Primarily, I am a coach and educator. I have always felt strongly that debate is a contest of ideas and communication skills. I have no preferences in the round; however, if you speak so quickly that your ideas are diminished, I will have a hard time voting for you, especially if your opponent is more articulate (even with weaker arguments).
I vote on whatever I found to be effective in the round. The more specific your arguments are to what happens in the debate, the greater your chances of earning my ballot. I’m looking for clash and reward debaters who work to ensure it is achieved.

I am philosophically opposed to disclosing my ballot at the end of the round. I will only offer oral critique if I saw something that I think I could share to help you with the remaining rounds in the tournament (adjusting your case, how you could have argued more effectively, etc.). Everything else I am thinking during the round I will note on the ballot.

I prefer clarity to speed.  Every. Time. Spreading will lose points with me.

I prefer a well-reasoned argument to number of cards.  While evidence is of course a part of any argument, I particularly reward the team that can apply specific evidence to their argument clearly.

I prefer a team that listens to and responds to the other side's argument appropriately.  

I do not pay much attention to crossfire; IMO, crossfire is your opportunity to see what you can do with your opponent's case.  I want to hear you bring up blocks, refutation and/or counterpoints based on your crossfire in the subsequent parts of the round.

As a coach, I will usually be pretty familiar with both sides of the resolution.  If a card sounds suspect, I will call for it.  

Vestavia Hills '20 UVA '24

email: ryanconn427@gmail.com

There are typos in this sorry

Have email chain set up before the round please. I tried to keep this paradigm relatively short and likely was not specific enough for some of your particularities so please feel free to email me or ask me questions before round. I also recommend you locally record your rounds in case of a disconnection or if I need to review an evidence ethics violation.

Specific to Samford 2022: I do not know hardly anything about this topic so err on the side of over-explaining. I'm a "tech" judge for all intents and purposes, but I'm always down for a lay debate.

General: I view debate as an activity which has very few tangible benefits in the short run i.e. getting a trophy doesn't really do anything for anyone other than boost egos, but I view debate as an activity which serves to benefit us greatly in the long run through developing good research skills and exposure to literary perspectives we otherwise probably never would have heard of in a traditional educational setting. Debate is an expressive activity, so use whatever language you want so long as it isn't exclusionary or problematic. I do not care if you sit or stand for speeches and cross.

I am not tab. There are some arguments which are just anti-educational with zero real world application as well as arguments which are exclusionary. These types of arguments most frequently take the form of tricks, but can also manifest themselves in other ways. I've found the recent LD trend of trying to cheese your opponent with blips, bracketed a priori, etc. to be antithetical to fun and a massive waste of the judges and opposing debater's time. I will vote for these arguments if your opponent drops it or you somehow impact it out to be a huge voting issue, but don't expect to get high speaks if you go for one of these arguments. There are also some arguments I don't understand very well which you can read more about below.

Defaults/Preferences:

- Tech over truth to an extent. Am not willing to vote on an argument without a claim, warrant, or impact.

- Presumption flips neg until they read an alternate advocacy. Permissibility is not a voting issue unless one debater tells me it flips a certain way. Both of these defaults are thrown out the window as soon as one debater makes arguments about how they should operate.

- You must instruct me on what/how to judge kick. Not going to kick anything a debater doesn't tell me I can/should.

- Need to justify fairness or education

- Shells>Paragraph Theory

- Default to Comparative Worlds

- Calc indicts aren't tricks

-Good analysis>perfect evidence******(If you read an all analytic Phil NC with zero cited authors I will not be happy)

-I will evaluate skep arguments, but since skep itself has no advocacy, I will not vote for it alone. You must pair it with another reason to why your position is good.

-Strongly dislike arguments which auto affirm or negate every time. SSD does not solve. Please don't waste your time on those. I also will not evaluate arguments which tell me to evaluate part of the round before it is over. No❤️, I will not evaluate your spec shell after the 2nr.

-I believe disclosure is a good norm for a variety of reasons. I know some schools do not allow their students to disclose so obviously that is an exception, but please please please disclose otherwise the round is probably over for you as soon as your opponent reads a disclosure shell.

-I generally don't like to hear ad hominem arguments about your opponents out of round lifestyle choices. I'm down to listen to a couple out of round links if they actually relate to the debate space, but I'm almost certainly not gonna drop your opponent because they said something dumb in a Facebook group.

