I am generally a Tab judge. I will judge whatever you give me a good reason to judge. If you are going to run Topicality, Kritiks, etc give me a reason why I should vote for them.

If not given a clear reason to vote for a particular argument I will fall back on weighing impacts. Whichever team has the clearest and most impactful impact will win the round

I am OK with speed as long as the tags are clear and you read the text of the card without mumbling. If you are making an analytical argument you need to slow down and make it clearly.

I am really looking for a solid rebuttal that lays out the arguments in this particular debate and shows me why I should vote for a particular side.

Finally I am OK with a open CX as long as the person whose CX it is and the person who is being CX'd do the majority of the talking. I dont like to see the partner completely take over the CX on either side.

If you have any questions, you can contact me at tannercronce@gmail.com. This is also how you add me to the email chain. Let me know when you do it.

Please don't try to judge-adjust too much... this should serve more as a guideline to introduce yourself to me.

What am I good for?:

Good For:

--K Affs

--K on the negs

--DA-case debates

--Politics/elections debates

--T (If you feel you can argue this competently, do it, but most people don't)

--Anything, honestly... I am not a fan of conditionality for negs, though, unless it's just for one item.

--I will vote on disclosure theory

More In-Depth Background (Before Round Version After):

SQUO: I'm not going to pretend like I don't know anything about the status quo, so don't act or pretend like something is happening that isn't or vice versa. (e.g., If an opponent has a slightly dated card about a poll and you cross-ex and say, "Well, aren't these cards outdated?" and try to imply like there's been any radical difference between then and now in terms of poll numbers, I'm not going to care for that unless you have something crazy or radical to back it up that would be substantial to the debate. Don't cross-ex dumb questions.)

TLDR: Explain what you're saying, actually respond to the other team, and do good link/internal link work and you'll probably be fine.

SPEED: Go as fast as you want but Read LOUD and CLEAR. If you are mumbling through your evidence, I will not hear you...

I have an auditory disability that makes it hard to hear soft sounds. Clear and loud is the best way for me to comprehend evidence, but again, you don't have to be slow.

Things of note before your round starts:

If you are trying to be mean simply for the purpose of being mean because you want to overwhelm the other team and make them look bad, I will see right through it.

Flashing:

Add me to the email chain

Road-Mapping is cool

Voting:

I vote off the flow (tabs judge) so I'll really listen to any argument as long as you wrap up the round and give me a reason to vote for you and why your impacts outweigh the other team's impacts. Clash is important, and I consider warranted analysis something that's vital and is often missing from high school debate rounds. Unexplained arguments and shadow extending is a frequent reason for me voting down teams that could have otherwise very well won. Additionally, I think internal link/link is probably the most important part of most arguments, so keep that in mind. If you try to confuse the other team instead of debating the specifics of your policy, I will vote down your team more than likely.

SPEAKER POINTS FOR ALL:

Some things that are just generally annoying to me/could get speaker points docked...

1.) Being an a-hole in your speeches towards someone or cross-x or being overbearing to your partner, I will have more leniency when it comes to those who may be discriminated against for being “too aggressive”, so don’t worry (I’m talking more about people who usually identify as women who have this issue)
2.) Personally rambling to me during your speech ("Judge, you have to vote for this judge" over and over). I understand it's a habit for some, but avoid it if possible.
3.) Trying to be clever by asking questions like "How's it going" in Cross-X
4.) Sucking up to me... for the love of God, do not do this. I debated for years, and you don't need to pretend you like me or the other team. Be mean to me if you want, I do not care, just don’t pretend like I’m any different than you in the round.
5.) Saying "this card is on fire" or equally absurd buzzwords
6.) Not Road Mapping In-Round (Just say onto ___) Trying to trick the other team by not listing your advantages by name only hurts my flow for you. Just do it.
7.) DO NOT walk around the room during your speech or someone else's speech unless it's to grab evidence. I will heavily dock you.
8.) I will not dock you for speaking for your partner in the middle of their speech if you need to include something... I will listen to you. Your partner doesn't need to repeat it. Just know that I will take that into consideration if you're doing massive chunks of a speech and the negs run an education T argument.

