Have fun

I do policy, do whatever you want

Check RFD

UPDATED 2/21/20: I do not judge as often as I may once have. At most local events, I find myself on the operations side of a tournament.

That should not terrify you – I am a career public servant, who happens to coach debate because I appreciate everything that it taught me as a student. You should assume that I approach debate rounds this way: what is the best decision I can make given the information presented to me?

It may sound old-fashioned, but I do not wish to be on any email chains. I have sadly witnessed teams answering entire disadvantages not read by their opponents simply because they were included in said distribution. Not to be outdone, I have read ballots where judges voted on evidence that nobody read. I pledge to keep the best flow I can. If I need to see a piece of evidence, and the particular league or tournament's rules allow for that, I will call for it.

If you are short on time reading this, my paradigm can be expressed in six (6) words: do your thing and be nice. If you are really short on time, we can go with four (4): old guy, still flows.

Policy:

1. Speed is fine, but clarity is necessary. I cannot vote on what I do not have typed/written down. I try hard to listen to the text of the evidence presented;
2. Open cross-examination is acceptable, but if it is clear than one member of the team is not able to participate at the same level, speaker points will suffer;
3. My preference is tabula rasa; in the absence of any alternative framework, I look first to any potential violation(s) of stock issues and then default to a policymaking perspective.

Lincoln Douglas:

1. I do not mind an LD round that gets on down the flow;
2. My preference is tabula rasa; in the absence of any alternative framework, I will default to a whole resolution lens looking first to the value/value criterion debate.

Public Forum/Speech:

1. Nothing earth-shattering here. I am less speed tolerant in public forum and I will simply apply the ballot criteria to whatever speech event is at hand.

Regardless of event, we enter the debate knowing the resolution and some basic rules of the road (e.g., speech times, likely printed on the ballot). By tabula rasa I mean that the debaters establish the framework for evaluating debates. You should do what you do best and do it well. Arguments should have three parts – a claim, a warrant, and some sort of greater implication regardless of your style.

I still believe that good decisions should flow like water. Great rebuttals frame debates and clash wins rounds. My ballots will provide a succinct RFD, possibly pointing out either strengths or opportunities for improvement as we progress through the speeches. 3AR/3NR oral critiques nauseate me: what I say out loud (if disclosure is permitted) will almost certainly match what I am placing on your ballot. Your coach should see comments too. You did not go to the dentist; my RFD is never going to read “oral.”

Finally, be respectful of your partners, opponents, and judges. I have zero tolerance for poor behavior in debate rounds.

Debate

If you're passing cards, please don't waste time. Do what is most efficient for both teams. My email is 22cannvi@stucsd.org if you're using an email chain to exchange cards.

Keep in mind that if what you're saying sounds incoherent, then it shouldn't even be considered part of your speech at all. I can't vote on something that I didn't even hear.

And lastly, you should probably know that if you can't articulate the point you're trying to make in a simplistic manner, it means you don't fully understand it and therefore I shouldn't vote on it. Don't just throw cards at your opponent and expect it to amount to something unless you can actually explain why it's relevant to the round. If you can do that (and if you have good arguments against your opponent), then you probably have my ballot.

Speech

I don't complete in speech events so I'm not going to be accustomed to seemingly normal things that most judges do in speech rounds. What this means is that you need to tell me if you would like time signals.

Please be respectful of your fellow competitors and silence your phone. If your phone vibrates or rings during a speech (whether your own or somebody else's) then it will count against you.

I do PF at Unionville High School and have been debating for four years. A few preferences:

1. Be assertive but not disrespectful

2. Weigh! It becomes really easy for me to evaluate the round when you weigh.

3. Don't tell me what your evidence says, tell me why it says it. You can find evidence saying just about everything which is why the warrants for why they come to that conclusion is so important.

