Middle School Democratize Debate Invitational
2020 — Zoom, US
Lincoln Douglas Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideBackground: I graduated from William Jewell College in 2020, where I studied Institutions and Policy and am now a Northwestern Pritzker Law 1st year student. I competed in LD and USX in high school (2X national qualifier in the latter) and competed in parliamentary (NPDA) debate in college. I am familiar with all events and mainly judge Extemp, LD, and Policy.
Debate Paradigm: I flow every round and render my decision solely on the flow (absent abuse or rule-breaking). I have no preference as to specific arguments I want to hear. Analytical, clear argumentation wins every time. Be sure to make the debate smaller in your final speeches. By that, I mean identify the few key arguments in the debate and explain why they matter the most and why you win on them. A line-by-line final speech is rarely helpful.
(NON-NFA) LD Paradigm: The Value/VC debate is incredibly important and should be present at every point in the debate. Personally, I feel that the loss of philosophy in LD is incredibly sad but that does not influence my decision-making.
NFA-LD Paradigm: I follow all rules set by the NFA governing documents. I especially recognize that spreading is antithetical to the debate. I will vote on stock issues and when the debate comes down to solvency I will evaluate the debate based on impact calculus so I encourage debaters to argue impacts. In the final speeches, I expect debaters to make the debate smaller. By this I mean to crystallize the few key arguments and explain why these should ultimately decide the winner of the debate. I have no preference for argument types but am willing to listen to Ks, topicality, and traditional policy arguments. No particular style will give you an advantage, I will decide the debate based on the flow.
Policy/CX Paradigm: Although I didn't do Policy in high school, my time in Parli made me intimately familiar with the structure of this format of debate. Feel free to run any form argument in front of me (e.g., critical, case, disad, counterpart, anything) but I truly have no preference so you get no bonus points just by debating a certain type of way. At the end of the day, you must win the flow and give me key, crystallized arguments explaining why the arguments you are winning are the most important. Speed is fine so long as it is clear. Assume I am an educated citizen when it comes to explaining arguments.
TFA Congress Paradigm: I place a strong emphasis on the originality of ideas and the logical structure of the speech. Questions and answers should be meaningful and succinct. Grandstanding when asking a question is strongly looked down upon. I expect the presiding officer to accurately track precedence and keep their colleagues to the time limits. I did not compete in Congress often in high school, but I always did at least two tournaments a year and was often the presiding officer. While I do not automatically give the presiding officer a high ranking or great scores, I do find their job to be difficult and think judges often don't appreciate their duties.
Speech/Debate Experience - Director of Debate at Liberty Sr. HS in Liberty, MO. Debated policy debate in high school and have been coaching now for 7 years. I can follow above average speed (it's your responsibility to signpost/be clear) but I acknowledge this is a communication activity and see more value in quality of argumentation as opposed to quantity of arguments. I will be flowing but don’t expect me to do the work for you in extensions or weighing. Your speeches are the priority when determining what to evaluate.
In order to weigh something on the flow, you need to include warrants with your claims. You can tell me to vote on something but if I don't have a clear (and well extended) reason to accompany it, I will look elsewhere for a claim that does have a warrant included. A complete argument should include claim, warrant, impact. Extend warrants with authors - sure, they dropped Smith '22, but why does Smith '22 matter to the round? is a question you should be answering on every extension. Each side should identify and impact calculate the offense in the round as early as they are able. Do not expect me to do the work for you or to be as well versed on the topic as you, it is better to assume I do not know a term than to jump straight in and leave the judge behind.
I typically lean more towards traditional debate in that it presents topic specific education and clash. However, kritikal arguments are fine so long as the thesis of the argument is clear and the clash is evident. Case debate is my preferred style of argumentation and if the K can provide a good link story into the affirmative world. Alternatives of do nothing in general are boring. That's not to say that they can't win a round (Solvency takeouts alone function in a similar manner) but I always wonder how much more creative the alt debate could be beyond "stay in the squo".
