I am formally a policy judge however I love all arguments I am well versed with K debate CP and all formalities of debate my paradigm is simple convince me why your argument is valid and makes sense and should be weighed above the other team and I will vote for you you be it policy, kritik, E.T.C. I mostly look at the rebuttals, this is where you should be able to sell your point, bring everything together and convince me that your arguments outweighed the other team's.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO SPREAD PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU GO SLOWLY ON YOUR TAG LINES AND YOUR PLAN OR ELSE I CANNOT FLOW THEM AND IT WILL END UP HURTING YOU!!! IF YOU DO NOT, AND I MISS KEY ARGUMENTS IT WILL BE ON YOU

More details, take notice.

Flashing- not very picky with the flashing cards or whatever, but just try to not waste too much time flashing or I will start running prep.

Line by line - I do pay close attention to specific arguments being made on the flow, that being said I hate judge intervention and will not draw any lines for you. I advice that you specify which arguments you want me to weigh in particular and its importance in the round

Topicality - I think that topicality is a strategic argument and will look at it as a disad, and pay particular attention to the 'impact" of the affirmative to both the fairness and education of the round. If you plan to go for topicality I want to see you prove abuse in the round without purposely opting out of potential arguments. Highly doubt that anyone will ever persuade me that it is a reverse voter or it's not a voting issue. *Love a great T debate*

Kritiks -- I think the best teams tend to look for more specific links outside of the generics read in the 1NC, if you can extract really good links from the evidence the aff presents, or the words that they use, it makes the K more powerful and decreases the chance of the aff swindling their way out. Also, having a pretty SOLID alternative really helps proves that their is a different non problematic approach, and gives neg some credibility. I think affirmative should always have a framework asking to weigh their case impacts against the Kritik, makes your case "matter" when it comes decision making.

Theory - not a huge fan, but I am not against using this as a strategy for whatever... using theory alone to get the ballot is ill advised. I mostly likely will vote down the argument, unless you can prove that somehow they skewed your education or ability to debate failrly.

Case - self explanatory. for the aff team - Take good care of your aff throughout the round. Weigh it against everything, its your best defense mechanism.

Counter Plan - try to make it topic specific, and have a counter plan text

Framework - totally open to new ways of thinking/voting in rounds, I think its important that we question how we debate. I will go with whatever framework is presented and warranted the best in the round. If no framework is established in the round I will traditionally go with aff having to meet the burden of proof, and neg defending the status quo or a competitive policy action. Tips for running Framework - prove why your framework is best not only for you, but for the opposing team and for any other potential debate. The more inclusive and fair your framework to higher the chance I go with it.

Any further questions, ask away when you see me.

I spent thirteen seasons solely working in policy. I have spent the last five seasons working in public forum. In addition to coaching and judging, I served as the Tournament Director for the NYCUDL, the Vice President for Policy Debate for the BQCFL, part of tab staff for NYSFLs, NYSDCAs, the New York City Invitational, and the Westchester Invitational, and in the residence halls for DDI.

What this means for PF debaters is that I am very flow-centric and expect good sign posts. If you give me a road map, I expect you to follow it. While I understand that you will not read evidence in-round, I do expect you to clearly cite your evidence and will listen to (and reward) good analysis of evidence throughout the round.

What this means for policy debaters is that I typically spend more time running tournaments than judging in them. My flowing skills are not what they used to be. You need to SLOW DOWN for your tags and authors or else they will not make my flow. You should also SLOW DOWN for the actual claims on any theory or analytic arguments (Treat them like cards!). My flow is sacred to me, if you want me to vote for you, your flow should look like mine. Lay it out for me like I am a three year-old.

As for arguments, I consider myself a stock-issues judge. Those are what I coach my novices, and I still feel they are the best arguments in policy debate. That said, I have voted on all types of arguments and performance styles in debate. If you want me to vote on something that is not a stock issue, you better explain it to me like I am a three year-old. Even if you want me to vote on a stock issue, you should explain it to me like I am a three year-old.

I do not typically ask for (or want to) examine evidence after the round. It is your job to explain it to me. There is no need to add me to an email chain. That said, if there is some contention about what a piece of evidence actually says, you should make a point of that in your speeches.

As for paperless debate in general, I like my rounds to start on time and end on time. If your technical issues are hindering that, I will start running prep. I will do my best to accommodate debaters, but you need to know your tech at least as well as you know your arguments.

hi! my name is devanshi (she/her), i'm a current junior at mcgill university (it's in montreal) and i debated policy at lexington before that. if you're reading this, i'm probably your judge.

if the round's about to start:

- email: devanshisbhangle@hotmail.com

- be organized - subpoints, good line by line, etc.

- tech > truth - if you win the flow, you win the round.

- p l e a s e be clear. if you don't think you can be clear, slow down a little: you're better off going at 80% speed where i can understand everything you're saying as opposed to 100% where i can understand maybe half. i'm not shy about asking you to be clear but tbh it's not a good experience for any of us so please let it not come to that.

- pf specific: speed is fine. theory is fine, progressive args are fine, identity args are fine: i'll vote based on what's on the flow; simply reading any of these arguments doesn't guarantee a ballot for or against you.

- my topic knowledge is p limited - i study microbiology + immunology, so i get epidemiology / pandemics / public health, but outside of that, assume my understanding is what you'd expect for ur average college kid

- please don't make arguments or engage in behavior that threatens the safety and wellbeing of the people in the room or marginalized folks writ large. this includes, but is not limited to: making racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic comments, deadnaming / (intentionally) using incorrect pronouns, saying slurs, etc. i will not tolerate it, and doing so will result in an automatic loss, laughably low speaker points, and a word with your coaches.

- if your opponents are making you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, please let me know! i believe every video conferencing system has a function where you can privately send people messages. you can also email me. similarly, if there's anything i can do to make your experiences better (including using correct pronouns, avoiding certain topics, etc.) please let me know in whatever way is comfortable for you.

- disclosure = good - show me you disclose, and i'll give you + your partner +0.2 points

- speaks are fluid and arbitrary, but i do my best to default to higher speaker points :')

- for pf specifically: i have 0 idea what defense being "sticky" is ??

other stuff / if you have more time:

- an aff has to do two things: 1) create change; 2) be tied to the resolution in some way. beyond that, i don't really care whether it's a k aff or not. either ways, you should be able to defend your model of debate.

- i won't meticulously comb through your evidence for you. if there's a specific card that's really good for you or damning for your opponents, point it out to me in round.

- kritiks --> i'm minimally familiar with antiblackness, cap, and feminist literature, but beyond that, assume i have a very basic understanding (except for pomo, in which case, i know literally nothing). either ways, i find jargon confusing + unnecessary - in my experiences, the best k debaters have also been the ones who could most clearly explain what their theories are and how they link to the aff

- i do my best to consciously distance my decisionmaking from any preconceived biases. that being said, here are the ones i won't budge on: death is bad, racism/sexism/homophobia/genocide/bigotry is bad, climate change is bad, cancer/disease is bad.

- impact calc <3

- i like when counterplans have a solvency advocate that's specific to what the text mandates.

- not a huge fan of dodgy politics disads; make sure they're extended well and supported by your evidence.

- try not to be aggressive?? especially to novices / younger debaters / people with obviously less power in the situation than you. if you need to make someone feel small to look better, you're probably not a good debater lol

- recommend me a book/show: if i've read/seen it, +0.1 points; if i haven't, +0.2 points; if it's one of my favs, +0.3 points.

- tell me how to vote in the 2nr/ar!

good luck, be nice, have fun! <3

I do not have topic knowledge this year. Proceed accordingly.

You have < 10 seconds before the round:

a.) Tech > “truth” or ideological predispositions – although some level of judge intervention is inevitable, I will do my best to ensure that if you win the flow, you win the debate

b.) I will vote for both framework and k affs (see subpoint a)

c.) Rebuttals should frame why you win the debate (bolded because fewer and fewer teams seem to be doing this)

d.) In terms of qualifications, I did the whole TOC/speaker awards/late elims thing and I qualled to the NDT as a Harvard first-year, but I am a second year out – make of all of that what you will

e.) I love subpoints

Email Chain: yes

blatttaliaaspel@gmail.com

You have time:

As I debater, I am most frustrated by decisions in which I feel the judge voted in a way that doesn’t reflect the reality of the debate they judged. This could be because:

a.) The judge voted based on predetermined personal beliefs

b.) The judge heavily and somewhat arbitrarily intervened for one side

c.) The judge read all of the evidence at the end of the debate and reconstructed what could have happened, but didn’t

d.) The judge gave weight to new 1AR/2NR/2AR arguments

e.) The judge did other “work” for the debaters, making cross-applications or other analysis that the debaters themselves did not make in the debate

As a judge, I will attempt to NOT do these things, and to base my decision as much on the flow as I can.