4. Don't Misconstrue Evidence. If a team tells me to call for evidence I will.

Good luck and have fun!

email: unionvillekl@gmail.com – put me on the email chain

overview

i debated for unionville for 4 years as a 2a and read mostly soft-left affs focusing on violence against women/gender minorities. that being said, please do whatever you do best and can explain well.

tech>truth and dropped arguments are true, but please explain why these arguments matter, especially for theory and other blippy arguments

ev spin/contextualization > ev quality, quantity, and recency in a vacuum – but this isn’t an excuse to read bad evidence

have fun and be respectful of everyone in the room. if there’s anything i can do to make debate more accessible to you, please let me know. i won’t vote for anything blatantly racist/sexist/ableist/etc. or anything approaching death good.

specific preferences

cp/da

i like good politics scenarios – if your da is innovative, i’ll be impressed. i’m fine with generics, but you should have a specific link or contextualize your link to the aff.

slow down on cp texts and explain multiple planks in the block. solvency advocates are necessary and even better if they come from the aff’s authors. i won’t kick the cp for you. aff – explain why i shouldn’t vote on sufficiency framing and the specific solvency deficits to the cp.

t

i really like good t debates and i think that many affs aren’t topical. i would prefer a case list and tva in the block if you’re going for t.

competing interps > reasonability

t debates are about your vision of the topic, not in-round abuse.

k/fw

i’m familiar with k’s from debating them. i have no ideological preferences but prefer jargon/theory to be well-explained. i have a high standard for 2ac against one off k and think the best 2acs use fewer cards.

i want to vote for a stable alternative whose solvency is uncontested or well-defended.

affs should get to weigh the aff and role of the ballot debates are often an excuse to not explain your warrants. i think fw against a 1 off k debate can make or break the aff.

k affs – these should be in the direction of the resolution, but i don’t think that the neg should have to debate against your personal experiences or that debate is a survival strategy. i want to know what voting for your advocacy does.

fw/t-usfg – i think debate is a game and procedural fairness is an independent impact. that being said, if you can prove procedural fairness is a bad model, go for it. i think tva’s are the most strategic way to win t.

theory

i think condo is good. i probably won’t vote on theory but can be convinced otherwise. i don’t think many cps are abusive enough to drop the team, but can be persuaded on drop the argument.

TOC 23 update: Senior at michigan, competed and coached PF on the nat circuit but haven't done much since 2021. Also have a policy background so I'll try to keep up with the technical stuff, just know I'm rusty.

-standard flow judge: frontline, extend, and weigh

-any speed is fine but ask opponents if you plan to go fast

-1st summary only needs defense if 2nd rebuttal frontlines

-the later an argument is made, the less i'll believe it

-theory/kritikal arguments are fine if made in accessible ways

-dont be a bad person and have fun

Feel free to ask any more specific questions before the round, if you wanna read more I judge similar to this guy.

PF Paradigm

I am highly conscious of my role as a judge to put my own bias aside, to listen intently, and to come to conclusions based on what you bring to a round. If you and your partner prove to me that your warrants, evidence, and impacts weigh more heavily in the round than your opponents then you win, plain and simple. Please don't tell me the burden is on the other team to prove or disprove or whatever else. Public Forum Debate focuses on advocacy of a position derived from issues presented in the resolution, not a prescribed set of burdens.

I have a serious problem if you misconstrue evidence or neglect to state your sources thoroughly- you have already created unnecessary questions in my mind.

Rebuttals are a key part of debate and I need to hear a point by point refutation and clash and then an extension of impacts. Refuting an argument is not "turning" an argument. Arbitrary and incorrect use of that term is highly annoying to me. A true turn is difficult at best to achieve-be careful with this.

I cannot judge what I can't clearly hear or understand-I can understand fast speech that is enunciated well, but do you really want to tax your judge?-Quality of an argument is much more important than the quantity of points/sub-points, or rapid-fire speech and it is incumbent upon you and your partner to make sure you tell me what I need to hear to weigh appropriately-it is not my job to "fill in the blanks" with my personal knowledge or to try to spend time figuring out what you just said. Also spreading is a disrespectful tactic and defeats the purpose of the art of debate-imho- so don't do it. (See Quality not Quantity above).

The greater the extent of your impacts, the greater the weight for me. If you and your partner are able to thoroughly answer WHY/HOW something matters more, WHY/HOW something has a greater impact, WHY/HOW your evidence is more important, that sways me more than anything else.

