speech for me to evaluate it. I will reward creative and well thought out questions. Please don’t be rude or aggressive in the crossfire. That will definitely hurt your speaker points. Civility is very important to proper debate in my humble opinion. You can sit or stand for the grand cross.

8. Speaking - I will give higher speaks to passionate speakers who are good public speakers. I did policy, so I’m fine with speed, but I don’t like spreading unless you absolutely have to cover. Please clearly signpost which argument you are responding to and when you are moving to the other side of the flow or weighing.

9. Prep - I will do my best to keep track of it, but please, both teams should also be tracking the time.

10. References - any well-executed Biggy, Kendrick, J. Cole, Drake, or Childish Gambino reference will be rewarded. Don’t overdo it though and I reserve the right to decrease points if it’s way off point.

11. Speech docs - if you share your case with me, then it will help me flow, understand your arguments, and I won't have to call for ev, so I will give both speakers 2 extra points if they do so.

TLDR:

I'm flow/tech until you are racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. I can handle spreading, just send a speech doc that includes anything you read so I don’t accidentally miss something, I'd hate to vote someone down because audio cut out or my hearing failed me. If you're gonna read primarily analytics or logic include bullet points.

If you want more details read below. If you want the most up to date info, ask me in round.

Important Note: I will not look at any evidence unless it is asked of me to do so in round, once you ask me to examine the evidence I assume you give me full discretion to read the entire article or study and make judgements based on its contents.

Experience:

I have 4 years of experience in PF, Congress, and LD. I have no exposure to Ks, but I do have experience with and enjoy judging theory debate. I am currently studying economics at Tufts University and have familiarity with urbanization and healthcare. This will not affect decision making, but I believe in the spirit of fairness I should disclose my familiarities with related subjects.

Speaker Point System:
Here's a rudimentary point system

24: You broke a rule or were racist
27: Worst you can get normally, your speeches were messy and impossible to understand.
28: Mediocre, you gave your speech monotone or had several issues with clarity
28.5: Average
29: Good, you gave your speeches clearly most of the time and had few issues during cross.
30: Great, you didn't have any noticeable issues

This is what will lose you points
1. Interrupting during crossfire or trying to turn it into another speech instead of asking a question
2. Not speaking clearly(I give a lot of leeway on this)
3. Lying
4. Being rude or disrespectful

How I judge debate:

I vote almost solely on what happens in the round with framework being the first thing I consider and speaking and strategy being the last. So if you impact to only economic downfall but forget to attack the framework that says we should focus on saving lives then that’s an L for you.

While I am a flow/tech judge, if you run blatantly untrue or abusive arguments I will step in because then I see you as just being an awful human being. This hasn't ever happened, but I want it to be known that I reserve the right to intervene in order to be transparent as a judge. This shouldn't ever happen unless you run "racism is good" like that one kid in Oklahoma.

If you hold your opponents to a standard in round you must meet that standard too.

What I like:

1. Thorough and well done weighing

2. Collapsing of arguments

3. Clearing extensions through till final focus

4. Clear and quantified impacts

5. Well written theory

How to annoy me:

Here are a few ways you can annoy me in the round: lying, not giving your opponents the evidence they call for in a timely manner, defining every word in the resolution, acting arrogant, expecting me to weigh for you, running arguments that are immature and demeaning such as racism good or that sexism doesn't exist.

Debate is meant to be inclusive and any attempts to undermine that will lose you speaker points very quickly.

Extra notes:

Occasionally I will have suggestions for evidence, cases, or arguments that I do not have the materials on standby for, if you ever want to follow up on an RFD and ask for a clarification you can email me at tait.milo.smith@gmail.com.

How I judge extemp:

To me, extemp is just as much about being a charismatic speaker as it is having good arguments. If I’m not interested in what you’re telling them you’re not doing a great job. There are several ways to get my attention including being humorous or having a good introduction. I’ve had people win rounds despite having weaker arguments because it actually became painful to listen to the other speakers' monotone performances. Your speaking abilities makes up half your ranking.