Yes, I have biases. For example, I will generally assume that death and suffering are bad unless told otherwise. However, I will insist that debaters create clear metrics for evaluating impacts. My favorite thought experiment for this is the following:

If the 1AC presents all the ways their plan or advocacy CAUSES extinction, and the negative team makes purely “defensive” arguments about how the aff doesn’t cause extinction, and the aff wins in the 2AR that they do cause extinction, I will vote aff: Both teams implicitly agreed that extinction is a good we should try to reach. Obviously speaker points in this debate would be quite low, and I’d be frustrated with the decision, but I will do my best to work within the evaluative system the debaters have either explicitly or implicitly created.

Do I have thoughts about the way arguments should be deployed? Yes, and I will delineate them below, but they can almost always be reversed by good debating. What do I mean by good debating? Line-by-line, warranted analysis that clashes with the other team’s analysis, strategic use of evidence, organizational clarity, and impact and ballot framing are the most important things to me.

Framework and K Affs:

This is where all of the stuff I said about tech > truth and voting on the flow comes in – whoever does the best line-by-line and impact/ballot framing will win the debate. I debated and judge in the northeast. I would estimate that maybe 75% of my neg debates in high school were k aff v. framework rounds, so I like to think that I am familiar with how these debates go down, and I enjoy them.

If you are going for framework:

a.) Go for whatever impact you like going for – procedural fairness, clash, switch-side debate, et cetera. I disliked it when judges “liked T” but “didn’t believe” that fairness or clash was an impact. Tell me what I should think are impacts and why, and I’ll listen.

b.) Answer case or at the very least explain why you don’t have to answer case.

c.) Close doors in the 2NR. You know the 2AR will expand on case or a disad – try to cut that off.

d.) Line by line. Please. Messy and late-breaking clash rounds favor the aff.

e.) The TVA is your friend. The combination of the argument that deficits to the TVA are negative ground and the argument that reading stuff on the neg is good is very persuasive to me.

f.) Don’t be afraid to extend stuff on case in the 2NR, particularly presumption level claims that question their advocacy’s ability to solve stuff.

If you are going for a k aff:

a.) Please defend something. I love it when k affs defend some form of material action, but please advocate for something.

b.) A couple smart, powerful disads > laundry list of similar, poorly explained/differentiated disads to T

c.) Compare models of debate – what does your model of debate do? Why does it resolve the harms you say their model creates, and why does it limit their offense?

d.) Line by line, especially in the 1AR, is so important – don’t force your 2A to make new arguments

e.) Impact framing

f.) If you do cool non-traditional stuff, bring it back up after the 1AC. I am always a little disappointed when the 1AC includes some song or performance but it disappears immediately.

Disads:

I LOVE the politics disad. As such if you extend it well, I will be happy, and if you extend it poorly, I will be sad. Extending a politics disad well means reading a ton of uniqueness cards and subpointing multiple answers to every 2AC argument. If this is done in the 1NR, and extended in the 2NR, speaks will be bueno.

Topic or process disads are also cool. Impact calc and turns case arguments are the move, especially link turns case arguments.

I don't have fixed ideological positions on the more nitty-gritty stuff -- it's up to the debaters to prove whether uniqueness controls the direction of the link, or vice versa, for instance.

Counterplans:

EXPLAIN WHAT IT DOES! I don’t have a ton of experience judging on this topic; I won’t immediately know the agency or mechanism you are talking about.

Multi-actor fiat, delay, conditions, and some + process and consult = sketch; international fiat on an international topic I will probably be okay with if you have the evidence. Solvency advocates can basically make any counterplan legitimate to me, but I will listen to any theory debate, and the 2A in me may or may not pop out. Not to feed a fed horse, but all of these leanings can be reversed by good (read: clear) theory debating.

I probably won't judgekick unless I am explicitly instructed to.

Policy T:

EXPLAIN YOUR INTERP! I don’t have the topic knowledge to know if there is “consensus” about what certain terms in the resolution mean.

I may be more willing to listen to reasonability than other judges.

K's:

Most of my aff debates in high school were soft left aff versus the k. I like it when there are links to the plan, not to the status quo. I also like turns case analysis and when the alt does stuff.

Please don't assume that I am wholly unfamiliar with all k stuff because I ran mostly policy affs. I am pretty familiar with a lot of the anti-blackness and cap literature and I am very up for those throw-downs.

I have a medium level understanding of a lot of the other literature, but unless it's something super new or Frankensteined together, I will probably be able to follow you.

***PLEASE DO CASE DEBATING*** This is something that frustrates me ENDLESSLY. K teams -- you know that extinction outweighs is one of the most powerful answers policy affs will leverage. The solution to this is NOT to add subpoint W to your "Util Bad" block. The reason the aff gets extinction outweighs is because you aren't MOCKING their scenarios. Policy aff internal links are SO contrived, especially on domestic reform topics. Impact scenarios rarely assume COVID or a Biden administration, and they're written by think tanks funded by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The aff won't win on extinction outweighs if you EVISCERATE their extinction scenario. I think a block that was 8 minutes of the K and 5 minutes of ridiculing whatever nonsense the aff solves would be a killer. I know I am shouting into the void here, that case debating is a long lost art, but hopefully somebody reading this will invest some time on the case page.

Do I have any judging quirks?

a.) I find myself reading evidence after the round more and more. This is bad -- I hate being interventionist. That being said, I think a logical analytic still carries as much weight as a card.

b.) I have some but not a lot of topic knowledge. Please err on the side of explanation.

c.) Most of my debates in high school were against k teams, but I went to Michigan and helped at the Dartmouth debate camp. I like to think that means I have some amount of both policy and critical experience.

d.) I was a 2A for most of high school but I 2Ned or double two-ed for a few years. That means I may lean aff on theory surrounding questionable counterplans but I lean negative when it comes to holding a high bar for the 2AR.

e.) I am passionate about climate change. If you like going for warming good, I am the wrong judge for you. I will look for any way to vote for the other team and your speaks will suffer. I honestly have no idea why the debate community continues to treat this as a legitimate argument. (If this seems at odds with my tech>truth beliefs, I agree that I am not being wholly consistent, but the notion of breeding apathy among youth about climate change is frankly abhorrent to me. Just as tech over truth does not extend to arguments like racism is good, climate change is something I feel obligated to hold the line on.)

f.) I care a lot about the participation of women, especially WOC, in debate. I will be extremely sensitive to the way people who are not cis white men are treated in the debate space.

g.) I want to help debaters who don't receive a lot of formal coaching. I remember feeling intimidated and isolated in high school debate rounds when the other team had 3+ professional coaches in the room while my partner and I sat alone, desperately trying to figure out what we could do. A lot of my coaching in high school came from incredibly kind strangers in the debate community who were willing to help (take pity on) a panicked kid who didn't have the cards to answer a disad. If you ever have questions, whether they're about my decision or just arguments in general, email me: blatttaliaaspel@gmail.com or find me in the hallway, and I will do my best to help you out.

h.) Subpoints!

i.) I love, love, love topic education arguments, whether they're on framework/T or when you are aff going against a K or when you are going for a k and making arguments about what topic education SHOULD look like. As a policy 2A I loved making arguments about the way grassroots organizing can amalgamate careful policy research with novel or radical forms of praxis and pedagogy. Teams that do this will make me happy.

j.) References to Magi Ortiz, Debayan Sen, Rayhan Ahmed, Sydney Young, Samar Ahmad, or Ishan Bhatt = +0.2 speaks; references to any Lex debater / Lexington debate in general, including Sheryl Kaczmarek = +0.1 speaks

If either of my cats are present during the round and a debater compliments them, makes a reference to them in any way, or shows me their pet(s): +0.2 speaks

Novice paradigm

Hello novices!

Yes:

-flowing

-line by line

-impact calc

-using evidence

-using warrants

-splitting the block (if you don't know what this means, ask!)

-picking up on dropped arguments

-being assertive

-referencing Debayan Sen, Magi Ortiz, or Rayhan Ahmed (if you don't know who these scrubs are, no worries)

-frame my ballot (why do I vote for you? what impacts does voting for you ameliorate, and why do those impacts matter/matter more than the other team's impacts?)