Lastly, be assertive, not aggressive. Enjoy the challenge.

unionville ’19 | cornell ’23 (not debating)

4 years policy debate as a 2n

email: unionvillekl@gmail.com

policy:

i am a new judge, but i will try to ensure a fair and thoughtful decision based on a careful flow. the best debates have well-researched clash, in-depth explanations, and many argument comparisons. please be considerate of everyone in the room. if there are any ways i can make the debate more accessible for you, please let me know.

*tldr*

• tech > truth
• as a debater, i am most experienced in the policy side but have gone for arguments across the spectrum. i ran mostly soft-left and occasionally big stick affs and went for da/cp/t about 70% of the time and a k 30% of the time vs. policy affs.
• i went for t-usfg with a procedural fairness impact in 95% of my 2nrs vs. k/no plan affs. the other 5% were case turns.
• types of rounds i am experienced in (from most to least): policy v. policy, policy v. k, k v. k (no experience)
• i will call clear 2x; after that, i will just flow what i can. i think it is a reasonable expectation to be able to understand every word, even the warrants of the card.
• evidence quality undoubtedly matters — spin will at best be a lens through which i will view the contested evidence.
• any flavor of “debate bad” arguments will be an uphill battle to win.
• i will not evaluate arguments about actions that occurred outside of the round.
• i have no topic knowledge, so providing more explanation on particularly complex internal link chains or nuanced counterplans would be appreciated.

*specific*

do what you do best. my predispositions can be overcome by quality debating.

t-usfg/fw —

• i heavily lean negative because i believe debate is a game (that does not shape subjectivity) with strategic value and not having a limited topic and predictable stasis point cancels the opportunity for clash and productive debate.
• fairness (because preserving equitable competition is necessary to actualize any benefits of debate) > clash > dialogue > other neg impacts (“decision making,” “debate skills”)
• tvas do not need to solve the aff and prove that the aff could access similar content and literature base with a resolutional tie.
• tvas must meet the neg’s interp.

k affs —

• neg presumption ballots are very appealing in these debates since i just do not think these affs do anything. the aff needs to have clear impact calculus.
• there must be judge instruction: what am i voting for? why is that thing good?
• if the aff forgoes defending the topic, there should be a substantive critique of the resolutional mechanism.

ks —

• i am most familiar with capitalism, neoliberalism, settler colonialism, and discourse (i.e. security, victimization) kritiks.
• because of my policy background, i am predisposed to think: material resolution of conditions and violence is good, extinction is bad, and fiat is good.
• i have a high threshold for explanation, especially for race and high theory based kritiks (i have only ever debated against these).
• explicit line-by-line >>> overview that implicitly answers arguments (i will not make cross applications without instruction)
• on the fw debate, affs will always get to weigh their aff.
• sectioning the kritik in the neg block and doing line-by-line within each section (i.e. the fw debate, the perm debate, the link debate, the alt debate, etc.) creates a much cleaner flow.
• generic links (i.e. state bad) are unpersuasive especially if the aff makes link distinctions, which also makes voting for the perm much easier.
• if the alt is kicked, there must be explicit explanation on how the status quo resolves the links to the plan.
• if there is not case debate while going for the k, there will likely be an aff ballot.

topicality —

• since t is about competing visions of the topic, a clear picture of the topic with details about how debates and research occur and specific case lists under each definition are essential.
• describe and compare the contours of debate under not only the neg’s interp but also the aff’s interp, and explain why those differences matter.
• i default to competing interpretations.
• reasonability is an argument about why your definition is reasonably predictable, not why it is just “good enough.”

das —

• make “turns case” and outweighs analyses contextualized to the aff’s specific impacts.
• there must be a high risk of the da for me to vote on the “turns case” arguments, so disproving the framing flow would still be beneficial.
• the more contrived the internal link scenario the higher the burden of explanation and carded evidence will be for the neg.

cp —

• slow down on the cp text.
• i would prefer having a carded solvency advocate.
• sufficiency framing is at best a reason why the solvency deficits should be weighed slightly less — i would much prefer that the neg just do the solvency debate.
• evidence that compares the cp to the plan makes the cp probably legitimate.
• cps that solely compete on immediacy and certainty are questionable and will be difficult to win.