Tldr on my comfort in evaluating certain arguments:

1. Larp

2. T/Theory

3. K (identity)

4. Phil

4. K (pomo)

5. Performance

5. Tricks

Aff: Not too much to say here. I feel like my expectations for an aff case are the same as most other judges. Please have some sort of plan because I'm sure how a planless aff functions much less how to evaluate it. I prefer topical affs as they are easier to interact with in round and evaluate after the round. If you do decide to run a non-t aff, you need to be able to show me the out of round impacts which warrant you running such a case and how there is no possible TVA.

LARP: I enjoy good LARP debates. The biggest issues I have with LARPers though is terrible link chains and an overall absence of weighing. If your links suck and your opponent nails you for it, you are more likely than not in deep trouble for the round. For counter plans, I am generally good with 2 conditional counter plans, although if someone were to do a really good job running a condo bad shell I can be persuaded otherwise. I prefer if your counter plans are either conditional or unconditional as I find dispositional to be kind of messy where debaters can just pick some ridiculous condition for when they can't kick it, and condo is just a generally better strategy in my opinion. You do you though. If you are LARP against K or Phil, make sure to explain to me the merits of policy making and the out of round impacts associated with it. Also, if you are against a non LARP strategy then prove to me why comparative worlds is the best model for debate.

T/Theory: I love theory which promotes a more fair and accessible debate space. I detest frivolous theory. I do believe fairness is a voter but I am more persuaded by educational arguments so explain to me how your opponents breach of fairness leads to a less educational debate. I am ok with short underviews, but long ass 15 point underviews are just so boring and not fun so please don't. I also will not evaluate any argument which tells me to evaluate the debate or part of the debate after *insert speech here*. Debate rounds are as long as they are for a reason and I am unpersuaded by arguments which tell me to stop judging for a portion of the round so just save your time and run a more productive argument. A lot of rounds devolve into Theory vs. Theory so if that happens the easiest way to win is to give me an easy path to evaluating the round. Write my ballot for me.

K: This is an area where I am probably not as strong as a lot of other judges. PLESE GIVE ME GOOD OVERVIEWS. I really enjoy watching good K debaters and I think a lot of the literature read in these arguments is incredibly important. I appreciate identity K's where you can link your performance of the K to out of round impacts. I do not like K's which are just some dude's random ass incoherent Pomo theory which you read to confuse the hell out of your opponent. You will more than likely also confuse the hell out of me and I will have trouble evaluating your arguments in relation to it. If you run K's, you need to state explicitly what you defend and repeat what you defend throughout the round. If you go for pre fiat offense you need to explain to me why that is more important than debating the world of the aff. Make you have good alts otherwise I will be easily persuaded by "vague alts bad" arguments. Ultimately, if you decide to run a K make sure you explain it very well to me. If you are an experienced K debater who has seriously interacted with the literature and thesis of your author then it shouldn't be an issue, but I am not the judge to run some new hot K you just got from the wiki in front of.

Phil/Tricks- Such a polarizing area. I like cool Phil arguments which are a) coherent and b) interact well your opponents case and has actual relevance to the topic. Some Phil arguments are just indescribably bad and this is the area where my "not being tab" is likely to come out. At the end of the day, you know if an argument is substantive or not. If it has decent warrants and you provide me a clear path to the ballot, then I'm here for it. If not, you'll probably leave round pretty upset at my decision. Make sure you cite authors rather than having a 100% analytic case with a ton of skep and permissibility triggers. You need to be able to win truth testing and explain well how you case falsifies the resolution.

Tricks... Here is the deal with tricks. There is a fine line between sneaky fun arguments which still have warrants and straight up BS. If your strategy is solely to blitz your opponent with 30 one line blips and then collapse on one when they inevitably drop something, I really am not interested. It's hard for me to give specific examples but you know should know the difference. I will not vote on the resolved a priori.

Performance- Area I have the least experience with. If you are a performance debater, my advice is to just go for it. I will be highly entertained which will likely mean high speaks, and if you are able to impact out the performance of the debate to some huge out of round impact I definitely see myself voting for you. Hard for me to say what I am looking for because I've had such little exposure to these types or arguments, but if you have a well written and composed performance case I'd love to hear it.