IN-ROUND STUFF

K Affs

I'll listen to any K aff and will vote on them if you give me a reason to, but just remember you need to explain what your advocacy is pretty well since I only debated policy in high school. Explaining your advocacy is a must, and not having a good grasp of what you're arguing probably won't do very well with me as a judge, and neither will relying on ridiculously lengthy overviews and blocks through the 2NR. I will vote on either a Policy or critical Framework, but you need to argue it well from both sides and should probably spend a bit more time on it than usual in front of me. Also, I like a thorough explanation of how the alt functions; otherwise, it's pretty hard to say the K has any solvency.

Okay with identity args, high-theory, soft-left, just explain how the advocacy functions and solves

Make sure you are not name-dropping and assuming everyone knows who or what you are talking about.

Just make sure if you run a K Aff, tell me what your connection to FMS or DCS is.

Ks

Links: I'm not as persuaded by links of omission or links to the status quo unless you can explain how the aff furthers the harms you've isolated. Specific links are the best, but I'm persuaded by both links to the plan text and links to the advantages/impacts/representations of the aff.

Impacts: I'll evaluate the pre-fiat and post-fiat impacts of the k. Framing is important to tell me what kinds of impacts I should evaluate and whether theory should come first.

Alts/litbase: I probably don't know your theories or your authors, so be sure to explain how the alt functions and try to minimize jargon and name-dropping at every level of the flow. I'll vote on all kinds of alts as long as you explain how they function and win solvency of something (not necessarily the case, depending on the round and how impacts are weighed.)

Perm: I won't vote on a perm that wasn't clearly articulated in the 2AC. You need to explain how it functions so that I can evaluate it weighed against the alt as a stand-alone.

If you have any questions, you can contact me at tannercronce@gmail.com. This is also how you add me to the email chain. Tell me when you do it.

Cross-Ex

I don’t flow cross-ex unless it’s clarifying for me, which means that you need to point out anything you find out during cross-ex during your speech.

No statements during cross-x questioning. Period. I will not flow statements and will disregard a response to the statement unless I feel it clarifies those who are being cx'd, not the ones making the statement. I also will not flow anything that has nothing to do with their evidence or anything I feel does not connect to the debate itself.

Inform me clearly when you are done with your time, aka when your 1AC is over, when cross-x is over, when your prep is done, etc.

If you feel that the author has specific biases, point them out and explain. I want to know that you know authors and how to identify credible sources. Okay with Open Cross ex as long as you don't dominate your partner's cross-ex

Disadvantages

I'll enjoy a DA debate if it's something relevant with a strong link. Solid impact calc and link analysis from both sides is a must to win in these debates. I hold a fairly high standard for internal links and internal link analysis. Too often, teams don't spend nearly enough time on the specific clash for any of these components, and I'll probably default affirmative if it's lacking from both sides.

Topicality

Just make sure if you run a K Aff, tell me what your connection to FMS or DCS is.

Topicality is a great position and one of the most important for me and unfortunately, hardly anyone goes for it. It has to be run well, though… I get a lot of people who will go for T but do not actually have a fleshed-out reason for me to vote for T. I'll vote on potential abuse. For the love of God, don't read reverse voters on T.

Framework

Framework is often the only option for a debater versed in policy and is a valid strategy. Have internal links to fairness, education, etc.

Counterplans

Competition is important, and if a CP isn't competitive, a perm is a great strategy to go for as long as a reasonable amount is done in the 2AR. That said, I'm most easily convinced by solvency deficit arguments and the negative needs to spend a fair amount of time answering these arguments in the block and 2NR to win on the CP, in addition to warranted analysis on how they solve their net benefit. Additionally, specific solvency advocates are a lot more likely to win you the round with me.

I'm not likely to vote on a CP unless it is actually argued well. I won’t if it’s abusive. I'm definitely not likely to vote on it unless a lot of time is spent on it in the 2NR/2AR. I will vote for it if it is argued exceptionally well without simply reading off blocks.

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I'm a newer judge and use a straight policymaker paradigm. I want to hear clear arguments and do not like speed. Taking time to explain your arguments rather than read 20 cards quickly will really help me judge your arguments and determine a winner.

