Tempus Debate Camp Tournament
2020 — Online, AL/US
LD Judges Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideAbout Me
I attended and debated for Rutgers University-Newark (c/o 2021). I’ve ran both policy and K affs.
Coach @ Ridge HS in Basking Ridge, NJ.
Influences In Debate
David Asafu – Adjaye (he actually got me interested in college policy, but don’t tell him this), and of course, the debate coaching staff @ RU-N: Willie Johnson, Carlos Astacio, Devane Murphy, Christopher Kozak and Elijah Smith.
The Basics
Yes, I wish to be on the email chain!
COLLEGE POLICY: I skimmed through the topic paper and ADA/ Wake will be my first time judging this season. Do with this information what you wish.
GENERAL: If you are spreading and it’s not clear, I will yell clear. If I have to do that too many times in a round, it sucks to be you buddy because I will just stop flowing and evaluate the debate based on what I can remember. Zoom through your cards, but when doing analytics and line by line, take it back a bit. After all, I can only evaluate what I catch on my flow. UPDATE FOR ONLINE DEBATES: GO ABOUT 70% OF YOUR NORMAL SPEED. IF YOU ARE NOT CLEAR EVEN AT 70%, DON'T SPREAD.
In general, I like K’s (particularly those surrounding Afro-Pess and Queer Theory). However, I like to see them executed in at least a decent manner. Therefore, if you know these are not your forte, do not read them just because I am judging. One recent pet peeve of mine is people just asserting links without having them contextualized to the aff and well explained. Please don't be that person. You will see me looking at both you and my flow with a confused face trying to figure out what's happening. Additionally, do not tell me that perms cannot happen in a method v. method debate without a warrant.
I live for performance debates.
I like to be entertained, and I like to laugh. Hence, if you can do either, it will be reflected in your speaker points. However, if you can’t do this, fear not. You obviously will get the running average provided you do the work for the running average. While I am a flow centric judge, be it known that debate is just as much about delivery as it is about content.
The bare minimum for a link chain for a DA is insufficient 99% of the time for me. I need a story with a good scenario for how the link causes the impact. Describe to me how everything happens. Please extrapolate! Give your arguments depth! It would behoove you to employ some impact calculus and comparison here.
Save the friv theory, bring on those spicy framework and T debates. Please be well structured on the flow if you are going this route. Additionally, be warned, fairness is not a voter 98% of the times in my book. It is an internal link to something. Note however, though I am all for T and framework debates, I also like to see aff engagement. Obviously these are all on a case by case basis. T USFG is not spicy. I will vote on it, but it is not spicy.
For CPs, if they're abusive, they are. As long as they are competitive and have net benefits, we're good.
On theory, at a certain point in the debate, I get tired of hearing you read your coach's coach's block extensions. Could we please replace that with some impact weighing?
Do not assume I know anything when judging you. I am literally in the room to take notes and tell who I think is the winner based on who gives the better articulation as to why their option is better. Therefore, if you assume I know something, and I don’t … kinda sucks to be you buddy.
I’m all for new things! Debating is all about contesting competing ideas and strategies.
I feel as though it should be needless to say, but: do not run any bigoted arguments. However, I’m well aware that I can’t stop you. Just please be prepared to pick up a zero in your speaking points, and depending on how egregious your bigotry is, I just might drop you. Literally!
Another thing: please do not run anthropocentrism in front of me. It’s something I hated as a debater, and it is definitely something I hate as a judge. Should you choose to be risky, please be prepared for the consequences. (Update: voted on it once - purely a flow decision)
For My LD'ers
It is often times difficult to evaluate between esoteric philosophies. I often find that people don't do enough work to establish any metric of evaluation for these kinds of debates. Consequently, I am weary for pulling the trigger for one side as opposed to the other. If you think you can, then by all means, read it!
Yale Update: Tricks are for kids.You might be one, but I am not.
I'm gonna have to pass on the RVIs too. I've never seen a more annoying line of argumentation.
NSDA 2024 PF UPDATE
If your cards are not properly tagged, cited and cut, I will be tanking speaker points severely.
If an email chain is not set up, I will be tanking speaker points severely.
If I get so much as a whiff of evidentiary dishonesty, I am dropping you, closing my laptop and leaving the round.
Otherwise, congrats on making it to NSDA. Have fun and do you, boo !
In general, give me judge instructions.
On average, tech > truth --- however, I throw this principle out when people start doing or saying bigoted things.
Background: Former LD, CX and PF debater
I’m tabula rasa on most things, just don’t advocate for positions that are evil or trollish.
I will attempt to respect the norms of the circuit and tournament I am judging at; I do not want to impose on any particular debate style and generally am more inclined to be open minded about things like this.
While evidence is good, I believe too often many rely on ‘evidence dumping’ and focus too little on analytics. Basically, spend a fair amount of time framing, contextualizing, weighing, clash, etc.
For speaker points, I base it off everything but your physical speaking ability. How well did I think you navigated the round, how did you choose to order arguments, and overall strategy contribute a lot here.