Miscellaneous:

Speaks- I will try to be very fair when awarding speaks. I hate it when judges give trash speaks for no apparent reason which can screw people over if there is a -2 screw. I also hate when judges give out 30s because someone asked or they were buddies with the judge. I will award a 30 if you change the way I think about debate in a positive way. I will award a 25 if you do something inconceivably bad. I will try to average around a 28.5 or there about with debaters I deem worthy of breaking averaging around a 29. I do augment my speaks slightly based on what win bracket you are in.

Update: I believe I have averaged around a 28.7 at octos bid tournaments so far. Do with that what you will

Evidence Ethics- I loathe people who miscut or misrepresent evidence. In the case you think your opponent is cheating, you need to make a formal challenge. Say "I am challenging the ethicality of "insert card/s here". If your opponent accuses you of cheating in a speech, after the speech, ask them to make a formal challenge. If they decline, the round goes on as usual. In the event of a challenge, I will stop the round and review the evidence. I will ask the challenger to show what they think is in violation. I alone will decide who wins the challenge. The winner of the challenge gets the ballot and whatever speaks I would have given them otherwise, maybe slightly higher. The loser gets L20. If I see you are running miscut evidence and your opponent doesn't call you out on it, I will evaluate the round normally but tank your speaks.

Postround: I will always disclose. Most of my feedback will be oral so I can get a decision in faster. If you act like a tool after my decision and post round me then I guess I'll be forced to make fun of you and email your coach. I promise I make every decision in good faith.

I did debate in high school, but I have been out of it for a while now so please excuse me if I am not totally up to date on everything. I am open to pretty much any argument and speed as well (but I prefer a conversational speed in Public Forum). I also request that competitors time their own speeches and prep time, and I'm ok if you go a little over time to finish your sentence but anything more than 5 seconds and I stop flowing.

Can't stress this enough: IMPACT WEIGHING, IMPACT WEIGHING, and IMPACT WEIGHING. Start in the summary continue with it in the Final Focus. If you don't present me with impacts to vote on it's a tough path for you to win my ballot. Impact calc is a HUGE plus so please include it in your speeches, especially if you have time left on the clock.

While framework isn't something that is a must for PF, I do love to see it. Framework is something that can give you that little edge and come in clutch in the end, especially if you know how to use it. However, please don't spend a ton of time arguing about framework and then barely mention it at the end of the round.

Keep cross civil and treat your opponents with respect. Other than that try to speak as clearly as possible and please give an offtime road map before you begin speaking.

Sawyer Emerson (he/him) – seemerson19@gmail.com

TLDR: Minimal Topic Knowledge, Topical Action Good, Non-Contradictory Condo Good, Disclosure Good

I am a first-year out debater from Samford University. I qualified to the NDT all four years that I debated in college. I am currently working in Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence Software Development in Huntsville, AL.

Since graduating, I have done zero topic research, and I have zero topic knowledge. As of the season opener, I didn't even know the resolution until Friday aside from personhood. In-depth topic-related arguments are going to need some background for me, and topic-related acronyms are not preferable. To an extent, this will remain consistent throughout the season. I have no plans of being deep in the topic at any point in the near future. 

Below I have some major points of my takes on debate, they will not change.

1. The affirmative must affirm the topic - how you want to do that is up to you but be prepared to defend your aff through the topic. Being "in the direction of the topic" is not sufficient. 

2. The pairings are binding as is on Tab. If the first speech is not from the school assigned affirmative, I will auto-vote for the negative.

3. Condo is good - contradictory and unlimited condo is not. Perf con is not condo and is definitely bad

4. I will vote negative on presumption for solvency or internal link takeouts. I think there is a possibility of 0% risk of a DA or an Advantage. I would definitely vote for presumption against an AI aff that totally mischaracterizes AI.

A couple of other notes you may find useful: 

1. I went for separate sheet impact turns frequently. I think these debates are really fun when executed, not so fun when disorganized or mishandled.
2. Debaters are too hesitant to litter pages with analytics. 
3. I default to consequentialism and utilitarianism, but the tech could lead me to use a different standard. I will not reject util if you don't provide an alternative. Reading 10 util is evil/bad cards is not an alternative weighing mechanism. 
4. Disclosure in debate of broken arguments is good. Using the wiki is good. I will vote on disclosure theory in these instances. Sending analytics is nice, but in no way required. 
5. If your cap k is anything other than How the World Works by Bo Burnham on repeat for every speech, I probably don't want to hear it

Alyssa Gregory (alyssa.g.gregory@gmail.com yes put me on the email chain).