Matt Liu

University of Wyoming

Last updated: 9-12-22

Email chain: mattliu929@gmail.com

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.

If you want to read far more than necessary on my judging process: https://wyodebateroundup.weebly.com/blog/reflections-on-the-judging-process-inside-the-mind-of-a-judge

I put a pretty high premium on effective communication. Too many debaters do not do their evidence justice. You should not expect me to read your evidence after the round and realize it’s awesome. You should make sure I know it’s awesome while you read it. I find many debaters over-estimate the amount of ideas they believe they communicate to the judge. Debaters who concentrate on persuading the judge, not just entering arguments into the record, will control the narrative of the round and win my ballot far more often than those who don’t. I have tended to draw a harder line on comprehensibility than the average judge. I won’t evaluate evidence I couldn’t understand. I also don’t call clear: if you’re unclear, or not loud enough, I won’t intervene and warn you, just like I wouldn't intervene and warn you that you are spending time on a bad argument. Am I flowing? You're clear.

Potential biases on theory: I will of course attempt to evaluate only the arguments in the round, however, I'll be up front about my otherwise hidden biases. Conditionality- I rarely find that debaters are able to articulate a credible and significant impact. International actor fiat seems suspect. Uniform 50 state fiat seems illogical. Various process counterplans are most often won as legitimate when the neg presents a depth of evidence that they are germane to the topic/plan. Reject the arg not the teams seems true of nearly all objections other than conditionality. I will default to evaluating the status quo even if there is a CP in the 2NR. Non-traditional affirmatives- I'll evaluate like any other argument. If you win it, you win it. I have yet to hear an explanation of procedural fairness as an impact that makes sense to me (as an internal link, yes). None of these biases are locked in; in-round debating will be the ultimate determinant of an argument’s legitimacy.

Clock management: In practice I have let teams end prep when they begin the emailing/jumping process. Your general goal should be to be completely ready to talk when you say ‘end prep.’ No off-case counting, no flow shuffling, etc.

Cross-x is a speech. You get to try to make arguments (which I will flow) and set traps (which I will flow). Once cross-x is over I will stop listening. If you continue to try to ask questions it will annoy me- your speech time is up.

Pet-peeves: leaving the room while the other team is prepping for a final rebuttal, talking over your opponents. I get really annoyed at teams that talk loudly (I have a low threshold for what counts as loudly) during other teams speeches- especially when it’s derisive or mocking comments about the other team’s speech.

I did circuit ld and traditional ld and policy for four years.

Read whatever, I’ll try to be tab and am tech over truth.

bring me water or snacks and I’ll boost your speaks.

don’t be racist, sexist or offensive

Past debater for Lakeville South High School. I did 2 years of traditional LD then 2 years of circuit PF, I've also competed in Congress, Worlds, Big Questions, and Policy.

Speed: Don't talk faster than you can breathe. I flow what I hear and I have no issues keeping up in PF but common sense dictates the faster you go the higher chance something gets missed so you do you fam.

Evidence: evidence should not win you rounds. 95% of statistics read in debate are either wrong or out of context including this one. The way you win with evidence and stats is by explaining the warrants behind the them and understanding what they mean in context. BTW an opinion article written by some WSJ guy about how he thinks "X is going to happen" is barely evidence.

Respect: Respect and Education come before winning. You know the drill, attack the argument, not the person even if that person is not in the room.

I don't know what else to say, debate good, weigh your arguments, and don't do anything dumb.

If I'm judging you in Worlds, Congress, Policy, or Nat Circuit LD I'm just as confused as you.