Prep Time: If someone is not speaking, someone is running prep time. Per the event rules there are speeches, cross-ex and prep. Especially now that high school prep is 8 minutes instead of the original 5... please don't attempt to steal prep. It is your responsibility to exchange evidence efficiently (if online, establish an email chain before the round if you think you'll need it). I will not stop prep if you "say stop prep, I want to request evidence from my opponent's". Take care of that during cross-ex or email speeches before you speak. There are time constraints in debate for a reason, abide by them, don't try to bend around them. Additionally "flex prep" is not real.
Prep and email chains- I realize that the wifi is sometimes out of your control. I'm okay with stopping prep when the email has been sent but that is also under the understanding that you also stop prepping. If you're partner is preflowing the upcoming speech doc, or you are still working then prep should still be running as by definition -- you are preparing. The other team, the same. You should be refreshing your email and that's it.
OPEN CROSS - This will lower your speaker points automatically. The event is designed to demonstrate the expertise, skill and speaking quality of each speaker. Since speaker points are given to each debater and not a team as a whole, open cross weakens individual speaking points.
diegojflores02@gmail.com
Bravo '20, CSULB OF '24, LAMDL 4eva
Coach Huntington Park High School
Debate how you want:
I appreciate rebuttals that start big-picture overviews identifying what you have won, where the opponent has messed up, and what should be the core issues that decide the debate. After that, efficient and technical line-by-line.
The flow decides how I vote, not my biases. Usually, the argument that has more structure (framing / claim / warrant / reasoning) is more likely to win against an incomplete argument (missing one of those). When debates get close, it is because both sides have made complete arguments. In that scenario, I look at the evidence and decide based on who has better support. My last resort is to resort to my understanding of what is "true."
There are only 3 biases I do hold about debate:
Critical affirmatives need a solid counter-interpretation over impact turn strategies in the 2AR.
Policy teams need to defend their "reps" instead of just saying "extinction brr i need fiat look at my case"
K v. K debates need to bridge the gap between high-theory jargon and how offense manifest to material violence.
hey! im arnav - i graduated in 2023 from saratoga (qualed 3x to the TOC, broke a few times, 7 bids) and am currently a student at uc berkeley.
pls send docs via speechdrop.
I coach with DebateDrills - the following URL has our roster, MJP conflict policy, code of conduct, relevant team policies, and harassment/bullying complaint form: https://www.debatedrills.com/club-team-policies/lincoln-douglas-team-policy
pref cheat sheet
theory/policy - 1
t/stock k (cap/set col/afropess/security) - 1/2
phil/less common ks - 3
tricks - 3/4
pomo - 5/strike
main
tech>truth but pls have a claim, warrant and impact. as long as it has those three, ill vote for pretty much anything. tricks are fine, just need to be well explained and you might get your speaks docked if they're totally incoherent.
clash and impact calc are important and will win you the debate
explaining what my rfd should look like at the top of the 2nr/2ar will get you more speaks and make it way more likely you actually end up with that rfd
im fine with all types of arguments and will vote on anything as long as it's well explained.
speaks - good strategy, well explained arguments, good technical line by line, short overviews that get the point across, good impact calc, making me laugh will all get you high speaks
Toplevel
1-Util
1-Theory
1-Most K's if you're reading like some hauntology k or something not so common pls elaborate
3-NCs
4-Tricks
Speaks
Be NICE!!
If u be nice u get a 30 :)
If not u get a 25:(
If u make me rlly mad its a 0 arrrrghhh
For Policy Debate: Novice Rounds only, If you spread I will not listen to you I will just flow off the email chain, If you want me to listen you have to slow down, Ks preferred.
For Parlimentary (NPDA) and IPDA: Open/Varsity rounds, Topicality is a voting issue but should not be the sole reason I vote for a side otherwise I'll be annoyed.
PF: (any division) Impact calculus is key. Offense and defense is crucial and will be weighed on my flow but it helps when you bring it up yourself as well.
Hey guys,
LD
I’m a parent judge, but I have some familiarity with more progressive argumentation. I’m going to do everything I can to make it a productive round for you, but please make sure you do everything you can to make sure that I’m able to do that.If you get put in front of me for a round, please make sure you do the following:
-Send a speech doc WITH basic analytics. I don’t need your speech word for word, but make sure it’s organized, in the right order, and make sure I can follow along.