I was on the Policy Debate Team at Samford University where I qualified for the national debate tournament twice. All of my debate experience has been in policy but I still feel like I have a good understanding of LD and PF.

A brief overview: I lean towards aff on theory, tech over truth, and love impact calc. The better line by line the better speaker points. Debaters have an incentive to lie so you need evidence to support your claims.

Other thoughts:

Tech v. Truth: I definitely lean more toward tech. There are a lot of true arguments in debate (probably on both sides) so if an arg is dropped and you point it out, it will be a true argument for me. However, if your opponent runs a really out there argument and you effectively argue against it I'll take this into consideration.

Speed: Go the fastest you can while being clear. As a debater, I've always hated when judges said clear so I'll probably only say it to you if you're excessively unclear. If I look confused that's a sign you need to change.

Kicking Arguments: Unless it’s a theory arg, you should be formally kicking out of things. I will kick a cp for the negative automatically if they respond to “status of the cp” in cx with “status quo is always an option” unless the aff tells me not to. Otherwise, I won’t kick anything unless explicitly told to by the negative.

This is true for all args except args that have no business in debate (see impact turns below)

Non-topical affs: I believe debate is a fun game students do for fun on the weekend. Like any game, debate has binding rules I will hold you to. You need to either affirm or negate the year's topic.

Traditional v. Progressive: I lean progressive. I have run and hit a few K's. The more far-fetched the K the less likely I will vote for you. I've also been in and witnessed some clash debates where people were overly rude to their opponents. If I witness you taunting, bullying, or acting in an excessively rude manner I will severely dock your speaker points. With all arguments, but especially Ks it is necessary to explain in simple terms what you are advocating for.

T: I'm very comfortable with these args. If you do go for T make sure you have a definition of an exact word from the resolution. You also need evidence to support this claim and more evidence to show the aff does not fall under your interpretation. And explain standards (especially if there is a counter interp) - If you don't tell me why to prefer your interp, I probably will give aff more wiggle room on being T. Standards need to have an impact. Why should I care about limiting the resolution? Also, make sure you present a Topical Version of the aff.

Theory More Broadly: Condo is a reason to reject the team or reject the arg, and everything else is just reject the arg. Debate is a game and theory arguments tell the judge when someone has broken a rule. I lean pretty far negative on theory like PICs, Conditional, etc. However, I find 3 Cps to be excessive (2 is fine). The more condo you have, the more persuasive the reject the team arg becomes and the more wiggle room I will give the aff. I think conditional planks are sketchy and unfair to the aff.

K: You cannot win a K without an alternative and need to have a solvency advocate.

CP: I love a good counterplan that is textually and functionally competitive with the plan, a credible solvency advocate, and a net benefit. I’m good with any reasonable cp as long as the negative is ready to defend it theoretically or kick out of it.

DA: Uniqueness determines the direction of the link.

Impacts: Do impact calculus and turns/solves case arguments at least in the 2NR/2AR. If the debate comes down to impact calculus and neither team has done any, I can’t tell you how I personally would evaluate the impacts. Please just make my life easier and do the impact calc

Impact Turns: If you impact turn anything like discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. you’re going to lose and get 0 speaker points.

I flow rounds. Alerting me to clear contentions and off time road maps assists me in completing my flows. I am absolutely not capable of flowing if you SPREAD, in fact, if you choose to SPREAD, I will stop flowing and listen. I prefer to hear you present your arguments verses reading your prepared material. The documents will provide me the name of your source when I review before making a final decision. I favor up to date resources as changes happen daily, when presenting your argument I focus on the year of the evidence to include in my flow. Cross fires should be civil. I generally look to typical speech characteristics when determining speaker points, such as speaking with clarity and articulation. I also consider the general characteristics of giving a speech such as how you present yourself through your demeanor both individually and as a team, as well as with your opponents.

Hello everyone,

I'm Ravi Nataraj, a current junior in chemical engineering at Auburn University. In a past lifetime (high school), I've led the Hoover High LD Debate Team and have judged many tournaments over the past 3 years.