-show me your flows after the round (+.1 speaks)

-asking questions!! email me ( blatttaliaaspel@gmail.com ) with any questions about my decision/debate in general

No:

-extending claims without warrants + impacts

-bullying your partner or the other team

-block repetition (see above)

-switching flows without telling me when you are switching (signposting)

-reading arguments/blocks you don't understand

I am a lay judge - make sense and I vote for you :).

Be kind and have a great debate.

Try not to spread because I won't be able to flow. If you don't see me flowing, you're probably going too fast.

former policy debater, judged a few pf rounds before

jeremy.hammond@pinecrest.edu, pinecrestdebatedocs@gmail.com (please put both).

I have experience judging most policy debates that would occur. I have found that there is really only one argument type that I currently won't evaluate which are wipeout based arguments which prioritize saving unknown life to that of saving known life (human/non-human life).

I haven't calculated the percentages but I below are some feelings of where I am in various types of debates.

Policy aff v Core DA - Even

Policy aff v Process CP - 60% for the neg (mostly due to poor affirmative debating rather than argument preference)

Policy aff v K - Probably have voted neg more mostly due to poor affirmative debating or dropped tricks. Side note i'm pretty against the you link you lose style of negative framework, but I have regretfully have voted for it.

Theory v Policy Neg - Probably voted more neg than aff when the aff has a non-sense counter-interpretation (i.e. CI - you get 2 condo). When the aff is just going for condo bad with a more strict counter-interpretation I have voted aff more.

K aff v FW - Probably even to voted aff more (like due to poor negative debating)

K aff v K Neg - Probably judged these the least honestly they don't stick out for me to remember how I voted. I have definitely voted for the Cap K against K affs but I don't know the percentages.

K aff v Policy Neg - (Think State good, Alt Bad, or CP) have judged but can't remember.

I have plenty of more specific thoughts about debate, but mostly those don't play into my decisions. I will add more as the year progresses if something bothers me in a round.

I am a first year debate coach for University High School in Newark, NJ. I am a high school English teacher and I don’t have a debate background, but I feel comfortable with pretty much any kind of argument.

That being said, by far the most important factor for me is clarity: Your argument must be clearly organized. You must clearly know your arguments. You must have clear road maps, transitions, and line by line arguments. You must clearly articulate your arguments and warrants. And you must speak clearly, even when spreading.

I love critical thought and challenging, engaging ideas, but I’m not a debate lifer…cut down on the jargon and make sure you are clear.

I debated for four years at Lexington High School, and am currently not debating in college. I have little to no topic knowledge.

Please add me to the email chain: justinh4033@gmail.com

PF:

- Disclosure is extremely important.

- Debate whatever style you are comfortable with. I'm experienced with speed but do what you are comfortable with. Seriously. I just want a good debate.

Top Level

I'm a firm believer in the strategic aspect of debate. My favorite part of judging a debate is watching what kinds of unique strategies you can have come up with, the research you have done to support it, and how you execute it. I'm pretty open-minded and enjoy pretty much any type of debate, so run whatever you want. I would much rather you run what you're comfortable with, rather than trying to over-adapt to me.

I will not accept any discriminatory behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, etc). I generally believe that you are good human beings and will be respectful to each other, so don't prove me wrong.

Tech over truth. How well something is debated determines how much truth I assign to it. While the truth level can lower or higher the threshold of tech required to persuade me, I will judge by the flow. A dropped argument is a true argument. That means it must have a claim, warrant, and impact.

Draw comparisons. Explain why your impacts are important outweigh those of your opponent. This also goes for every part of an argument, like uniqueness, the link, etc. Compare evidence and warrants. Draw a distinction between the alt and the perm. Explain how each argument implicates your opponent's arguments and the rest of the debate. The best rebuttals will break down the core issues of the debate and write my ballot for me. Debates that lack comparison make it difficult for me to write a decision, which will probably make one side unhappy every time.

Evidence quality. Evidence is incredibly important, but it can also be trumped by sound, logical arguments. I value good spin of your evidence. That being said, I strongly dislike when people highlight words out of context or jumble together random words to form an argument. So many teams get away with reading bad evidence, but if you don't mention it, it will continue.

T

I default to competing interpretations over reasonability, but this is totally up for debate. Reasonability can definitely be persuasive in the right circumstances. Lots of impact calc needs to be done on both sides, and the internal links to your offense should be clearly explained.

DA

Have good turns case analysis at each level of the disad (link, internal link, impact). Make sure to have good, recent evidence because these debates often come down to evidence quality. I don't have any strong opposition to the politics disad – the internal links may be silly, but it's probably a necessity on this topic and I will evaluate it like a normal disad.

CP

While it is very helpful to have them, CPs do not need carded solvency advocates, especially if they are based on some of the aff's internal links. All CPs need to have a clear net benefit and must be competitive. I would like an explanation of the perm and how it shields the link to the net benefit, and this explanation should be happening early on in the debate. PICs are awesome, especially ones that are specific to the aff.

K

I enjoy a good K debate, as long as there is good analysis and explanation. I will typically allow the aff to weigh their impacts. That being said, what does it really mean to weigh a fiated extinction impact against your epistemology? I believe affs should have a stronger framework push than just "weigh the aff" because most neg framework arguments will implicate this very process of impact calculus. Specificity to the aff is extremely important, but not necessary. However, generic link arguments without sufficient analysis will make me much more receptive to the perm. Don't read super long overviews - put the explanation of the K's thesis there, maybe an impact explanation, but the rest can go on the line-by-line.

Planless Affs

I think fairness is an impact, and probably the most convincing one. However, you still need to explain to me why that matters. Impacts that rely on some spillover to institutions (i.e. Lundberg 10) are unconvincing to me. If you are going for T, you should answer relevant arguments on the case page. I think TVAs are strategic and don't have to be perfect.

The aff should have a mix of offense and defense to defeat framework. Most of the time, the impact turn approach is a lot more convincing than trying to win a counter-interpretation, but this depends on the aff. Leverage your aff against framework – impact turn the aff's model of debate or read disads to it based on the thesis of the aff. Defensive arguments can also mitigate a lot of the risk of the neg accessing their impacts.

Theory

If you're going for theory, in-round abuse is extremely important. I think the only the thing that can rise to the level of a voting issue is conditionality. 3 condo is fine with me; 4+ is pushing it. Counterplan theory objections are much less convincing if you have a good solvency advocate. I will lean neg on agent cps and 50 state fiat because of the lack of great neg ground on this topic. I lean aff on consult cps, word pics, and certain process cps. Unless there is a 2NR argument for it, I will not kick the CP for you.

Lexington High School Class of 2018

Dartmouth College Class of 2022

Add me to the email chain: cjun357@gmail.com

TOP LEVEL

You should not change your strategy too drastically based on what you think I would like but instead do what you do best and do it well.

I am not too familiar with this year's high school topic so what you may assume to be common knowledge may be something I don't know. So if there's an abbreviation make sure to say what it stands for, ect,...

If you have any questions that I may not have addressed feel free to ask before the round.

KAffs V T

If you are aff you need to have a good explanation on a couple of questions in order to get my ballot. If debate is not a game what is it and why? Why is an aff ballot important? What would debates look like under you counter-model of debate?

If you're going for an impact turn strategy then I need more than just a bunch of theory related to the aff. I need that work to be contextualized to debate as an activity and why it matters.

If you're neg, I prefer procedural impacts (ie fairness, ect) more than portable skill args. However, you need to do the work of warranting out why, for example, fairness matters, why it's an important impact ect,...Don't assume that I automatically default to fairness being intrinsically valuable because I can be persuaded otherwise.

For both aff and neg, please do impact calc. Too often teams just extend their impact without doing any comparative work. Make sure that you're also contextualizing your offense to new spins being made by your opponents. Otherwise it will be very hard to win.

Kritiks

I believe that the FW debate is one of the most important components of these debates that often get forgotten about. I look to the framework debate to "frame" how I evaluate the other arguments on the flow and what impacts I should or should not be prioritizing.

If you are aff, I really enjoy hard presses against the alt, or an impact turn strategy against ks like the cap k (obviously do not go for an impact turn strategy against Afropessimism). If you are going to make a perm make sure that it's contextualized and explain what the world of the permutation would look like. Just saying perm do the aff and [insert alt text here] will be very unpersuasive.

For the neg, I need specific links to the aff or the representations within the 1ac (tho I prefer the first). Only going for generic links will make it very hard to get my ballot. I think it's very persuasive when you can pull lines from their evidence or have recuts that demonstrate your link arguments.

Side note: I am the least familiar with high theory arguments. However, that doesn't mean I'm against it. Just make sure that you do a more thorough job of explaining your arguments and defenses of your theory.