-Send me a speech doc of the 1ac before the round. I will flow it and read it to understand.
-Don’t spread outside of contentions. If you go anything faster than conversational in the rebuttal, I will be unable to flow you. I will call clear if you’re unclear.
-I strongly recommend that you stick to utilitarian arguments, as those are the most logically true and easy for me to adjudicate. Make sure that you do a ton of impact calculus, as that’s what determines the round. Tell me why your side is more likely to cause extinction/is going to cause it faster, etc.
-If you HAVE to read another type of argument, do so at your own risk - it is entirely possible that I misunderstand an argument and can’t vote off of it. But here’s my thoughts:
-K - From my understanding, a kritik can function like a normal contention, but with different framework and impact. If you run something really bizarre and weird, I may not be able to understand it - something critiquing capitalism or racism might be easier to understand.
-Theory/Topicality - Don’t unnecessarily use this. I find it very difficult to judge this type of debate. If something actually happened, go ahead, but try your very best to avoid it as I don't know much about these arguments.
-Philosophy - I do not know how to judge this
-Tricks - I do not know how to judge this
EXTEMP
I don’t know if paradigms for Extemp is the norm, but I have one anyway in case you wanted to take a look.
I’m going to weigh both performance and substance quite highly. A well delivered speech full of awful analysis is just as bad as a badly delivered speech with good analytics. I will say that I have the most experience with Interp events, so I do enjoy a speech which is delivered in an upbeat, confident manner over a more monotonous dump of facts.
I’ll default to the following time signals
-down from 5 every minute
-C at 30,
-Count down from 10
Please give me at least 2-3 solid pieces of evidence per argument. Please don’t make blatantly false statements or give me a speech with fabricated data/analysis. A very well delivered speech talking about Barack Obama the Republican is not going to go over well!
As we’re online, I’m going to be very lenient to those with technology issues. If you drop out or cut out, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you get to give your speech in it’s entirety, at least as much as the tournament permits.
Please do not cheat! It is VERY obvious if you’re looking at your outline during your speech. I’ll give you a LOT of leeway, given that you’ll inevitably have to look at the timer, have your eyes stray from the camera, etc, but make sure that you just look somewhere near the computer for the entirety of your speech. Cheating on that helps nobody and certainly won’t help you grow.
Overall, just do your best, good luck, and most importantly - HAVE FUN!!
As a judge, I will look for the following in the debate
a) Don't spread too much. If you want to spread, please share the case with me in advance. I may hear your speech/argument, but if you do not give me enough time to process it, I may not vote on it.
b) Don't bring any evidence if the probability of the issue happening is very low.
c) Don't bring any new arguments/evidence in the final speech.
d) I prefer Quality over Quantity.
I will try to be as neutral as possible. Having said that It is your job to make sure I know your argument without having studied it myself.
email: don't add me to the chain
qualled as sophomore
I will only vote for arguments that I like
Hi, I'm Max, I'm a third year out who did LD for 3 years. Won the TOC and a couple of other tournaments, read predominately policy arguments but dabbled a bit in critical international relations theory, settler colonialism, and ethical philosophy.
I coach withDebateDrills- the following URL has our roster, MJP conflict policy,code of conduct, relevant team policies, and harassment/bullying complaint form:https://www.debatedrills.com/club-team-policies/lincoln-douglas-team-policy
Paradigm:
Add me to the chain, maxvperin@icloud.com
-- Debate is a game (not sure why this is a controversial take in an activity with rules where we compete to win and have fun) – it’s a really fun game that can teach us lots of cool things, but don’t take it too seriously/please be nice in round/have basic human decency
Big fan of strategies that:
-- Spend most of the NC on impact turns
-- Use advantage counterplans and smart case presses to punish bad affs
-- Use long, good evidence
-- Don’t rely on the other debater dropping/mishandling arguments
Strongly dislike strategies that:
-- Are designed to avoid clash
-- Allow you to read off a script during a rebuttal
-- Try to explain all society/history/IR/etc. with a theory from the depths of god knows where in academia
Might vote you down for/won’t vote for strategies that:
-- Ad hom other debaters/force me to evaluate out of round events (exception is disclosure)
-- Say racism/sexism/other isms good (will def vote you down for this one)
Other things to know:
-- I find clash and especially fairness standards in T Framework to be extremely compelling, and if debated equally I lean heavily negative in clash debates. On a truth level, fairness is clearly an impact, though it's often a bit tricky to explain why in a manner that's not tautological, so I'll be impressed by 2nrs that give that explanation persuasively
-- That said, while I'd recommend reading a topical plan, you certainly don't have to read a big stick policy aff - I think that well constructed topical K affs that materially solve for some instance of a structural impact through a plan and leverage a critical theory of power to do impact calculus and attack the internal links of disads and counterplans are extremely cool.