theory —

• slow down on analytics and warrant arguments.
• there must be detailed explanation of the world of debate under each model and the impacts of defaulting to each interp.
• most theory arguments are reasons to reject the argument, not the team.
• i rarely ran more than 3 conditional advocacies in neg rounds but if more than that is present in the neg strat 1) i am more sympathetic towards the aff 2) the neg should be very prepared to defend their multiple strategies.
• if theory is dropped, the opposing team must extend it throughout the debate for it to be voted on.

public forum:

i have never competed in this event and my only experience has been in the background research and progressive strategies components. i am not familiar with most pf norms, so most of my reasoning will default to policy norms.

• my flow will dictate the winner and loser.
• arguments should be answered in the same order they are presented.
• an argument must be in the previous speech for it to be extended (except for first rebuttal).
• 2nd rebuttal should answer the speech preceding it and extend their own case.
• arguments with evidence to back up claims will almost always have more weight than smart analytics.
• i strongly oppose paraphrasing (but understand the utility of it in short time constraints). if paraphrased evidence is disputed, i will evaluate the evidence from my own perspective (i will not consider evidence spin). if the evidence is misconstrued, i will treat it as if it has not been read in round and strike it from my flow.
• i am familiar with theory and kritiks (look above for preferences) and am open to hearing them. however, i do not see the strategic value in going for a kritik in this event because the level and depth of explanations and argument comparisons required to run a kritik well far exceeds the time limits of pf speeches.

Be nice and don't roast people if they lose.

Hi! My name's Sierra (she/her) and I'm a sophomore at UPenn studying Comms or International Relations and Consumer Psych in Wharton. I competed in PF and LD for 3 years in high school but primarily did LD. I also dabbled in extemp debate, big questions, extemp speaking, and congress. I have experience with local and some circuit debate and I've competed at the state and national level.

Debate:

General Stuff:

• Please do not spread your max speed in LD or PF. I can comprehend a faster than normal pace but if you reach full speed I will not be able to follow. Try to go 60% of your max speed if you're someone who spreads every round. Pleaseeee slow down for taglines/author names
• Please signpost and give roadmaps
• I truly believe debate should be a safe place. If you need any accommodations or feel uncomfortable in a round please please please send me an email (smarelia@sas.upenn.edu)
• If you plan on reading heavy content in round please give a CW and let us know before the round starts. I'm ok with basically all heavy topics but a cw is always appreciated
• If you run/say anything racist, homophobic, or ableist you will not win my ballot
• I know debate can be stressful so just try to make the experience as pleasant as possible and be nice

LD:

I mainly did trad debate in high school and always appreciate a solid trad line by line debate with solid fw BUT it is cool if you run other things. Just keep in mind I am not as well-versed with K’s, narratives, theory, etc. so just make sure you explain what you’re doing well-- I should not have to fill in the gaps for you. Also, if your opponent clearly has no experience with progressive debate and you know this and still run something progressive your speaks will reflect that. Debate should be as educational as possible and when the round has a clear imbalance from the start it makes this hard.

• Tech>truth but things need to be warranted. If there's something that has 0 warrant and is just blatantly incorrect I won't vote on it
• If you and your opponents FWs are different give me a clear reason as to why yours is better BUT if the FW debate is close make sure you explain why your side can still exist and win under your opponents FW. This is sooo important because in order to determine the winner I will first go off of who won the fw debate and then who has the most offense under that framing
• I will keep a detailed flow and probably will pick up on dropped arguments. If your opponent drops evidence extend it in the next speech if you think it's critical to the round
• Giving clear voters at the end of the 2NC and 2AR is something I like and think helps a lot. Make my job easier and give a clear reason why you won the round
• If your 1AR is really poorly spaced but you pack a lot into the 2AR this probably won’t help you so just try to pace well (I know this can be hard). It's hard for me to evaluate off of a 4 second response to an entire contention

PF:

• I will flow the round and will miss dropped args
• Use cx to your advantage, it shouldn't be dominated by one side. I hate when people ask questions that start with "Do you agree that..." ask an actual question that pokes holes at ur opponents case plsss
• I value weighing throughout the speeches, not just at the end. This should include weighing impacts, harms, etc.
• Please crystalize the round at the end. Explain why you won and key things you won on

I’m probably forgetting stuff but if you have any questions just ask me before the round. If you have any questions about the ballot post-round feel free to email me or just ask then if you want if I’m allowed to disclose. Good luck!