Topicality

Make sure to explain your impacts in depth and to do impact calculus. Your arguments shouldn't be just quick blips that you are shot gunning.

I think topicality should be a question of limits.

I find competing interpretations to be more persuasive but I can be persuaded otherwise.

I am not as familiar with this year's high school topic so if you are planning on going for T or you are answering T make sure that you clearly explain how debates under you interp differs from that of your opponent. (ie case lists, ect,...)

Counterplans:

I'm open to any type of CP as long as you win that it's theoretically legit.

I really like well researched PICS.

Make sure that you explain why the CP doesn't link to the Net Benefit

Make sure to kick it if you're not going to go for it.

tl;dr - tech and speed good, but I'm not doing work for you. The resolution must be in the debate. Though I think like a debater, I do an "educator check" before I vote - if you advocate for something like death good, or read purely frivolous theory because you know your opponent cannot answer it and hope for an easy win, you are taking a hard L.

Email chain: havenforensics (at) gmail - but I'm not reading along. I tab more than I judge, but I'm involved in research. Last substance update: 9/18/22

Experience:

Head Coach of Strath Haven HS since 2012. We do all events.
Previously coach at Park View HS 2009-11, assistant coach at Pennsbury HS 2002-06 (and beyond)
Competitor at Pennsbury HS 1998-2002, primarily Policy

Public Forum

1st Rebuttal should be line-by-line on their case; 2nd Rebuttal should frontline at least major offense, but 2nd Summary is too late for dumps of new arguments.

With 3 minutes, the Summary is probably also line-by-line, but perhaps not on every issue. Summary needs to ditch some issues so you can add depth, not just tag lines. If it isn't in Summary, it probably isn't getting flowed in Final Focus, unless it is a direct response to a new argument in 2nd Summary.

Final Focus should continue to narrow down the debate to tell me a story about why you win. Refer to specific spots on the flow, though LBL isn't strictly necessary (you just don't have time). I'll weigh what you say makes you win vs what they say makes them win - good idea to play some defense, but see above about drops.

With a Policy background, I will listen to framework, theory, and T arguments - though I will frown at all of those because I really want a solid case debate. I also have no problem intervening and rejecting arguments that are designed to exclude your opponents from the debate. I do not believe counterplans or kritiks have a place in PF.

You win a lot of points with me calling out shady evidence, and conversely by using good evidence. You lose a lot of points by being unable to produce the evidence you read quickly. If I call for a card, I expect it to be cut.

I don't care which side you sit on or when you stand, and I find the post-round judge handshake to be silly and unnecessary.

LD

tl;dr: Look at me if you are traditional or policy. Strike me if you don't talk about the topic or only read abstract French philosophers or rely on going for blippy trash arguments that mostly work due to being undercovered.

My LD experience is mostly local or regional, though I coach circuit debaters. Thus, I'm comfortable with traditional, value-centered LD and util/policy/solvency LD. If you are going traditional, value clash obviously determines the round, but don't assume I know more than a shallow bit of philosophy.

I probably prefer policy debates, but not if you are trying to fit an entire college policy round into LD times - there just isn't time to develop 4 off in your 7 minute constructive, and I have to give the aff some leeway in rebuttals since there is no constructive to answer neg advocacies.

All things considered, I would rather you defend the whole resolution (even if you want to specify a particular method) rather than a tiny piece of it, but that's what T debates are for I guess (I like T debates). If we're doing plans, then we're also doing CPs, and I'm familiar with all your theory arguments as long as I can flow them.

If somehow you are a deep phil debater and I end up as the judge, you probably did prefs wrong, but I'll do my best to understand - know that I hate it when debaters take a philosophers work and chop it up into tiny bits that somehow mean I have to vote aff. If you are a tricks debater, um, don't. Arguments have warrants and a genuine basis in the resolution or choices made by your opponent.

In case it isn't clear from all the rest of the paradigm, I'm a hack for framework if one debater decides not to engage the resolution.

Policy

Update for TOC '19: it has been awhile since I've judged truly competitive, circuit Policy. I have let my young alumni judge an event dominated by young alumni. I will still enjoy a quality policy round, but my knowledge of contemporary tech is lacking. Note that I'm not going to backflow from your speech doc, and I'm flowing on paper, so you probably don't want to go your top speed.

1. The role of the ballot must be stable and predictable and lead to research-based clash. The aff must endorse a topical action by the government. You cannot create a role of the ballot based on the thing you want to talk about if that thing is not part of the topic; you cannot create a role of the ballot where your opponent is forced to defend that racism is good or that racism does not exist; you cannot create a role of the ballot where the winner is determined by performance, not argumentation. And, to be fair to the aff, the neg cannot create a role of the ballot where aff loses because they talked about the topic and not about something else.

2. I am a policymaker at heart. I want to evaluate the cost/benefit of plan passage vs. status quo/CP/alt. Discourse certainly matters, but a) I'm biased on a framework question to using fiat or at least weighing the 1AC as an advocacy of a policy, and b) a discursive link had better be a real significant choice of the affirmative with real implications if that's all you are going for. "Using the word exploration is imperialist" isn't going to get very far with me. Links of omission are not links.

I understand how critical arguments work and enjoy them when grounded in the topic/aff, and when the alternative would do something. Just as the plan must defend a change in the status quo, so must the alt.

3. Fairness matters. I believe that the policymaking paradigm only makes sense in a world where each side has a fair chance at winning the debate, so I will happily look to procedural/T/theory arguments before resolving the substantive debate. I will not evaluate an RVI or that some moral/kritikal impact "outweighs" the T debate. I will listen to any other aff reason not to vote on T.

I like T and theory debates. The team that muddles those flows will incur my wrath in speaker points. Don't just read a block in response to a block, do some actual debating, OK? I definitely have a lower-than-average threshold to voting on a well-explained T argument since no one seems to like it anymore.

Notes for any event

1. Clash, then resolve it. The last rebuttals should provide all interpretation for me and write my ballot, with me left simply to choose which side is more persuasive or carries the key point. I want to make fair, predictable, and non-interventionist decisions, which requires you to do all my thinking for me. I don't want to read your evidence (unless you ask me to), I don't want to think about how to apply it, I don't want to interpret your warrants - I want you to do all of those things! The debate should be over when the debate ends.

2. Warrants are good. "I have a card" is not a persuasive argument; nor is a tag-line extension. The more warrants you provide, the fewer guesses I have to make, and the fewer arguments I have to connect for you, the more predictable my decision will be. I want to know what your evidence says and why it matters in the round. You do not get a risk of a link simply by saying it is a link. Defensive arguments are good, especially when connected to impact calculus.

3. Speed. Speed for argument depth is good, speed for speed's sake is bad. My threshold is that you should slow down on tags and theory so I can write it down, and so long as I can hear English words in the body of the card, you should be fine. I will yell if I can't understand you. If you don't get clearer, the arguments I can't hear will get less weight at the end of the round, if they make it on the flow at all. I'm not reading the speech doc, I'm just flowing on paper.

4. Finally, I think debate is supposed to be both fun and educational. I am an educator and a coach; I'm happy to be at the tournament. But I also value sleep and my family, so make sure what you do in round is worth all the time we are putting into being there. Imagine that I brought some new novice debaters and my superintendent to watch the round with me. If you are bashing debate or advocating for suicide or other things I wouldn't want 9th graders new to my program to hear, you aren't going to have a happy judge.

I am more than happy to elaborate on this paradigm or answer any questions in round.

Policy Aff:

I like policy affs and look forward to learning about current political events in each debate round.

K Aff:

I do not like kritikal arguments. I strongly believe they will be the downfall of policy debate.

DA:

I like DAs and look forward to hearing about any disadvantages to plans I hear in debate rounds.

CP:

I like CPs and am open to hearing alternative plans to what was proposed by the 1AC.

K:

I do not like kritikal arguments. I strongly believe they will be the downfall of policy debate.

T:

I strongly believe T is just a time-suck and unless an aff is clearly untopical, I will vote on reasonability for the affirmative in most debates.

Framework:

I love to hear framework run against both kritiks and kritikal affs since I do believe that they are abusive to the opposing team.

Theory:

I am not very well-versed in theory so ensure that you explain any theory vocab well during the round. I do not have any aversions to a well-run theory argument.

Last updated Sep 2020

Lexington High School '15, Dartmouth College '19

Add me to the chain: daehyun97(at)gmail.com

Debated 4 years in high school and 2 years in college, mostly on the national circuit. I’m probably not familiar with the topic, but feel free to check with me.

I read a variety of arguments when I debated. Dabbled in all sorts of K arguments but am most familiar with critiques of racism, capitalism, and security.