To win the round and ultimately appeal to me, you don't need to do much. Speak slow and loud so I may write legibly. If you spread (sometimes acceptable) or yell gibberish at me, I will not be able to interpret the chicken scratch I've written. Spread if needed for your case ONLY, but try not to for other sections.

LD is the pinnacle of philosophical debate, so value and criterion are EXTREMELY important. Link all cards back to framework heavily. If the opponent proves a card doesn't connect back to framework, you will likely lose that card. I still value card to card debate as it factors into the final "scale" I use.

Because its LD, analytical is preferred over empirical evidence, but understand they go hand in hand. Here, it's worth noting the key difference between LD and PF is the use of philosophy.

Lastly, please don't run anything weird like disadvantages or kritiques (with a k or c?). Actually, kritiques are fine (state the premise) but I'd prefer you don't run it.

That's all and good luck!

Updated for 2023-2024 Season

Please put me on the speech thread! Thank you.

Email: thelquinn@gmail.com

Titles: Director of Debate at Samford University (AL).

Meta-thoughts:

I’m not the smartest human. You’re maybe/likely smarter than me. Please do not assume I know anything you are talking about. And I would honestly love to learn some new things in a debate about arguments you researched.

Debaters are guilty until proven innocent of clipping cards. I follow along in speech docs. I believe it is judges job to police clipping and it is unfair to make debaters alone check it. I will likely say clear though, it's nothing personal.

I keep a running clock and "read along" with speech docs to prevent clipping. At the end of the round, I find myself most comfortable voting for a team that has the best synthesis between good ethos, good tech/execution, and good evidence. I will not vote on better evidence if the other team out debates you, but I assign a heavy emphasis on quality evidence when evaluating competing arguments, especially offensive positions.

Education/Debate Background:

Wake Forest University: 2011-2015. Top Speaker at ADA Nationals my Junior Year. 2x NDT First-Round Bid at Wake Forest. 2x NDT Octofinalist. 2x Kentucky Round Robin. Dartmouth Round Robin. Pittsburgh Round Robin.

Mountain Brook High School: 2007-2011. 3x TOC Qualifier. 2011 Winner of Emory's Barkley Forum in Policy Debate. Greenhill and Harvard Round Robin. Third Place at NSDA Nationals in 2011. Seventh Place NSDA Nationals 2010. Winner of Woodward JV Nationals.

Policy Thoughts:

Tl;dr: Offense/defense, the algorithm, cards are currency. UQ determines link unless otherwise said. Willing to pull the trigger on T/theory.

Flow: Most debaters should make analytics off their flows, especially in digital debate. Conversely, if you include analytics on your speech doc but I do not find you clear but I recognize where you are on your speech doc, I will not consider them arguments.

Condo: Im largely ok with conditionality. I think the best aff args against conditional are against contradictory conditional options. I do not really like the counter-interp of dispo. Im a much bigger fan of CI is non-contradictory conditional options.

• 3 or less non contradictory conditional options is ok to me
• 2 contra condo is fine
• 3 contradictory condo (including a K) and I am willing to vote on contra condo bad.
• For new affs, I think at most 5 contra condo is permissive. Anymore and I think you risk losing on theory.
• I think negs should take the 2 seconds it takes to have a CI that isn't "what we did." "What we did" is not really a good CI in debates.

CP Theory: If the 2AC straight turns your disad, no amount of theory will justify a 2NC CP out of/around the straight turned DA. 2NC CP's vs addons are different and chill/encouraged. Generic Process/ Conditions/ consult CPs cause me to lean aff on theory/perm, unless you have a good solvency advocate specific to their plan text which can prove its predictable and important for that area of debate. But I’m persuaded that a generic/predictable aff posted on the wiki can win a theory debate/perm do CP against a generic process/ conditions/ consult CPs. This is especially true with any Con Con CP. Con Con is the worst.

I hate judge kick. Do you want me to flow for you too? Maybe compose your speech doc while you're at it? I don't give the affirmative random permutations. Don't make me kick your trash counterplan for you.

T: My "favorite" standards are predictable limits (debatability) and real-world context (literature/education). I think a topicality interp that has both of those standards I will err on. Evidence that is both inclusive and exclusive is the gold standard. I tend to be more moderate with reasonability. I am not in the cult of limits. I err aff if I believe your interpretation is "reasonable" and that the negative did not prove you made debate impossible even if their interpretation is slightly better.