Please be respectful of your opponent and your judges at all times. I will not tolerate inappropriate behavior during speech and debate rounds.

Debate

Always be sure to ask your judge and your opponent if we are ready before you begin a speech.

Remember that presenting a clear argument takes precedence over speed.

If you are in the middle of a sentence and time is up (either during a constructive or cross-examination), I will allow you to finish your sentence.

I look for a well-developed case that includes clear identification of the value, value criterion, contentions, points of clash, and voting issues.

You may use your electronic device to time yourself, but keep in mind that your judge is the official timekeeper in the round. Please be sure that your device is in silent mode.

For virtual tournaments please mute yourself if you are not speaking. You can unmute during your speeches and cross-examination periods.

Speech

I will be happy to provide you with time signals. Please let me know before you begin the specific time signals that you would like (i.e.., 5 down, fist at 10, etc.)

Most importantly, have fun!

For virtual tournaments please keep yourself muted when you are not performing.

Please refrain from texting and playing on your phone during other students' performances.

World Schools Debate

As World Schools Debate is not the same as policy or Lincoln-Douglas Debate, please refrain from spreading during the round. Your speech should be delivered at a conversational pace. Be sure to make eye contact and deliver your speech instead of reading word for word from your paper. World Schools Debate focuses on both the quality of the arguments and the quality of speech delivery.

Please make sure that your POIs are limited to 15 seconds each. If you do not wish to entertain an opponent's POI at a given time, please do so respectfully. Use your discretion about when to address a POI, but please make sure that you are not rejecting EVERY POI attempt during your speech. There are no POIs during the first and last minute of each constructive speech. POIs are also not permitted during reply speeches.

You may use a cell phone (placed in airplane mode) to time yourselves during the round. The judge is the official timekeeper. NSDA does not allow the use of computers during the round, so please make sure that all computers are away.

Hi I’m Shaaz-- I debated in both PF and LD on the circuit (shaazn03@gmail.com). Have fun and don't take it too seriously.

LD

If you're cramming prefs:

1- Trad, advantages, disadvantages, plans, counterplans

2- LARP

3- Theory

4- Popular K's (biopower, fem, cap, afropess, etc.)

5- Phil, Less intuitive K's (I don't keep up with K lit at all)

Strike- Tricks, blippy arguments, etc.

1. Tech over truth (to a degree): If your opponent doesn't contest it, it flows through as though it's true, but I'm a LOT less likely to vote on an argument that is blatantly false.
2. Speed is fine, but if you're spreading I need the speech doc.
3. I think disclosure is more up in the air than a lot of judges seem to. I don't care whether or not you do it, but if you do, do it fairly. Open to theory on it.
4. Help me do as little work as possible. Tell me why you won the round. Voting issues are key for my ballot.

PF

1. Crystallize. Tell me what you won, your weighing mechanisms, and why I should vote for them. You could be dominating the entire round but it'll almost always boil down to weighing.
2. I'm looking way more at the flow than the flowery stuff but obviously better speaking will boost your speaker points. I think I'm pretty generous with speaks in general.
3. I probably won't be paying attention in cross. Also won't be keeping track of time--trusting you for speech time and prep.

Nikhil Pisolkar

UHS '21

Purdue '25

email - npisolkar03@gmail.com --- add me to the chain pls

Last updated Sept 2022

About me - debated policy as a 1A/2N all 4 yrs in high school on the nat circuit. mostly policy stuff for the first 2 years, the second two years started running increasingly critical/procedural stuff on the neg. I went to camp and such. My favorite arguments to run were setcol, T, and FW against K affs.