In clash of civs debates my voting record is pretty even - I do prefer T-USFG to framework, though.

Ask me if you have any questions about ideology / specific things you want to do.

Dae is pronounced as “day” not “die” or “judge”

People to make fun of: Conor Cameron (priority), Pirzada Ahmad, JJ Kim, Jeremy Rivera

I'm a versatile judge but also keeping in mind that this is policy debate, I intend on voting at least with the barest minimum required:

1. Framework - what's yours, reasons to perfer, why is your opponents f/w undesirable, etc.
2. Impacts - what is the urgency? In round impacts included. If going for theory, what's the terminal impact of that.
3. Risks - what conquenses will be made from an opposing ballot?
4. Solvency - evidence of proof
5. Topicality/Theory - if there are no voters, I will not be voting on the argument. Independent voters need to be impacted out.

K affs have the burden of proof which means even if you don't claim fiat, solvency is still required. Evidence can be used as proof but there's going to be a deeper analysis needed to support your commitment and legitimacy of your advocacy if it is a performative style of debate especially. I still expect clash and line by line. You cannot get caught up in the argument that you refuse or forget to engage in actual debate. If by the end of debate I don't understand the solvency mechanism being used to solve the impacts of the aff and no analysis on reasons to perfer affs f/w I'm probably going to vote on persumption.

Lastly but should've been firstly, after years of debating and over a decade of judging, I have seen an upward trend in bad ethos in debate. Lets keep it respectful. If there are trigger warnings, they need to be addressed before the debate starts.

Open cross-x is fine.

I'm not going to evaluate any questions past cross x but if you want to ask simple questions during your prep during contructives, that's fine.

Lexington High School Class of 2018

I did 4 years of policy debate in high school.

Put me on the email chain: klu609@gmail.com

General

Tech>Truth

I will vote on any argument as long as it is defended well (up to a point)

I appreciate good case debate

I know pretty much nothing about the current topic

Top speed is not always useful if you're not clear or efficient - especially virtually

Don't clip and don't steal prep.

Don't be rude

Thoughts about LD:

I don't really understand Kant, and most other things that don't exist in policy that do in LD. Take that as you will. If you do try to go for something that I don't really know about please EXPLAIN it more than you would to most other judges. I tend to not vote on theory unless your opponent is actually abusive or it's just dropped (i.e. I will probably not vote on random theory arguments you throw in the NC to waste time).

Specifics

KAffs/Framework - This is what everyone reads paradigms for so I'm putting this first. I read a K aff my junior year but also frequently went for framework so I've been on both sides of the debate. I really enjoy listening to a good clash of civs debate especially when impact calc is done on both sides. I think K affs can be strategic if deployed correctly. I prefer K affs that have some link to the topic, the stronger the better. I also prefer affirmatives that actually defend something. This can involve in round and/or out of round solvency but must be explained to the degree I think that the aff is a good idea.

Especially in clash of civs debates, I find that a lot of k aff teams aren't as proficient on the nitty gritty of the line by line, and thus get punished because they don't answer the nuances of the negatives arguments and spend more time focusing on the warrants of their impact turn. While winning your offensive arguments are important, generic answers to specific negative arguments is never a winning strategy. Additionally, counterinterpretations that set limits on the topic and avoids negative offense are very cool.

On the negative, I find that fairness is often the most persuasive impact 90% of the time. Arguments like predictable limits and ground are also especially convincing. That being said, I do also think skills arguments can be persuasive, especially if they are used to internal link turn affirmative solvency/skills claims. Do it on the negative and topical versions of the aff are also very important pieces of defense that I think should be in most debates. Impact calc is very important. I find that in many debates when framework teams lose to a k aff, it is because there is not enough comparative impact calc done by the negative. This includes telling me why a more limited topic is preferable, EVEN if it may limit out more affs/be slightly more exclusionary.

Ks - I think a good K debate can be fun. I ran some Ks in high school, but my knowledge is mostly limited to setcol, positive peace/security, afropessimism and neolib. Outside of that I probably understand K lit a lot less than you so there is a higher burden on you to explain why your arguments are true and how it interacts with the aff. Links should be well explained and contextualized to the affirmative, not just prewritten blocks that you read every round. Each link should also have a clear impact to it. I also believe that a K should have an alternative that solves the impacts of the K (and link arguments if you're going for a PIK), otherwise the K is just a non-unique DA.

T - I default competing interpretations unless persuaded otherwise. Otherwise do what you want on T.

DAs - I like a good DA debate. Aff specific DAs are probably better but I'm never opposed to a good generic DA which you can spin to link it to the aff. Rehighlighting evidence on both sides in a DA debate is awesome. Smart analytics are good too, especially when a DA is just logically silly. Turns case is very important from both teams, and so is answering them. I find a lot of the time, one team fails to do so and it makes it very hard to vote for them.

CPs - I'm open to anything on this front. I do prefer counterplans with a solvency advocates and well articulated netbenefits. I'll evaluate any CP as long as you can win it's theoretically legit. That being said, I do lean aff on international fiat, process cps, word pics, and 2NC cps, and negative on most other theory arguments against counterplans.

Condo - I think 3 condo is ok, 4 is pushing it but this is all up for debate.

Miscellaneous Things

>29.5 for using less than 30 seconds of prep total

I don’t have any expectations on what will happen in the round, so I tend to vote directly on the flow. Also, I recommend that you assume that I don't know anything about any of your case so explain it well or don't argue when I vote you down. I am fine with both policy and K's so it doesn't matter to me. I did debate for 6 years, varsity for three years.

Do you and you will be fine, as will I.

Don't go for Racism or Anti-blackness Good, FYI.

Email:davmac98@gmail.com. Do put me on the email chain and email me any questions, concerns o complaints.

Lexington High School Class of 2018

UMass Amherst Class of 2022

I did 4 years of policy debate at Lexington High School attending the TOC twice

TOP LEVEL

I will openly vote on ANY argument barring racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, etc. arguments.

I don't know a huge amount about the topic so don't expect me to know abbreviations.

IMPORTANT THINGS

Don't clip cards. If you don't know what that means then just keep this in mind. Read all the highlighted text of a card but if you want to move on, make sure you use a pencil to mark where you stopped and moved on to another card.

I won't call you out for stealing prep, I'll just dock your speaks.

Impact calc is really important. Don't make me do the work for you. A close debate will probably be decided by impact calc.

I listen to cross-ex. Use the time to either understand your opponent's arguments or make fun of them. If you're using the 3 minutes of cross-ex for the second reason, reference it in your speech. Sorry but I can't vote on something if you expose it in CX and then don't talk about it at all later.

I am a 1A/2N so I might give a teeny tiny bit of leeway to new spins of arguments in the 2AR. HOWEVER, I won't stand for new arguments. I hate losing to an aff when the 1AR is garbage and the 2AR is good, but all new. New spin is kinda sorta fine but new arguments are not.

Case debate is pretty good to have. It makes it so much easier to vote on any non-procedural argument if you are beating them on the case debate. It's also pretty cool to just think that they have been running this aff for the whole year and you have heard about it for a solid 8 minutes and you're still beating them.

SPECIFICS

Planless Affs/T-USFG:

I think I like these debates more than the rest of the community. I am exceedingly objective despite my preference for the K side in high school. I do believe that there are convincing arguments on both sides and can easily be persuaded to vote either way. I think that if two teams squared off with the exact same skill level and debated with exactly the same proficiency, I would vote negative 51% of the time.

If you're aff, have a decent counterinterpretation that solves limits to some extent. I will obviously vote on impact turns to their standards, but try to make them nuanced. Innovative answers to T are both more interesting to judge and harder to answer.

If you're neg, remember to look at big picture arguments and don't go for too many impacts in the 2NR. Make sure to do work on the link and internal link level, not just the impact level. I prefer procedural impacts like fairness, clash, etc more than portable skill impacts like state education, decision-making, etc because A) I think procedural impacts are easier to win at the link and internal link level if you're right that debate is a game and B) portable skills aren't really that intrinsic to debate, but I can be persuaded that they are.

It bothers me when teams say that fairness is not an impact. Yes, it is an internal link to education but it's also a pre-requisite question to having a debate in the first place. Saying "fairness is just an internal link", however, is distinct from saying "the impact to fairness is a bad game". I can be sold on the latter with some contextualization of your offense to the process of debate and how your counterinterp solves it.

Kritiks:

Easily the field that I'm most comfortable with. I went for only policy arguments novice year and most years at camp but then went for the K a lot during my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I can understand almost any K even if it's some dead French dude who scaled the ivory tower higher than his peers. I'm most comfortable understanding race arguments (probably because I went for them a lot) but don't read them unless you really have read the literature and know what you're talking about.