I am an old school policy debater. I prefer to hear arguments on the stock issues with the AFF having to prove Inherency, Significance, Harms, Solvency, and Topicality (if the NEG attacks on it). Disadvantages if run well can seriously aid the NEG by demonstrating serious harms created by the AFF. AFF should present significant harms and prove their plan can solve for them.

I will listen to any argument as long as it is run well and comes with solid analysis. While I am open to K arguments I find that most policy debaters do not run them well and thus are a waste of the NEG time.

I dislike speed reading as I believe it debate is a competition of ideas, not a competition to read quickly. Slow down to a reasonable pace, sign post, and make a clear argument for why you win each of the stock issues.

If stock issues are not brought up in a round by name, I revert to a policymaker paradigm.

Easiest way to pick up the round is to explain in your rebuttal how you won each of the stock issues.

Short Version

I have ten+ years of debate experience and will buy any argument, as long as it is well structured and fair. I am known to be a very progressive judge in Wisconsin, however on Nat circuit level it might be better to treat me as a Flay judge. I do love a good traditional debate, but do like progressive debate. Most importantly have fun in a round!

Long version

Event Preferences

PF: Tech>truth within reason.

speed>collapsing: Share a doc and go for everything, yes even if that means spreading. I generally HATE time suck contentions, like don't waste my time flowing something you know you are going to drop. Provide more education to the round by running quality arguments, or end your speech early.

full case>paraphrasing: In general the more you can take the good file sharing habits of LD and CX and use them, the quick and better the round will go.

LD: LARP (Policy-style arguments i.e. Plans, CPs, Disads, Topicality) > Trad/Phil (Standard LD case) > Ks/Performance > Theory > Tricks> Disclosure Theory

CX Neg: Disads>T>Specs>CP>K>Theory > Tricks> Disclosure Theory

CX Aff: traditional cases>aff Ks>Disclosure Theory

Thoughts on certain topics

Framework: Please tell me how the framework contextualizes your offense / defense in relation to the ballot and/or the round. I require framework to also contextualize how your opponents arguments are implicated by your Framework arguments.

Argument Resolution: I reward debaters who clearly articulate and provide reasons why their warrants, impacts, sources are stronger in this round – Impact calc and voters are great ways to do this. Debaters who provide well warranted arguments on the flow that are developed early and throughout the debate get both high speaks from me and my ballot.

Theory: I vote on well developed procedurals, I do not vote on blipped shells that blow up later in the debate so have voters and standards don’t just give me an interp and violation - this isn't to say don't run T in front of me but rather that you need to provide me a well developed justification for why to prefer your side. Focus on impacts through a education/fairness filter will be the easiest way to my ballot on this issue. I do hate it when teams use theory as a time suck.

K debate: I have read and actively coach a lot of critical debate but you should not however assume I know the literature base you will be pulling from, feel free to ask prior to the start of the round about my familiarity. The more specific your argument is to the round or issue at hand then the easier route you will have to my ballot. I usually am not a fan of Perm because it can make the debate muddy. I do love conditionality debate.

Tricks: If is one thing you should not run with me, it is tricks, I like a clean and fair Debate.

Disadvantages: Disads are my favorite off case argument. I evaluate Disads first on the risk of intrinsic link to the AFF before questions of uniqueness and the way this implicates the affirmative, this isn't to say questions of uniqueness don't implicate the link but questions of link comes first and then are determined to be strengthened / weakened by the uniqueness. - Work done on the impact level to have strong warrants as well as good weighing are an easy way to my ballot.

Counter Plan: My second favorite off case argument to see. Make sure they are mutually exclusive and AFF can’t perm. Also I hate Perm debate usually on CP because it is either an easy win or waste of my time. I think overall Cp play well with Disads and are a easy way for NEG to win my ballot.

Speed: I am perfectly fine with speed usually I will only yell clear once and it is because you are not speaking clearly.DO NOT SPREAD ANALYTICS WITHOUT A DOC.

Flashing: Add me to the email chain, my RFD will be better if you do.

justinflynn190@gmail.com

Abi Glaum (She/her/hers)

I'm a former Stevens Point Area Senior High varsity policy debater studying Psychology and French at UMN, with a minor in Native American Studies. I've judged for the past three years, but I'm not as fluent in debate as I once was, so take it easy. I'm closest to being a policymaker judge but I honestly just want to see what you're good at. Stick to what ya know.