Kritikal Debate. I vote off the flow, which means my opinions on K debate are secondary to my voting. And I was 4-0 for Wake BD last year in some big debates against policy teams, so I'm going to vote for the team that I thought did the better debating (But are you Wake BD?). Im not really opposed to kritiks on the negative that are tied to the plan/resolution or kritikal affirmatives that defend a topical plan of action. I think where I draw the line is that I'm not a good judge for more performance based "affirmatives/negatives" that neither affirm nor negate the plan text/resolution. I lean very heavily neg on FW v non or anti-topical K affs. I think a good topical version of the affirmative is the best argument on FW. The role of the judge is to vote for the team who does the better debating. Debate is an educational game we play on the weekend with friends. I will not evaluate arguments that derive from actions/events out of the debate I am judging. Fairness is an impact and intrinsically good. I do not believe the ballot has material power to change the means of production/structures and thinking it does may even be problematic.

Please do not read global warming good. Global warming is real and will kill us all. And I am particularly persuaded by the argument that introducing these arguments in debate is unethical for spreading propaganda and should be deterred by rejecting the team. I'm way more persuaded by inevitability and alt cause args.

Jay Rye - Head Coach - Montgomery Academy

Experience- I have been involved with L/D debate since 1985 as a former L/D debater, judge, and coach. I have been involved with Policy debate since 1998. I have coached Public Forum debate since it began in 2002. While at many tournaments I serve in the role as tournament administrator running tournaments from coast to coast, every year I intentionally put myself into the judge pool to remain up to date on the topics as well as with the direction and evolving styles of debate. I have worked at summer camps since 2003 - I understand debate.

Philosophy

I would identify myself as what is commonly called a traditional L/D judge. Both sides have the burden to present and weigh the values and/or the central arguments as they emerge during the course of the round. I try to never allow my personal views on the topic to enter into my decision, and, because I won't intervene, the arguments that I evaluate are the ones brought into the round - I won't make assumptions as to what I "think" you mean. I am actually open to a lot of arguments - traditional and progressive - a good debater is a good debater and an average debater is just that - average.

While for the most part I am a "tabula rasa" judge, I do have a few things that I dislike and will bias me against you during the course of the round either as it relates to speaker points or an actual decision. Here they are:

1) I believe that proper decorum during the round is a must. Do not be rude or insulting to your opponent or to me and the other judges in the room. Not sure what you are trying to accomplish with that approach to debate.

2) Both sides must tell me why to vote "for" them as opposed to simply why I should vote "against" their opponent. In your final speech, tell me why I should vote for you - some call this "crystallization" while others call it "voting issues" and still others just say, "here is why I win" - whatever you call it, I call it letting your judge know why you did the better job in the round.

3) I am not a big fan of speed. You are more than welcome to go as fast as you want, but if it is not on my flow, then it was not stated, so speed at your own risk. Let me say that to the back of the room - SPEED AT YOUR OWN RISK! If you have a need for speed, at the very least slow down on the tag lines as well as when you first begin your speech so that my ears can adjust to your vocal quality and tone.

4) I am not a big fan of "debate speak: Don't just say, cross-apply, drop, non-unique, or other phrases without telling me why it is important. This activity is supposed to teach you how to make convincing arguments in the real world and the phrase "cross-apply my card to my opponents dropped argument which is non-unique" - this means nothing. In other words, avoid being busy saying nothing.

5) Realizing that many debaters have decided to rely on the Wiki, an email chain, and other platforms to exchange the written word, in a debate round you use your verbal and non-verbal skills to convince me as your judge why you win the round. I rarely call for evidence and I do not ask to be on any email chain.

Hi everyone!

I'm a former debater; I like traditional style LD. If you want to win, I recommend you push your framework.

You can run progressive stuff with me, BUT I highly recommend that unless a debater is being noticeably abusive, you have a well-thought out K (do not rely on your identity in Ks, it's tough for me to buy those), or a fun counterplan, do NOT go progressive. I recommend erring on the side of caution and sticking to the traditional stuff, but if you desperately want to go progressive with it, feel free to try. I will say it's been a whole minute and a half since I've seen theory, so you'll have to be explicit with your shells. (If you're not getting the message here, going progressive with me with the exceptions of counterplans and certain Ks is a 2/10 would not recommend kind of experience).