For the neg, make sure to have links to the world or specific representations of the aff otherwise it's just spitting out some lines from a book without much relevance. Just because I read the K a lot doesn't mean I'm biased towards it. In fact, it probably means you need to know what you're talking about more to pull off complex arguments like K's and I can probably tell when you don't know what you're talking about.

Please skip the 2-minute overviews if you can.

For the aff, go after the alt because it usually doesn't solve anything. A 3 minute CX push on what the alt does would probably increase your speaks in front of me and make the debate easier for you because you can push them into a corner where they don't really have a prescribed pragmatic action.

Make sure to win the FW debate because that's obviously the most important which is sometimes glossed over by aff teams. The last thing you want to lose to is "fiat is illusory so the plan doesn't matter". I will reluctantly vote on that which will make you upset. That also helps you a lot with the alt debate because then you can just describe the alternative as a net worse option to adopt than the plan and that debate should be easy to win. Don't drop K tricks in the 1AR.

I have a slightly higher threshold for perms in these debates. Usually, the strategy is just to prove the neg doesn't have any link specificity or reasons why the aff is uniquely a bad idea which is why the perm is a good idea. That doesn't really explain to me what the world of the perm looks like or how the two projects are compatible. Why is promoting institutional action compatible with an alternative that rejects legalism? I think questions like this need to be touched upon in the 1AR and fleshed out in the 2AR for me to be convinced by the perm.

Impact Turns:

Yes please. These are usually awesome debates and are really fun to judge. If you go for one with an advantage CP, it'll be a great debate and I will be happy.

Topicality:

I think the biggest problem with these debates is a lack of impact explanation. If teams were to explain T impacts to the same extent that they explain FW/T-USfg impacts, it would be a lot better.

It's a voter and never an RVI unless the block and the 2NR cold drops it. All the neg has to say to answer that is "T is 1 stock issue, it's their burden of proof"

I think one of the better arguments that teams need to look into more is about predictability of each interp, that helps to control the internal link to a lot of offense.

I probably default to competing interpretations but obviously, I'll vote on reasonability if you have sufficient internal link defense between potential abuse and their limits arguments.

Potential abuse needs to be impacted out with caselists and warranted reasons why those set bad limits

Counterplans:

My default is to be able to kick the counterplan for you if the CP is conditional.

Well researched counterplans are super cool. Be prepared to explain why the counterplan doesn't link to the net benefit. External net benefits are cooler than internal net benefits. I lean slightly neg on counterplan competition but am definitely movable on that (especially with cheat-y process counterplans and a good definition debate). Apart from that, I'm fine with just about any counterplan.

Disadvantages:

These are also cool. I like the politics disad. It gives the opportunity to show off how much you've researched and also proves to me that you like spending time on debate work. For the love of god, please don't make a "bottom of the docket" argument.

Try to have specific link evidence but don't throw a fit if you don't. Impact calc is a must-have otherwise I have to do the work for you which increases the chance that I will make your impact seem smaller than it really is.

I lean towards link controlling direction of uniqueness

Theory:

I can't say I'm a huge fan of theory debates but I'll listen to them. The part that makes me not like them is when you read pre-written, 1-sentence-each, blippy blocks that are clearly meant to skew the other team's time. Don't be that team. If you're going to read theory, be firm about it. The teams that know how to go for theory don't have 65,000 blocks typed out for them, they actually know what their internal links/impacts are and how they're exacerbated by the other teams interp. For specific theory arguments, I'm slightly neg-leaning on most arguments except conditionality (I'm neutral on this). 1 or 2 conditional off is fine. 3 is pushing it. 4 is like...

BOTTOM

All in all, just have fun. Try and keep me engaged. The only thing keeping me from laying in my bed while judging your round is the food from the judge's lounge as well as the possibility of judging the future TOC winner.

If you're funny, be funny. Don't try if you aren't though because it just doesn't look good lol.

Don't say really offensive stuff to your opponent, they probably didn't do anything to deserve it.

+0.3 speaks if you make a joke about Chris Jun, Ravi Raghavan, Matthew Tan, Dhruv Sudesh, North Broward MR, Rik Naga, or Kevin Lu. I wouldn't expect you to know much about them so just pretend they smell/dress/look bad and are bad at debate and roast accordingly.

If you have any questions, ask me before round because it's pretty fun to talk about my preferences and answer specific questions. If you want to ask before the tournament, email me at rajeev2000@gmail.com

Good luck!

Policy Debate

It is the responsibility of the debater to look at the paradigm before the start of each round and ask any clarifying questions. I will evaluate the round under the assumption it has been read regardless if you did it or not. I will not check to see if you read my paradigm, nor will I give warnings of any kind on anything related to my paradigm. If you don't abide by it you will reap what you sow I am tired of debaters ignoring it, and myself in a debate round my patience has officially run out.

1. I hate spreading slow down if you want me to flow your arguments if it is not on my flow, it is not a part of the round. It doesn't matter how well it is explained or extended. At best, depending on the speech, it will be a new argument or analytical argument and will be evaluated from then forth as such. I do want to be part of the email chain, my email is thehitman.310@gmail.com, note that just because I am part of the email chain does not mean I flow everything I read. I only flow what I hear so make sure I can hear your arguments. Beware I will be following along to make sure no one is cutting cards and I will call out teams for cutting cards so be sure to do things correctly. I will drop cards before the team and continued cutting will result in me stopping the round and contacting tab. Additionally, I will not yell clear, and I will not give time signals except to inform you your time is up. I find doing this splits my attention in a way that is unfair to the debater and often distracts debaters when called out. You will have my undivided attention.

2. I hate theory and have only voted on it once (current as of 4/12/22). In particular, I do not like disclosure theory and think it's a bogus argument, as I come from a time when there was no debate wiki; as a result, I am highly biased against this argument and don't advise running it in my round. Also, regardless of the argument, I prefer they be related to the topic. I am just as interested in the topic as I expect debaters to be. On that note, I am willing to listen to just about anything as long as they are well articulated and explained(See 3). I have heard some pretty wild arguments so anything new will be fun to hear. Know in order for me to vote on an argument, there needs to be an impact on it, and I need to know how we arrive at the impact. But I want to know more than A + B = C, I need to know the story of how we arrive at your impact and why they matter. I will not simply vote on a dropped argument unless there is no other way to vote and I need to make a decision, I consider this Judge intervention, and I hate doing this. You, as a debater, should be telling me how to vote I will have to deduct speaker points if I have to do any work for you. Keep this in mind during your rebuttals.

3. At the beginning of each round, I am a blank slate; think of me like a 6 or 7-year-old. Explain arguments to me as such. I only evaluate things said in a round; my own personal knowledge and opinion will not affect me. For example, if someone in a round says the sky is purple, reads evidence the sky is purple, and it goes uncontested, then the sky is purple. I believe this is important because I consider anything else judge's intervention which I am highly opposed to and, again, will result in a speaker point deduction. That being said, I default to a standard policy-making framework at the beginning of each round unless I am told otherwise. This also applies in the context of evidence, your interpretation of the evidence is law unless challenged. Once challenged, I will read the evidence and make a decision based on my understanding of the evidence and how it was challenged, this may result in my decision on an argument flipping, the evidence being disregarded, and/or the ballot being flipped.

4. Be aware I do keep track of Speech times, and Prep, and go solely by my timer. My timer counts down and will only stop when you say stop prep. Once you say "Stop prep" I expect you to be ready to send the file. I do not want to hear I need to copy arguments to a file to send as a part of an email chain. I will run prep for that. It should not take long to send a prepared file through the email chain, and I will wait until all participants receive the file before allowing the following speech to start but do not think you can abuse this I will restart prep if it takes an abnormal amount of time. Also extremely important to note I will not stop my timer for any reason once speech has started for any reason outside of extreme circumstances, and technical difficulties do not count. If you choose to stop your timer to resolve your issue before resuming, know that my time has not stopped and your speech time is being consumed. Also, aside from using your phone as a timer, I expect all debaters to not be on their phones during the round (this includes in between speeches and during prep). I think it is disrespectful to debate as an activity and to your opponent(s), and will deduct speaker points for it. Keeping that in mind, I will not evaluate any argument read off a phone, especially if you have a laptop in the round.

5. In JV and VCX, Cross-X is closed, period. NCX, I will only allow it if you ask. If you don't, it is closed. If you decide to have an open CX anyway, I will deduct speaker points.