Speed- Speed doesn't bother me as long as your signposting is clear. I want a roadmap before you start and if it changes during the round you need to let me and the other team know. I will say "clear" three times before I stop flowing and start playing pac-man on my laptop, so try to enunciate clearly

T- I'm not too keen on voting on Topicality just because I don't think it's particularly useful for education. If you do run T anyway, then go for it, but please make sure it's not the only thing on your 2nr because I will not vote on it exclusively.

K- I have a pretty big soft spot for Ks. The sign of a good K debate to me is one that shows y'all really have an intricate knowledge of what it means, not that you're repeating the lit and trying desperately to apply it to this round. My biggest pet peeve is when teams run a K but are v obviously unfamiliar with the actual stances of the authors and are just regurgitating the general structure of the ideas.

Disads- My fav disads include but are not limited to: Elections (or any politics DA), anything involving Space, or econ-based DAs. I don't have any DAs that I specifically don't like.

CPs- I'm fine with cps but there needs to be a sufficient amount of analytics of why I should prefer it over the aff plan. I need you to line up the net benefits and explain exactly why yours is better, I won't do the work for you.

If you have any questions for me feel free to ask me before round. I allow open CX, but I don't want to see the opposite partner dominating the answering portion. My email is abiglaum@gmail.com.

About Me

-In high school, I was a debater for all 4 years. I bounced back and forth between policy and pf every year. I graduated from high school in 2016 and have been assisting and judging every year since.

-I have mild Tourettes, so if I clear my throat or make slight odd movements it has nothing to do with you

Paradigm

--One thing I can say is that I flow impacts pretty heavily, so overall I am more of a policymaker.

Things I like

-I LOVE framework and topicality! If a plan isn't topical I have no reason to vote for it!!

-I absolutely love being told what to vote on! You could be the best debater of all time, but if you can't tell me why your ads/disads are better then I have no reason to vote for you! We all know that something like nuclear war is bad. But if the other team gives evidence saying that it's not and you don't respond, I am going to vote as if it were not a bad thing.

Things I don't like

-I am fine with Open CX, but if it's your cross you should be doing the majority of the talking, not your partner.

-Please don't talk to your partner during their speeches.

-I am fine with speed, but I am not a fan of it when it becomes excessive. And it DEFINITELY can be excessive at times. As long as I can understand you I will continue to flow. But faster debating doesn't equal better debating.

Feel free to include me on your email chain if you'd like. kinkintherope@gmail.com I rarely follow along with the speech doc though.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

I spend the majority of tournaments in the tabroom. In 2015-2016, for example, I judged only one round. As a result, if I'm in the back of the room, I will be a bit of a fish out of water and likely something is going wrong with the world. I'm old and judge with an old-school philosophy. Make sense, explain your evidence and treat everyone with civility.

Hello, I am a retired U.S Navy Engineer, I did 4 years of policy for Mukwonago years ago and traveled for a national debate. I’m open to any kind of argument I just ask that you be clear, and concise and don’t make me do the work at the end of the round. By that I mean tell me how and why you win and why your arguments matter. I look forward to meeting you

P.s Be nice to each other, I hate rudeness

P.s.s Don’t insult the members of the armed forces, I happen to know a lot of them and they are the best people in the world. If you need to attack the military, attack the leadership and the organization, not us personally.

Email: Charles.p.russell@outlook.com

PF Paradigm – I come from a policy debate background and until recently have been almost exclusively a policy judge. Due to this, I know that I tend to view rounds under a somewhat policy framework. What is the plan, what are the problems, and how does the plan solve these problems? I also understand that not every PF topic is going to fit nicely into this mold. To help mitigate this tendency I am looking primarily to the quality of argumentation in the round.

What does this mean for you?

· I am looking for a round where the debaters are clear and understandable, willing and able to give good arguments.

· I much prefer a single quality argument over 5-10 short arguments with no substance and I ultimately want the debaters to tell me why the world is better under their plan or side of the topic than the opposing team.

· When presenting impacts please make sure that they are realistic. I don’t want Bob yelling at his dog to cause a nuclear war, but I am willing to listen to geopolitical tension leading to war.