Questions or comments: tulliscryan@gmail.com (952)-423-8905

I've coached Speech & Debate for around a decade now. I do not support any form of progressive debate in PF. Prove you understand the resolution and the content of the topic. Here’s some advice:

- No spreading, I’ll say “clear” if you need to slow down

- Use taglines and signpost to maintain clarity of flow

- I do not flow cross examination so be sure to include ideas in speech

- I am a believer in pragmatism over the ideological

- Clear elaboration and correlation is as important as card use

-Link the arguments, don't make assumptions or just point to a card

-It should not take over a minute to find cards, please be familiar with your evidence

- Keep the round moving, I’ll keep time of speeches and prep

Wei good, no wei bad, frontline turns 2nd rebuttal good, 1st summary defense no sticky, spread bad, if it not in summary it'll be invisible in final focus, i don't fw theory,#abolishgrandcross

If everything is wash I vote for the team that spoke first.

email: colin.x.wei@gmail.com

Please state your opinions and evidence clearly.

I am looking for reasoning and evidence, particularly the analytical skills.

As a parent volunteer, I am not a professional judge. I prefer a speed not too fast. such as not exceeding 5 if the speed scale is 1 to 10. But I have judged LD & PF for several years. I understand the requirements of PF & LD.

I am a parent volunteer judge. have a few years of PF judge experience.

Show sufficient evidence and clear logic.

Speak clearly and no spreading.

Short Paradigm:

-I flow

-Tech>Truth

-4 years of PF at American Heritage School, 3 TOC quals

Long Paradigm:

Arguments:

-I'll vote on literally anything that makes sense and isn't blatantly offensive. That includes progressive arguments (Theory/Ks) or counterintuitive substantive arguments (nuclear war good/economic development bad).

-I'll vote on presumption even if you don't tell me to as long as neither team has any offense. I default neg on presumption, but I'm open to arguments regarding defaulting alternatively.

Extensions:

-Defense isn't sticky; I'm not evaluating anything that's not in final.

-Second rebuttal has to respond to all offense; otherwise, it's conceded (I will let some things slide if you're in novice).

-No progressive off-case positions in the second rebuttal unless the other team violates in first rebuttal; DAs are fine.

-First summary doesn't need to extend defense that the second rebuttal concedes. It can go straight to the final.

Speed:

-I can comfortably flow anything ~300 WPM without a speech doc assuming you're clear

-You can spread against anyone even if they are not ok with it but

a. If they are novices, you have to warn them before the round. If they say "speed" and you don't slow down I'll stop flowing.

b. If you have factors preventing you from following speed outside of your control (i.e., a disability), then tell your opponents or me about it (I'll keep this anonymous) and make sure that no one spreads.

c. I'll be receptive to theoretical arguments assuming they are properly structured.

Weighing:

-If it's not comparative, don't bother making it

-If it's fake (i.e., we outweigh on probability because we have a link and they drop defense), don't bother making it

-If you aren't winning your argument, don't bother making it

-If the first final has new weighing, I allow new weighing in the second final; otherwise, don't bother making it

Evidence:

-I will never drop a team for misconstruing evidence, only the argument

-I will only evaluate an evidence dispute if you tell me to call for something AND explain what's wrong with the evidence

Progressive Argumentation:

-Slow down for these, and ideally, I want a speech doc regardless

-I can and will comfortably evaluate theory (T, Disclosure, Paraphrasing, Spec, Condo good/bad, etc.)

-I'm open to more nuanced (DAs on shells, comparing forms of disclosure, etc.) or silly (shoe theory/30 speaks theory) theoretical arguments

-If you read theory or Ks in paragraph form I will disregard your arguments.

-I will vote on tricks (spikes/NIBs/skep triggers/paradoxes)

-I will vote on a K but

a. I have no familiarity with your authors

b. I don't have enough experience to be comfortably evaluating K debates (as in I might screw you and you'll be sad)

Prefs:

-I like sarcastic debaters that make fun of their opponents and their opponents' args. Don't make them too upset though.

-Postrounding is good for debate. If my decision upsets you, feel free to question it and me as a judge. You (or your coach) can be as rude, condescending, and aggressive when post rounding if you're feeling like it, and I won't hold that against you.

- I encourage teams to pursue unconventional strategies like responding to the first constructive in the second constructive. Or reading arguments that take out all offense on both sides and then telling me to vote on presumption.

-Speaks are arbitrary so let me know if you're in a bubble and need high speaks to break

-If your offtime roadmap is too long, then I'll be upset.