6. Last but not least, be respectful to me and to each other, and I would appreciate a good show of sportsmanship at the beginning and end of each round. Any disrespect will result in a speaker point deduction on a per-incident basis. Continued disrespect will result in notifying tournament staff and lower-than-average speaker points. Although I do not expect it will go that far.

E-Debate:

A. Cameras must be on at all times. I will not flow teams with cameras off. Do not be surprised if you lose because I did not flow it you have been warned. I will not be lenient with this as I have been in the past.

B. Prep time will be run until speeches are received in the email chain. DO NOT assume you control the time as mentioned above. I am keeping time and will go by my timer. I WILL start the speech timer if you end prep AND THEN send the speech. I have zero tolerance for this, as teams consistently abuse this to steal prep. You should know how to send an email; it should not take long. If you are having genuine technical issues, let me know as the tournament has Tech Time, I can run that timer instead, otherwise, I will run speech time. DO NOT make light of this I am tired of being ignored as if I am not a part of a debate round.

C. Make sure I'm ready this should be common sense, but for some reason, I have to mention it. If you start a speech before I am ready, I will miss some arguments on my flow, and I will be highly annoyed. Your speaker points will reflect this, and you may lose the round as a result if it was a key argument that I did not flow.

D. Also, spreading on camera is a terrible idea, and I highly advise against it from a technical perspective and my general disdain for spreading. E-Debates are tricky enough with varying devices, internet speeds, and audio equipment affecting the quality of the stream, spreading in my experience is exceptionally disadvantageous, do so at your own risk.

E. REMINDER, I Control speech and prep timers, and speeches DO NOT stop because you are reading the wrong speech or can't find where you are at on a document; once the timer has started, it stays running until speech time is over. I do not know why I have to mention this, but recent judging experiences have told me it must be mentioned.

Lincoln-Douglas

I am very new to judging Lincoln-Douglas Debates. As such, I am relying on the debater to frame the debate for me, particularly in the rebuttal. Arguments should always be responsive to what your opponent is saying if you wish to win them. Explain how your arguments interact, and your line of argumentation means that line of argumentation weighs in your favor. In general, I think all arguments should be filtered through the lens of your values and criterion. That work must be done by the debater, not the judge. Additionally if what you say matches what is on my flow the chances of you winning are high.

I want to be on an email change, I ike to follow along as evidence is being read. My email is thehitman.310@gmail.com

Particularly in rebuttals make sure you are filtering aregumens through Value, Criterion and FW.

Parent/Lay judge for Brooklyn Tech

My experience is not extensive - I have very limited experience judging policy debate, I will do my best to ajudicate the round but assume I do not know your authors, acronyms, theories of the world, or much about the topic.

Slow down and make my ballot incredibly clear.

Have fun and enjoy debating!

Tags slow. Speed for the rest of the card is okay.

Overt Speed - not my favorite

If I request "clear" a couple of times - and you don't do it - I will put my pen down. If you see that, it's a problem...for you.

I am listening to you speak, I am not reading your cards as you spread.

Rebuttals - stop reading cards. Talk to me. Line by lines - yes!

Roadmaps and signposting make me happy. Be organized and direct my flows appropriately. If you don't, you might lose and that won't be my fault.

Multiple DA's annoy me. How many ways we can die and in what order?

Depth over breadth. I really dislike a bunch of off cases, and then you drop 9/10's of them.

T is important so prove why you meet. Or, if you are running a K Aff - please explain why T isn't important.

Agent cps, I understand how government works. Show me that you do too. Multiple CP's? Why? Game theory - nah. Not my fave.

Income Inequality is REAL. I think that I am going to love me some K's.

Peace

jon sharp

Director of Debate @ GDS (the actual GDS, not the camp, not the affinity group, not the cultural phenomenon...well, maybe the cultural phenomenon...)

(Relevant) Background: Debated in HS (program doesn't exist any more) and college (Emory); coached at Emory, West GA, USC, New Trier, Kentucky, and GDS; taught around 75 labs (including, but not limited to the Kentucky Fellows, SNFI Swing Lab, Berkeley Mentors, Antilab, and the forthcoming Quantum Lab). This is what i do - i teach, coach, and judge debate(s). This is both good and bad for you.

This is Good for You: One could say that i have been around, as it were. If you want to do something that people do in debates, i got you. If you want to do something that people don't do in debates, i won't freak out.

This is Bad for You: This ain't my first rodeo. If you want to do something that people do in debates, i have seen it done better and worse. If you want to do something that people don't do in debates, i probably remember the last time that somebody did it in a debate.

Are You For Real? Yah, mostly...i just don't think judging philosophies are all that helpful - any judge that is doing their job is going to suspend disbelief to as great an extent as possible and receive the debate in as much good faith as they can muster...but almost nobody is upfront enough about what that extent looks like.

Well, that's not especially helpful right now. OK, you make a strong point, imaginary interlocutor. Here are a few things that may actually help:

1 - Flow the Debate - I flow the debate. On paper. To a fault. If you do not take this into account, no matter how or what you debate, things are going to go badly for you. Connecting arguments - what used to be called the line-by-line - is essential unless you want me to put the debate together myself out of a giant pile of micro-arguments. You Do Not Want This. "Embedded clash" is an adorable concept and even can be occasionally helpful WHEN YOU ARE MANAGING THE REST OF THE FLOW WITH PRECISION. There is no such thing as "cloud clash."

2 - Do What You are Going to Do - My job isn't to police your argument choices, per se; rather, it is to evaluate the debate. If debaters could only make arguments that i agreed with, there would not be much reason to have these rounds.

3 - If you are mean to your opponents, it is going to cause me to have sympathy/empathy for them. This is not an ideological position so much as an organic reaction on my part.

4 - "K teams," "identity teams," and non-traditional/performance teams pref me more than policy teams - Make of that what you will.

5 - Stop calling certain strategic choices "cheating" - This is one of the few things that just sends my blood pressure through the roof...i know you like to be edgy and i respect your desire to represent yourself as having no ethical commitments, but this is one of the worst developments in the way people talk and think about debate since the advent of paperlessness (which is essentially The Fall in my debate cosmology). Reading an AFF with no plan is not cheating; reading five conditional CPs in the 2NC is not cheating; consult NATO is not cheating. Clipping cards is cheating; fabricating evidence is cheating, consulting your coach in the middle of the debate is cheating. An accusation of an ethics violation (i.e., cheating) means that the debate stops and the team that is correct about the accusation wins the debate while the team that is wrong loses and gets zeroes. This is not negotiable. Ethics violations are not debate arguments, they do not take the form of an off-case or a new page and they are not comparable to anything else in the debate.

Also - just ask.

Policy Aff:

I like policy affs and am very comfortable judging them.

K Aff:

I am not extremely well versed in K’s but I am willing to listen to K affs as long as they are well explained in cross-x and in the speeches.

K:

I am not super familiar with high-theory but I do enjoy judging K’s as long as the alts are clear and well extended. I WILL NOT vote for a K if the world of the alt is unclear at the end of the 2nr.

T:

I believe T is often a time-suck and unless there is a clear violation, I will vote on reasonability for the affirmative in most debates. However, if a neg team does enough work on T throughout the rebuttals, I will vote on it.

Framework:

I love to hear framework against K affs but I do not love it against common k’s such as cap. In order for me to vote on framework, I expect that you spend a significant amount of time on it throughout the rebuttals.

Theory:

I am not very well-versed in theory so ensure that you explain any theory vocab well during the round. I do not have any aversions to a well-run theory argument.

General Comments:

1. I am ok with speed as long as tags are very clear. I will give you 3 audible “clear” warnings then I will dock speaks for unclear spreading.

2. I vote tech over truth and a dropped argument will always be a true argument.

3. Line by Line is extremely important to me

4. I do not like doing work for either team during the debate so I expect detailed impact calc in every debate.

I have debated for six years (middle and high school) and was an NDSA Nationals qualifier. I have experienced all sorts of argument forms. Being a K debater, I am very comfortable with Kritiks. That does not mean by simply running it, it will receive my ballot. Like all arguments, THEY MUST BE WELL ARTICULATED.

I must admit I am not a big fan of Topicality, and will take a bit of convincing to vote for T. Naturally, if well argued, and shakily contested, it may win you a ballot.

You should assume I know nothing of the topic, for the debater's burden is to convince the judge of the effectiveness of their arguments. I vote off the flow.

Judge for Brooklyn Tech

My experience is not extensive - I have very limited experience judging policy debate, I will do my best to adjudicate the round but assume I do not know your authors, acronyms, theories of the world, or much about the topic.

Slow down on tags and make my ballot incredibly clear through framing and impact calc.