Generally -- I'll try to do as little work as I can to explain my ballot. I'll use just about any framework to evaluate who deserved the ballot if you make it make sense. Extensions require warrants in every speech. If an argument is dropped, it still needs to be extended, but if it is extended I'll assume it's true even if it's a bad argument. T before Theory before K. I value your time, so I'll keep this brief.

I'm not familiar with the NATO topic, so don't assume I know what acronyms stand for. Haven't debated in a while. Do with that what you will.

Speed - I flow on paper, and obviously if we are online don't go as fast as you can possibly go. If I didn't hear it clearly, there is little chance it ended up on my flow. I'll have trouble lining up arguments if you go out of order, so please don't.

Topicality -- I went for T-substantial probably half of my 2nrs my junior year. I like T, and I think a well-structured, clean 2nr on Topicality with substantial impacts is hard to beat. I like fairness and education impacts. Weighing might be the most important component of these debates, so please don't skimp out. Examples of affs that are/aren't abusive are helpful from both sides, especially considering I'm not familiar with the topic. Please explain what affs both the interp and the counter-interp implicate and why that's a bad/good thing.

Kritiks -- I consider myself flex. I like critical debates. IMHO, a world where debate doesn't include critical arguments is bad, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. That being said, there are probably some bad critical arguments, and there are probably some good critical arguments that are debated badly. I've read setcol(Tuck and Yang, King), some Bataille, some afro-pessimist literature, and I think capitalism is bad. I probably won't have an in-depth understanding of your argument if it required loads of prerequisite knowledge of Lacan, Nietzsche, or somebody else like that, although I love hearing those arguments debated well, and doing so can earn you high speaks because I like those debates. However, please don't regurgitate theory blocks filled with jargon that I wouldn't know. Feel free to ask me about my familiarity with authors before the round.

DAs -- love them, ran them probably every round against policy affs. Clear impacts, weighing, meta-weighing. Dropped arguments I'll generally evaluate as true. Line-by-line is especially important here, and I will reward clean, clear, organized debating on the line-by-line. I'm fine with politics; I ran politics relatively often.

CPs -- ran them often. Clear net benefits are nice. I was never a fan of process CPs personally, both theoretically and practically, but I'm open to one being well-explained with clear reasoning that it's better than the aff. CP, DA, case is a really nice 2nr for me.

Affs -- I ran extinction affs, structural violence affs, and K affs. Anything flies if you can defend it.

K-affs -- Will vote for or against them. I like these debates. I think they are interesting and fun to judge. Please explain clearly why you are reading what you are reading and not what neg expected you to read. Impact turns are fun. I like FW against these affs personally, but a well-articulated KvK debate is also cool; however, I never really had these debates in HS, so I'm not familiar with their intricacies. Meta-weighing is very important in these debates. Impacts, impacts, impacts.

Theory - I like it. I think debaters should set their own rules. I think how many condo is abusive depends on the round, but there is definitely a limit. I'm open for you to theoretically challenge anything the other team is doing, but running 7 BS theoretical violations that will all be dropped will frustrate me(waste of paper). I'll probably begrudgingly vote for anything if it's extended better than it was refuted, but truly stupid args require less work to debunk.

glhf!

I debated in Lincoln-Douglas debate for 3 years in High school.

I am a traditional judge. I tend to lean tech over truth, but if an argument makes less than 0 sense, I probably won't buy it. (ie. telling me that if everyone was given a free house, homelessness would actively increase from what it is today)

I'm willing to judge progressive tactics, but I have zero experience with them, so you'll have to be beyond explicit in your explanations.

I can handle about a 7 in terms of speed, but make sure to be very clear and remember to slow down for taglines, because if those are all I hear, that's what your offense is for the round.

Did PF for 4 years at Unionville, overall I'm a pretty normal flow judge

- spreading/theory: no thanks

- tech: over truth but it's easier for me to buy arguments that are more grounded (the more out there your argument is there more warranting you should have)

- final focus: all offense should've been in summary

- evidence: don't lie about it

- warranting: do it

- collapsing: do it

- weighing: yes please

- be: nice

feel free to ask questions!