· Give me a reason to vote for you. Tell me what is important in the round and why it is important. If you don’t, I default to a utilitarian evaluation of the round.

· I am perfectly willing to listen if you have evidence that says a source is bad, but you need to have evidence. I’m not going to drop a card just because you don’t personally like an author. In addition, saying that a source is biased can be a decent attack, but you need to give me evidence that disproves the source in addition to this.

Ultimately, if you focus on good argumentation, you should do just fine in front of me.

Policy - I, like my coach before me, have an old-school policy paradigm. What this means is that I look at the round and evaluate it based on what I feel is the best policy for the United States under the given resolution. In the round, you should argue everything under the assumption of that framework.

Speed – I am not a fan of speed. I understand that you are going to need to speak faster than a normal talking speed and that is fine given the time constraints in the round but there is no need to speak at the extreme speeds that are becoming more and more common. I am a great proponent of depth over breadth in debate. The more reasonable your speed the better you will likely find yourself doing in front of me.

Topicality – This is something that I feel can be put to great use and I have no problem seeing it in the round. That said, there are a couple of conditions. First, the voter in front of me is always jurisdiction, if you can reasonably prove that the Aff being presented is outside of the topic area I am likely to vote for T. Second, I am not a huge technical T judge. I much prefer that in round abuse or potential abuse is spelled out for me rather than someone trying to tell me that we should win T because the other team didn’t answer every small technical detail of a T argument.

Advantages and Disadvantages – This is the bread and butter of my judging paradigm. This is where I prefer to see most rounds debated and is the place where most rounds are won and lost in front of me. I want to see real-world impacts with realistic link chains. If your opponent is telling me that everything is going to lead to nuclear war or global extinction you just need to prove that this is not a realistic scenario and you will have won the impact for that advantage or DA. Politics is also perfectly allowable. The only politics DAs that I do not like are those saying that you spend political capital therefore these bad things happen. Those DAs tend to run roughshod over affirmative fiat so I don’t like seeing them and I don’t give them much if any in round weight.

CPs – Absolutely love to see a good CP. My only real requirements here are that the CP should be non-topical and competitive. CPs using other actors or consulting other countries are great and I am perfectly willing to entertain them so long as they meet the above requirements.

K – Kritiks are something that you need to be very selective with in front of me. You need to make sure that the alternative is a real-world policy alternative and not something that would never apply in reality. I absolutely agree that there may be questions of morality that are addressed by a kritik but without a policy alternative it isn’t going to go very far in front of me.

Last thoughts – First, be specific when you are telling me where your arguments are going. Don’t just tell me “on the Labor DA flow” and start spewing cards. Give me the specific points you are attacking and don’t expect me to do your work for you. I am more forgiving at the novice level because those debaters are still learning but I still expect you to tell me where you want your arguments to go. Second, if you feel an argument is going to be important in the round I had better hear more than 10 seconds about it in the constructives. Arguments that are presented as blips in the constructives and then expanded upon for 3-5 minutes in the rebuttal come across as something that you didn’t really care about that much until you realized that there may be a viable strategic option. If you want to go for something at the end of the round make sure that you have spent sufficient time on the argument in the constructives.

I'm trained in Policy, but primarily judge LD and PF (along with Forensics and Student Congress). As such, my background is more overtly political, but I tend towards things more philosophical or abstract.

I will do impact calculus (and by all means, try to convince me of what should be weighed and how), but have some respect for what you're arguing: if you're arguing about a precise number of human lives extinguished, it's time for a break from this activity.

A lot of my philosophy of judging is about having as fair a debate as possible when a debate cannot be fair. As such, a good number of kritiks are not very compelling unless they are very well-linked to your opponent's arguments. The Resolution exists to help narrow debate to guide students to research in a certain direction, so many kritiks rely simply on catching your opponent unawares, and I fail to see the educational value in this. If you're running it in a round I'm judging, it's a total Hail Mary (which is not to say that I would never vote on a kritik - I'd be over the moon to see a linked performative kritik! Convince me!)