Racism/Sexism will not be tolerated.

Have fun and enjoy debating!

Boston Latin Academy '17

Email: Kwaltersgreen@gmail.com

Bio?:

Hey I'm Kaia (duh), I am currently a freshman in college. I did debate in high school for four years, two of which I spent in open division (championship level). My paradigm may not cover everything that you want to know (because I am not psychic, too bad) so please feel free to ask me questions before the round if it is absolutely necessary.

IMPORTANT: I will yell CLEAR if I can't understand your spreading, after the second time I can't promise that I will be flowing your arguments.

DAs:

- TIP: Impact calcs will help your argument

- But yeah I don't really care

CPs:

-Should have net benefits

- I don't care if it sounds crazy, I love wacky CPs and Affs, just make sure you can prove its better than your opponents plan and you'll be set.

Kritical Affs:

- I'm comfortable with these but if I can not understand what your K is saying I can not vote on it. If you know that you have an extremely jargon based K, make sure that you at least summarize the main points at some point in your constructive. THIS WILL BE CRITICAL TO YOUR SUCCESS.

- Explain what my ballot is supposed to do

- perms should have net benefits

Theory:

- I rarely ran theory arguments in high school, this doesn't mean you should avoid them but, i will end up judging based on how persuasive your argument compared to your opponent is rather than by how theory usually functions in debate.

Misc

- Don't be rude to your opponents, we are all here for debate

- Be respectful of each others prep! Feel free to shush your opponents if they're disturbing you

- Everyone should be timing themselves

- Flashing does not count as prep, unless it takes up too much time

- You won't get extra speaker points by loudly screaming your arguments, passion is great but your focus should be well prepped argumentation

Big Lex 2021: First time judging on the topic. I have no topic knowledge, so proceed accordingly.

Edit after Round 1: Please be thorough in your explanations. I won't fully understand terms like "ECS" or "uncooperative federalism" the first time hearing them. Please slow down a bit.

Lexington High School '19, debated for 3 years

Put me on the chain: billwu4212@gmail.com

Short version:

- Close to no topic knowledge, so I will try to minimally intervene. Will vote on coherent, fully structured arguments with warranted analysis.

- Tech>"truth", will vote on the flow and for the team that does the best line-by-line/analysis.

- I appreciate thorough explanations and analysis. Don't just read out a TVA and move on, explain to me what this means. Depth > breadth.

- Please be clear and organized. If I can't understand you, I'll say clear once but after that assume that if it's unintelligible, I'll just write down whatever I hear. If it's disorganized, I'll just flow straight down.

- No arguments or behavior that is racist/sexist/any other -ist or just plain rude or disrespectful to the other team.

Long version:

I debated policy for Lexington HS for 3 years as a 2N, and later as a 2A. I have no topic knowledge on CJR. I've watched a few topic lectures to get myself up to speed, but you should still attempt to fully explain and impact out your arguments instead of relying on me/the judge to fill in the gaps. This means my decision will increasingly rely on the deliberation that occurs within the round, and I will try to minimally intervene. This means I won't insert my own predispositions, but I also won't do any analysis/cross-application that wasn't in the round.

In high school, I usually ran mostly soft left affs with structural violence impacts. On the neg, we would usually go for some form of the cap K or the CP/DA. I'm most familiar with policy affs and off-case, though I've debated against my fair share of identity/high theory K's and K affs. However, I am very open to voting on these arguments provided that they are explained fully and coherently.

Framework/K affs:

I debated in the northeast, so many of my rounds were fw against K affs. In these debates, my decision will be reliant on the flow and who has done the best line-by-line and warranted analysis.

For framework, I heavily believe in the real-world impact of debate. Therefore, I'm open to voting on pretty much any impact (fairness, education, clash, whatever) provided that it's impacted out. Please also do LBL (arguably the most important place), and address case or at least mention it.

I'm unfamiliar with K affs, but open to hearing them out. Each K aff should advocate for or defend something, material action is best. I really like warranted evidence comparison, but I won't read cards after the round unless they're contested or well explained.

K's:

Most of my rounds involved some form of the K, whether it was soft left vs. the K or running the K myself. I like these debates, but I'm unfamiliar with some of the literature out there. I've debated set col/antiblackness/capitalism quite a bit, and not as much high theory stuff.

Disads/Counterplans:

Always a big fan of the DA/CP combo. I understand that it's not very common on this topic. It's up to the debater to determine if one part of the DA is more important than another. LBL here is appreciated as well.

Policy T:

Explain your interpretation! I wasn't a big T debater in high school, but I'll vote on it as long as it's impacted out and there is some in-round impact or out of round implication.

-

That's it. Essentially, I appreciate high quality debate and I'll vote for what I hear in the round. I'm fine with everything argument wise, and what matters much more is how you explain and debate it rather than what argument it is. I can easily be swayed by good debating. I don't have much topic knowledge but I'll try to make the fairest decision possible. Best of luck!

I'll bump your speaks by +0.2 if you crack a witty joke in round or make me grin. I'm a big proponent of making debate fun and educational :)

Lexington High School Class of 2019

Cornell University Class of 2023

Please put me on the email chain: kevinzhou497@gmail.com

I debated policy for 3 years at Lexington High School, the first 2 years as a 2N and the last year as a 2A.

Be nice and respectful to each other! rudeness, ad-hominems, and discriminatory arguments / comments will not be tolerated.

---Policy Paradigm---

Here are some of my thoughts on certain debate arguments / things:

Tech > Truth. But I like it when truth finds its ways into technical debate arguments. Use the truth to your advantage on the flow, because most debate arguments just don't have any logical basis.

Planless Affs / Framework:

Debate is a game. In my opinion, policy debate is way more a game than it is debate. While I do find planless affs interesting, I do think there are good arguments about why they wreck fairness and all that. Honestly, my own opinion on the matter aligns with framework, so I'm probably not a good judge if you're tryna read a planless aff.

Topicality vs Policy Affs:

Not gonna lie, I'm not going to be great at judging topicality because I never liked going for it or answering it. I think limits is my favorite standard. Reasonability is kind of a derpy argument but like it'll help you to make it because I don't like annoyingly annoying t violations.

Disads:

I like disad debates, but I also think that basically all disads are so logically flawed and horrid. When someone asks me to give an example of how debate often involves arguments that make absolutely zero sense, I'll give them an example of a disad. With that being said, people don't really use that much logic in debate anyway so I'm pretty balanced aff-neg on disads. If you're aff, make logical arguments about why a disad is horrible and I'll probably be persuaded. Of course, evidence is still important, and as I said above, tech > truth.

Counterplans:

Counterplans are cool, especially creative ones that I could see actually working in real life.

If I think that the counterplan isn't very mutually exclusive with the aff, I'm going to want to vote on the perm. So make it mutually exclusive.

Also make sure the CP doesn't link to your net benefit.

Kritiks:

I actually like kritiks on the negative WHEN THEY LINK TO THE PLAN and it's not just a generic "USfg" link. I'm going to weigh the impacts of the aff vs the k regardless, because I think that the impacts of an aff or a K and the ability to solve these impacts is part of the educational value of whatever we're presenting. Alternatives are almost always bad so if your alternative is actually good I'm going to be very intrigued.

Negative teams: DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE CASE. If you give the aff their case it makes it so easy for the 2AR to win why they outweigh.

Theory:

Condo - 3 condo is good, 4 condo is eh, 5 condo is :|, 6 condo is not good

International CPs - good.

States CPs - good.

Consult CPs - probably not.

Agent CPs - sure

Word PICs - ehhh

PICs - good (?)

---PF Paradigm---

Since I have a policy background, I'm going to be more of a flow judge than you might be used to. With that in mind, make sure you substantiate your claims with warrants and impact calculus. You know to do that anyways, but it's probably going to matter with me more than the average pf judge. Although I certainly have my own personal views on issues, I value the flow over anything else (within reason and truth). Still, persuasion is a key component of each argument, but it should be attached to the argument chains themselves and act beyond just an emotional appeal for my ballot.

April Topic - I don't have much topic knowledge, so keep that in mind. If you use terms or acronyms that others who have debated / judged this topic might know but a common person wouldn't, you should specify what the term means the first time you use it.

Framework - Framework's cool, if you can truly convince me to align my value system with yours, then you have a good chance.

Policy / LD / progressive arguments in PF: Go for it! But keep in mind that not everyone will be familiar / is expected to be familiar with these arguments, so explain them thoroughly.

Overall, I'm pretty open minded for pf - I didn't debate it, so I don't have huge biases or preferences. Stay true to the fundamentals and you'll do great.