Stick to clean, crisp LD. Show me that you're a fundamentally good debater with the actual skills of debate, no need to do a "perceptual dominance" overload kind of thing. If you want to win, make me think and make me admire your ability to creatively and solidly take down other people's arguments. If you're good at turning, do it. If you have a well thought out different criterion/framework, use it. It's fun!

Also just be kind. No need to get overly aggressive in round. Aim for class if you hand out sass, but excessive aggressive is not the personality that melds well with me in the debate environment.

Affilliation: Vestavia Hills

I've judged for PF. I use to be be a PF and CX debater. 

Most important thing I'm looking for is the content of the arguments and impact arguments. Not a huge fan of Kritik arguments. I'm fine with people going faster than normal talking/PF speed but please don't use policy debate speed/spread- just be clear.   

EMAIL CHAIN: jsydnor@altamontschool.org -- all rounds should set up email chains before scheduled start time. I would like to be included.

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Former policy debater in HS and College. I come into LD from that background, and I love seeing where LD and policy are in communication with one another. While I'm familiar with K's, CP's, PICs, plan-focus debates, planless K Affs, T, Theory... I'm less familiar with some of the other arguments like high phil, a prioris, NIBs, etc. that are more well known in LD.

I am am open to most arguments, but I am unwilling to vote on arguments I don't understand enough to give a coherent RFD. The burden remains with the debater to make a sufficiently clear argument I can grasp and understand as a path to the ballot. I don't feel bad saying "I didn't understand this, so I didn't vote on it."

I don't buy into the argument division between "circuit" and "local" debate and that I should inherently discount arguments or styles because it's Alabama not a "national" tournament. Any kind of exclusion needs to be theoretically justified.

Speed: 7.5/10. Speed is fine but debate is still a communication-based activity and I'm a poorly aging millennial. Sending speech docs is not a substitute for clarity.

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-CP: I default sufficiency framing and will judge kick unless told otherwise. Would rather hear args about solvency deficit, perm, and issues with NB than rely on theory to answer.

-K: I think all forms of debate are great, but K's and K Affs offer something unique to the activity that enhances its pedagogical value. However, that doesn't mean I know your specific literature or that I am going to immediately buy what you're selling. I like close readings of the 1AC to generate links as quality critical work.

-K Affs: Go for it. I believe the Aff has to advance some contestable methodology beyond "res is bad, reject the res." I usually believe offense on method is the most interesting site for clash. T-USFG/FW isn't off the table as a true guaranteed generic response and can be a really strong option given the way some K teams write their 1AC.

-Theory: Not my favorite debate but I know it can be important/strategic. Go a little slower on this if you want me to get follow the intricacies of the line-by-line. I have some hesitation with the direction disclosure and wiki theory arguments are going, but I still vote on it.

-T vs Plan Affs --I believe plans have the burden to be topical, and topicality is determined by interpreting words in the resolution. If you read a plan that is not whole res then you should always go into the round proving you definitionally are topical. I generally believe analytic counter-interps (like mainstream theory debates on norms) and reasonability alone are not winning options. Has the Neg read a definition that excludes your plan? If yes, you have a burden to counter-define in a way that is inclusive of your Aff. I am very persuaded that, absent a sufficient "we meet," if the Aff cannot counter-define a word in the resolution that is inclusive of the plan then I should A] not consider the plan reasonable, even if reasonability is good, and B] no sufficient competing interpretation of the topic, which is an auto-win for the Neg. (K Affs can be an exception to most of this because the offense to T and method of establishing limits is different.)

- T vs K Affs -- Willing to vote on it insofar as you win that you've presented a superior model for debate and that voting for you isn't violent/complicit. I generally believe fairness is not an impact. I like strong answers to meta-level questions, such as Aff descriptions of what debate and proceduralism vs debate as a game/site for unique type of education and iterative testing of advocacies.

-Phil: You should assume I know 0 of the things necessary for you to win this debate and that you have to do additional groundwork/translation to make this a viable option. I've only seen a few phil debates and my common issue as a judge is that I need a clear articulation of what the offensive reason for the ballot is or clear link to presumption and thus direction and meaning of presumption.