Counterplans in LD: You don't present a plan (that comes from Policy, where they draft a plan), so you can't have a counterplan. If you're "running a counterplan" in LD, you're making a contention.
Speed: No, thank you. First of all, if you spread, I might not get everything on my flow - and if it's not on my flow, I'm not going to judge it. Second of all, you should be able to prioritize your arguments to fit within speech times. Having said that, if you speak at a faster clip, and especially if you enunciate, you're good. Oh, and third, spreading will tank your speaker points.

I've been studying intersectionality of oppression and do my best to be mindful of identity issues in debate. If you have a concerns about external factors affecting judging, I'm open to hearing what you have to say, minding the fact that the average tournament doesn't have a lot of time to spare. Also, in a broader sense, suffering is optional: I've had students have breakdowns in my round, and... these things happen, unfortunately. But this is not a reflection of your abilities as a debater or speaker. Will sometimes a round be lost? Sure - this is not the end of the world. I'm here to give you feedback on how well you are at making arguments, and while I can be ornery about specifics, I'm honestly cheering on everyone to bring their best. It's more fun for everyone and it's what makes you a better debater. I have drawn frowny faces on my flow on dropped arguments.

I'm fortunate to have only had to say this rarely, but if I tell you, "you need to speak to your coach," it's not as ominous as it seems. Basically, if I want you to speak to your coach about your ballot, it means that there's something fundamental about debate that you're misunderstanding based on what I observed, and the ballot will be very clear about what that is so that you can get some targeted coaching as soon as possible in order to help improve your performance.

Give me a good debate. Try your best.

I’ve been debating for four years at Ronald Reagan high school. I’ve seen a multitude of arguments. I’m sure anything you run I’m able to handle, but the information below is more specific for each argument.

Speed- I’m not a fan, I’ll give three “clears” before I stop flowing. If I don’t flow, then your arguments won’t count. Hopefully this isn’t too much of an issue at the novice level.

Cross ex- Open cross ex is fine, but don’t dominate cross ex, I’ll dock speaker points. I don’t want to know if “it’s your cross ex” or not, so please be nice to both your opponents and partner.

DAs- These are fine, please provide a link, uniquessness and impact. The impacts should be explained thoroughly.

Ts- Explain the voters well, or else this won’t matter. I need to know the violation and it should be obvious in order to vote on this.

Ks- I have an affinity towards these

email: sierra0926@gmail.com

Name: Henry Wehrs
E-mail: hdwehrs@gmail.com

Hello,

I debated 4 years of policy in high school (2008-2012). I judged for a bit after high school, but it's been a while.

I am a tabula rasa judge. You are responsible for telling me which argument(s) are the most important. I'll listen to anything. But if you don't tell me how to prioritize your arguments, I'll do it myself.

STYLE

1. Speed is okay to a point - I have never enjoyed spread, and I don't accept it in novice. Speed must be extremely clear. I will say clear once or twice. If I say "speed", it means I will quit flowing until you adjust.
2. Open C-X - do not dominate your partner's C-X, it will cost you speaker points.
3. Organization makes for a great debate: line-by-line, signposting, and roadmaps (10 seconds and I start the timer) are all things I look for.

Do not: hand your partner papers during a speech, hover over opponents, be rude, etc.

If you want permission to do something during a speech other than sit down and take notes, ask your opponents for permission before the round starts.

ARGUMENTS

I will not encourage or discourage any form of argument from you. I try to come in with as blank a slate as possible.

And again, it's been a while. If you want to make complex arguments, explain them to me. Do not assume I understand your jargon, the philosophical underpinnings of your argument, etc. One thing debate is supposed to do is teach you how to talk about complex things coherently. So try it on me.

Being out of the debate world a while, I'm sure plenty has changed. My best advice for you to win a round with me - do not assume I know what you're talking about. I don't like jargon. I like logic, organization, and clarity.

Quantum.ShidoWolf@gmail.com

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Public Forum

Until recently, I have judged mostly Policy Debate. So my views on judging a round stem from that experience. I tend to look at a PF round in pretty much the same way. I am used to looking for what the plan is, what issues are currently there, and how do you solve them. I do however, understand that some PF topics don't tend to nicely allow for this kind of debate. With a few PF rounds under my belt, I have come to shift my focus a bit more on the quality of your arguments in the round.