-- When reading a kritik against a policy aff, case defense and predictions Ks are your friend. It's extremely difficult to win a framework argument that excludes the advantage or a reason a high probability extinction impact doesn't outweigh, and "reee ontology and the ROTB means the aff disappears" certainly won't cut it on either of those fronts. Instead, you should attack the parts of the aff that are most vulnerable, i.e. the shitty internal links.
-- Behind nuclear strategy and IR theory, I think formal logic is one of the coolest areas of study/literature that can be used in debate. However, I also hate bastardization of it. Tricks debaters, do with that information as you will.
-- I think that a lot of popular theory and non-topic specific topicality arguments (condo, nebel, etc.) are fairly obviously bad arguments, and gain strategic value almost exclusively from the fact that they exploit the time structure in LD very effectively. Because of that, I'll be very sympathetic towards the debater answering theory in most of these situations.
- On the topic of silly arguments, psychological theories that have been rejected by 99% of psychologists and readings of history that have been rejected by 99% of historians are probably silly – there’s a reason they exist in debate, English departments, and nowhere else
Hi!
Please debate any way that you find fine but I highly request you ask your opponent before you spread (speak fast) or read non-traditional arguments. Not doing so will result in lower speaks and I probably won't vote for you.
If you have no idea what all that above means then you're probably fine and just debate the way you normally would :)
hi! i'm aly (second year out, qualified to toc x2 (semis senior year))
toplevel:
have fun and be kind
show up before the round start time, that is when the 1ac should begin. starting early, sitting down early if you've won, taking less prep, etc = speaks boost.
please be as clear as possible, signpost, and do complete warranting (a conceded tagline is not an argument); i have no problem not voting on arguments i didn’t understand or flow in the first speech they were introduced - this is especially true considering i am much less involved than i used to be
i primarily read and am better for policy debates about the topic
arguments start at zero and go up with warranting based on the claim, ie larger or unintuitive claims need stronger warrants (spark/ontology need more warranting than nuke war bad/contingency)
compiling a doc and flow clarification are prep or cx; there is no flow clarification time slot in debate
not a fan of scripted rebuttals, arguments recycled across topics, and strategies that rely on your opponent missing something
will not vote on:
arguments that deny the badness of racism/sexism/ableism/homophobia/death/etc, this is probably an auto loss with very low speaks depending on severity
independent voters that are not labeled as such in the speech they are introduced and do not have a reason why they are
less necessary specifics:
k:
needs to prove the aff is bad; links don’t need to be to the plan, but should be to ideas that a good potion of the aff focuses or relies on
if i can’t coherently explain your theory of power back to you, you will not win
please answer the case/contextualize links… or i will probably vote on extinction ows
not a fan of ks that rely on blippy 2nr tricks to win (vtl/unwarranted root cause/etc)
dont like long overviews — preferably put stuff on the line by line and in the order of the 1ar
i will disregard a floating pik claim if it isn’t hinted at in the 1nc or cx
policy:
please weigh / ev comparison / argument resolution
spin is more important than the evidence but it’s not if your opponent points it out, so make sure you still have warrants
inserting rehighlighings is fine for defense (but you still need to explain it in the speech), you should read for offense
default judge kick
default policy presumption
theory:
good for topic related t args, not so great for spreading through plans bad blocks or any other similar silly generic
theoretical objections to process cps should be permutations, not theory
in the absence of any argumentation(these can all be changed w a sentence): ci on t, reasonability on theory, dtd on 1nc t and theory, dta on 1ar theory except condo, no rvis, t > 1nc theory > 1ar theory > everything else, fairness and edu are voters