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If you choose to not set up an email chain or a reasonable alternative and then waste a bunch of time during the round with, your speaker points will be capped at a 27.5. Debaters saying "I'm not spreading so we don't need to share" or, even worse, "I don't want your team to have my arguments" are huge pet peeves of mine. This activity is net better when you can look at your opponent's evidence, analyze it, and contest it. Calling for cards is not sufficient nor time conscious. Just send the doc with the evidence you're going to read in that speech before the speech.

I debated LD for Vestavia for 3 years and PF for 1 year. I did debate on the national circuit, so I can handle speed, theories, and other off-cases. I do not like K's so I will not vote on them. I'll let you know if you need to slow down by saying clear. I love a good framework and standards debate, so I'd generally prefer that it be the focal point. Clear extensions and turns are of course preferred. I also dislike "squirrelly" arguments, so that's another topic that I largely will not vote on. Other than that, I've had 4 years of judging experience and I have judged at Nationals. 

I'm a former policy debater from Samford University and started debating as a novice my first year in college (2016). I qualified to the NDT twice (2017-2018, 2018-2019). I spent my last year in college coaching Novice and JV teams at Samford. I am currently a 3L in law school.

Update for August 2022: Hi! This is my first-time judging debate in a while, so please realize that I may not have the deepest topic specific knowledge. Please take time to explain out your arguments and don't assume that I've done prior topic specific research. 

I'm very much a "you do you" type of judge and want the debate to be what the debaters want it to be about, that said I do have some preferences:

For the Neg:

1. Disads

As a former 2N, I love disads, but I'm going to be skeptical of your ability to win the disad if your uniqueness and link work isn't done well throughout the entire debate. Impact calc is your best friend, in the 2nr I want you to write my ballot for me and tell me why your link chain is much more probable than your opponents and why your impact turns the case debate.

2. CPs

I'm not particularly persuaded by Aff claims that the CP should be textually competitive, and err on the side of functionally competitive. If the CP has multiple planks I want a clear explanation of how each one functions (or how they function together) at some point in the debate, so many debaters don't synthesis their CP planks to work together which ultimately ends up hurting them in the debate. As far as 50 states goes, the Aff is 100 % right! 50 state fiat isn't the most real world model of education, however, as a 2N I can definitely be persuaded by the arg that it's important to test federal vs. state action---just make sure that these arguments are well drawn out if the debate comes down to 50 states fiat.

3. K debate

All too often the alt isn't clearly explained. While I would definitely vote on "we prove the aff is bad even without the alt," you'd really have to be winning case turns arguments which ultimately makes more work for you. It's best to work with an alt that you are familiar with and can clearly explain with well-articulated links to the case. I try to interfere with the debate as little as possible, so even if I understand the literature base you're working with, I'm not going to do the work for you if you don't fully explain your arguments or develop them.

4. Topicality

It's really important that you win your interpretation though explaining why it is comparatively better than the Aff's CI. It's a good practice to include a list of topical versions of the affirmative that the aff could easily have adopted. Also, I want to see good impact work done in the 2NR (what ground you lost, how they over or under limit etc & why those things matter).

5. FW

Win the TVA debate and I'm 89% convinced you'll win my ballot. If there is a TVA that solves all your offense and gives the Aff the ability to debate the things that they want to debate, that's an easy neg ballot. BUT you need to do the work for me and do impact work in the 2NR that explains what ground you lost (and it needs to be more than "I couldn't run my econ da").

6. Final Tips

A) Clarity over speed

B) When the debate is too big in the 2NR, the neg often loses

C) If the Aff reads add-ons in the 2AC, impact turn them and make the debate fun :)

D) 1NRs should be offensive not defensive, it's a strategic time to read lots of cards because the aff usually focuses more on the 2NC.

For the Aff:

1. For Policy Affs

A) Be topical, or be really good at debating topicality--I'm going to err neg in a debate that you're not winning the topicality debate. Persuasive counter interpretations are a good thing to have in your toolbox and explaining why your interpretation is comparatively better (for debate, for this round etc.) is a must.

B) Impact calc---write my ballot in the 2AR

2. For K Affs

I think that it is helpful for K aff's to be germane to the resolution, it makes it harder for the neg to win aspects of the FW debate (if it is a K vs policy debate) and increases the nuance level of the debate.

A few final things

1. Pronouns are very important, please be respectful and ask the other team their preferred pronouns before the debate starts and adhere to those throughout the debate.

2. Microaggression and rudeness will result in your speaker points being docked, please keep the debate civil and respectful.