So things to understand when you debate in front of me:

· Don't speed read. I understand there are time constraints in the round, but In the short constructive times, I don't want to have to try and hear and understand 20-30 different pieces of evidence and arguments. Be clear and understandable.

· Give me a quality framework in which I should be judging the round. For example, If you argue morals are key make me believe it and show me WHY and HOW the round should be judged under that framework.

· When presenting impacts please make sure that they are realistic. I don’t want Bob yelling at his dog to cause a nuclear war, but I am willing to listen to geopolitical tension leading to war.

· If you plan on giving me a roadmap, make it a bit more than just. "I'm gonna go over there stuff, then mine.." Tell me the order of the opponent's arguments you're going to talk about, and then the same for your own arguments. In PF time is limited, knowing where on my flow I need to be looking is helpful.

· If you're going to denounce an opponents source, make sure you have quality evidence to back up the claim. Don't just read something that says "well this small little group says he sucks." or "I don't think that place is a good source.

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POLICY DEBATE

It's been a few years since I judged Debate. (you won't see those rounds on Tabroom). But I used to judge both Novice and Varsity. I just recently started Judging again. With that in mind:

My policy paradigm comes from when I debated 10+ years ago under my coach. I have adopted an old-school policy paradigm much like my coach and fellow debaters from that time. I judge and evaluate the round based on what I feel is the best policy for the Unites States under the given resolution. Everything you do in my round should be argued under that framework; I am a president. Not specifically any president, just a hypothetical president.

Line-by-Line

Speed - I'm not a big fan of speed. So Don't. I understand that because you have time constraints, you'll have to speak faster than you really would in a normal debate atmosphere. I understand that. You still wouldn't argue auctioneer-style, especially in front of the President. Quality, not Quantity, is going to sway my decision. Reading 20 cards in a round does you no good if they are not on my flow. No amount of "but they didn't counter the six T-blips we fired off in the first two minutes of our 1NC" is going to help you...because I didn't bother writing them down. Clarity is a big part of this - Especially Tags on Evidence. I give a only few Clear/Slow warnings before I stop flowing.

Topicality - You might think this can't be argued, but it can. If, as president, I hired two teams of advisors to debate what I should do on a topic, and one of them did something besides what I hired them to argue, I'd fire them. In the case of the round, I drop them. It also means that if the other side isn't really non-topical, and you're just showing off your silly squirrel definition, I'm likely to just through it out of the round. So make sure you have a good case in reality, not in debateland. I am by far more of a "story T" judge than a "technical T" judge. Tell me the abuse story (in-round or potential) and explain a small number of good theory points. More is not better.

Advantages / Dis-Advantages - Clearly, the president has to be concerned about nuclear war. But to suggest to him that everything leads there? You'd be quickly dismissed as a nutcase and never allowed back. This goes for both sides. Go there and all the other team has to do is spend 20 seconds showing you to be a nutcase and your impact goes away. I like real impacts because I am trying to (fictitiously) decide real policy. On politics DAs, I'm not delusional. I know I'm not the president and I'm not trying to artificially limit your ground. DAs/Advantages that argue Trump good or Trump bad or whatever are still okay in the round. The only thing I will not allow is a DA that destroy affirmative fiat. So, do not run “you spend capital to pass plan” DAs. However, “reaction” DAs, even those that involve political capital, are obviously very important.

Counter-Plans - Absolutely, within the framework. Tell me we should let China do it; we should consult the EU first, etc. You must keep the CP non-topical and competitive however. I hired two teams of COMPETING advisors, not lobbyists who will each sell me their own aff plan.

Kritiks - Be selective. Kritiks that function in the real world with policy alternatives are great. The president absolutely should care about the moral underpinnings of the Aff case or neg counter-plan. They don't always, but I will. On the other hand, if the American people will laugh me out of office for rejecting a good idea because of some bizarre solipsistic construction a strung-out philosopher dreamed up, I'm not voting on it.

"Performance" I'm trying to do what's best for our country ON THE RESOLUTION. If your performance makes the resolution tangential, I'll treat you like a nutcase and throw you out of my office (i.e. I won't vote on it). Also see the comments on non-realistic K above.