k affs:
non t affs—never ran them, not great for you if you’re aff
please try to put stuff on the line by line as much as possible, or contextualize your top level arguments
don't feel comfortable adjudicating personal narratives/performances/survival strats/ad-homs
phil:
needs to be sufficiently explained (especially if not kant), but i'm a big fan of taking advantage of the fact that most util justifications are missing pieces and/or assume consequentialism
default epistemic confidence
lay/trad/novices:
go slow and be accessible
i will evaluate every round technically regardless of style, that being said lay debaters can beat circuit debaters through solid warranting and isolation of key args
ev ethics:
would prefer to see this read as a shell instead of you calling it - if you call it on something friv that doesn’t change the meaning of the evidence you're not getting great speaks. this is what constitutes a challenge:
—card starts or ends in the middle of a sentence or paragraph
—the original text of the cited work has been edited (not bracketed)
—card has been cut to make a claim that the actual article does not make (this should be really obvious if you are calling it)
clipping:
you need a recording and i’ll evaluate based on tournament or nsda standards
online:
record your speeches, i won't let you regive them if you cut out
other:
i coach for dd -- relevant policies here: https://www.debatedrills.com/club-team-policies/lincoln-douglas-team-policy
Experience: 4 years (2015-2019) competing in LD + Congress at Wisconsin locals, NSDA/NCFL's, and on the national circuit. This is my second year judging LD.
Conflicts: Brookfield East
larp > trad/phil > Ks > theory > tricks
-I'm basically the same age as you, so definitely just call me Arjun (pronounced AR-juhn, if you need some help here you go). I use he/him pronouns.
-Read whatever you'd like! As long as doing so doesn't create an unsafe debate space for your opponent, make the arguments that you enjoy most. I'm most familiar with phil/larp/trad literature, but definitely don't let that stop you from running k args if that's what you're passionate about. I'll vote on tricks if substantiated, but definitely will not extend the unwarranted 3 second apriori at the end of your constructive.
-Assuming clarity, I'm comfortable flowing up to around this speed. Any more than that and I'm probably missing some important stuff. I'll yell clear/slow if need be.
-That being said, please use your best judgement to adjust to the conditions of the round; don't read your most complicated 5 offs at 400 wpm against a novice at their first tournament. I won't drop you for not doing so, but my frustration will be reflected in your speaker points.
-WEIGH EARLY WEIGH OFTEN
-I have a relatively high threshold for extensions; I need to hear a clearly articulated warrant before it goes on my flow. "Extend contention 1" isn't enough.
-Please don't go over time! Don't wait till after your timer goes off to give voters.
-I average around a 28 for speaks. The more good things you do the higher above that you'll go: collapsing in the 2NR/2AR, doing literally anything with framework, giving clear win conditions, getting big concessions in cx etc.
-Please please please use good evidence!!!! It feels like with every passing year our standards drop and cards get sketchier. I'll be very happy if you have full citations on all pieces of evidence and will give you a somewhat arbitrary nonzero bump in speaks.
Hit me up with questions via email: arjunshreekumar@gmail.com, text: 262-347-5599, messenger, ig, snap, whatever floats your boat.
Looking forward to meeting y'all in round :)
I was a former competitor in Original Oratory, Congress, Commentary, and Impromptu. I have also made it to the State Tournament for Impromptu advancing to the quarterfinals round. Also, I was the previous president of the Speech and Debate team at Deer Lakes High School. I have judged for numerous years in the Pittsburgh District and other online tournaments after high school. In 2019-2020, I was the coach for the Deer Lakes High School Speech and Debate team.
Judging Experience
I am very familiar with all of the types of speech events. For debate events, I have judged as a parliamentarian in Congress as well as judged numerous rounds of Public Form debate and Lincoln Douglas. My main area of interest in judging is primarily speech events.