Additional Notes -

1.Teams that just say "On the X Flow" and then read a card. I have seven cards on that flow. Where do you want me to put it? I'm not going to do your work for you.

2. Perms. You don't just get to throw out one-sentence perms, do nothing else, then make them a 5 minute rebuttal. If I don't understand how the perm functions after the 2AC, I'm not voting on it. It's the same with a K alt - fair ground, folks.

Finally, the president is a busy man. You do your arguing and don't expect me to do it for you by calling for all your cards at the end of the round. If you didn't make it clear enough, I guess you didn't consider it a very important point for me to consider. I'll only call for cards that are questioned in the round if I need to see them to make a decision.

Affiliation: Homestead High School

I debated policy for Homestead for 4 years 2012-2015

I judge roughly once a month, my knowledge about this topic is very limited so if you're going to throw around fancy acronyms, please explain to me what they mean in the later speeches.

Please put me on the email chain, just ask me for my email before the debate starts.

Speaking

Medium speed is my preference. If you're a novice, please make sure you're not sacrificing clarity for speed.

If you're being unclear, I will say clear once or twice before I stop flowing. It's been a while so I'm not great at flowing everything especially for extremely fast debates (more applicable to varsity debaters).

Speech Preferences:

1. do effective line-by-line, organization is important.

2. Still do good and thorough impact calc especially in the 2NR/2AR

3. Tell me why I should vote for you, be persuasive!

Debate Formalities:

1. No tag-team speeches, your speaks will get hurt by it. I don’t like it when debaters talk through their partners's speeches. If it is not your speech do not talk.

2. No open cross-ex - cx is your opportunity to show me what you know about the topic.

3. I have a big pet peeve of people that blindly read blocks without understanding what arguments their opponents are making. Novices, please know what your varsity blocks are saying. Answering args that don't get brought up shows me that you're not familiar with your arguments, and decreases your ethos in round.

3. I hate it when debaters do not stand for their speeches or refuse to make any eye contact. I believe presentation is very important!

4. I will time your prep, but I can't guarantee timing your CX or speeches. It's good habit for debaters to prep speeches and prep time in most debates anyways.

Arguments

I like DA’s, K’s, Theory, Topicality (if you debate theory well in front of me, you get extra speaks).

The only thing I ask of you is to explain you arguments. For Ks, I know most generic Ks but please explain to me the link, impact, and how your alt solves the link (extend! warrants! that's good!).

Gender based/identity Ks are not my favorite - keep that in mind if that's your A-strat.

I'm also not a fan of many conditional CPs (ie 10 off of just CPs) , especially if they're all very similar. Aff, please just go for condo if that's the 1NC.

Other Notes

Good debaters are able to do effective line by lines and impact calculus. I like debates with lots of clash with persuasive speakers.

For theory debates, I AM willing to vote on RVIs especially if the neg block drops it.

I work for MPS - Rufus King High School

I did 4 years of policy debates in high school, what is now called "traditional debate".

I've judged mostly novice debate for a few years.

Speaking

How fast can students speak during speeches? Medium Speed

If a student is speaking too fast or unclear, will you give any cues to them? Usually I will say slow/slow down or clear

List stylistic items you like debaters to do.

1. Debaters should start with a roadmap and include signposts during their speech.

2. Debaters should do a line by line refuting the opponents arguments

3. Debaters should include an impact calc in the final speeches

List stylistic items you do not like debaters to do.

1. I do not like rudeness

2. I do not like partners to talk to the speaker during their partners speech excessively

Arguments

List types of arguments you prefer to listen to/evaluate.

1. Disadvantages are important to the negative attack

2. I’m open to inherency and solvency attacks

3. I’m open to counter plans

List types of arguments that you prefer not to listen to.

1. I do not understand kritiks very well, it will probably be hard to get me to vote on this for you. I come from the more traditional debate mindset.

2. I rarely vote neg on topicality, it would need to be the full shell with voters that make sense. And the neg must give this sufficient time in the round but I will be swayed aff by them being reasonably topical.

Other Notes

I love clash, I love line by line. I really want debaters to take apart each other’s arguments. This is best accomplished by listening to each other.

I want the last speeches to include an impact analysis that shows why their position leads to be a better world.