Respect each other and please signpost!
If you have questions please let me know.
bennettjamesbrown@gmail.com
Updated 9/24/24 Post-Greenhill
Hi everyone, I'm Holden (They/He)!
University of North Texas '23, and '25 (Go Mean Green!)
If you are a senior graduating this year, UNT has debate scholarships and a program with resources! If you are interested in looking into the team please contact me via my email listed below and we can talk about the program and what it can offer you! If you are committed to UNT, please conflict me!
I would appreciate it if you put me on the email chain: bukowskyhd@yahoo.com
Most of this can be applied to any debate event, but if there are event specific things then I will flag them, but they are mostly at the bottom.
The TLDR:
Debate is about you, not me. I think intervention is bad (until a certain point, those exceptions will be made obvious), and that letting the debaters handle my adjudication of the round as much as possible is best. I've been described as "grumpy," and described as an individual "that would vote on anything," I think both of these things are true in a vacuum and often translate in the way that I perceive arguments. However, my adherence to the flow often overrides my desire to frown and drop my head whilst hearing a terrible argument. In that train of thought, I try to be as close to a "no feelings flow bot" when adjudicating debates, which means go for whatever you want as long as it has a warrant and isn't something I flat out refuse to vote on (see rest of paradigm). I enjoy debates over substance surrounding the topic, it's simulated effects, it's adherence to philosophical principles, and it's critical assumptions, much more than hypertechnical theory debates that aren't based on things that the plan does. Bad arguments most certainly exist, and I greatly dislike them, but the onus is on debaters for disproving those bad arguments. I have voted for every type of argument under the sun at this point, and nothing you do will likely surprise me, but let me be clear when I encourage you to do what you interpret as necessary to win you the debate in terms of argumentive strategy.
I take the safety of the debaters in round very seriously. If there is ever an issue, and it seems like I am not noticing, please let me know in some manner (whether that be through a private email, a sign of some kind, etc.). I try to be as cognizant as possible of the things happening in round, but I am a human being and a terrible reader of facial expressions at that so there might be moments where I am not picking up on something. Misgendering is included in this, I take misgendering very seriously and have developed the following procedure for adjudicating cases where this does happen: you get one chance with your speaks being docked that one time, more than once and you have lost my ballot even if an argument has not been made related to this. I am extremely persuaded by misgendering bad shells. Respect people's pronouns and personhood.
Tech > Truth
Yes speed, yes clarity, yes spreading, will likely keep up but will clear you twice and then give up after that.
Debate influences/important coaches who I value immensely: Colin Quinn.
Trigger warnings - they're good broadly, you should probably give individuals time to prepare themselves if you delve into discussions of graphic violence. For me, that includes in depth discussion of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide.
I flow on my laptop, and consider myself a pretty good flow when people are clear, probably a 8-8.5/10. Just be clear, number your arguments, and slow down on analytics please.
Cheating, including evidence ethics and clipping, is bad. I have seen clipping become much more common and I will vote you down if I feel you have done so even without "recorded" evidence or a challenge from another debater.
For your pref sheets (policy):
Clash debates - 1
K v K debates - 1
Policy throwdowns - 1/2 (I can judge and am fairly confident in these debates but have less experience in this compared to others and need a bit more hand holding)
For your pref sheets (LD):
Clash debates of any kind (Policy v K, K aff v framework, phil v k, etc.) - 1
K - 1
Policy - 1
Phil - 1
T/Theory - 1/2
Tricks - 4
Trad - 5/Strike
I'm serious about these rankings, I value execution over content and am comfortable judging any type of debate done well.
The Long Version:
Who the hell is this person, why did my coach/I pref them?
Hello! My name is Holden, this year will mark my 9th year in debate. I am currently a communication studies graduate student at the University of North Texas, where I also got my bachelors in psychology and philosophy. During my time as a competitor, I did policy, LD, and NFA-LD. My exposure to the circuit really began my sophomore year of high school, but nothing of true note really occurred during my high school career. College had me qualify for the NFA-LD national tournament twice, I got to octas twice, broke at majors, got gavels, round robin invites. I now coach and judge exclusively, where I have coached teams that have qualified to the NDT, qualified to outrounds of just about every bid tournament, gotten several speaker awards, have accrued 30+ bids, and made it to elimination rounds and have been the top speaker of the TOC.
I judge a lot, and by that I mean a lot. Currently at 600+ debates judged since I graduated high school in 2020. Those (probably too many) debates have ranged everywhere from local circuit tournaments, the TOC, and to the NDT, but I would say most of my time judging is in national circuit LD, with college policy debate coming in right behind that. I think the reason I judge so much is because I think judging is a skill, and one that gets better the more you do it, and you get worse when you haven't done it in a while. I genuinely enjoy judging debates because of several reasons, whether that be my enjoyment of debate, the money, or because I enjoy the opportunity to help aid in the growth of debaters through feedback.
I do a lot of research, academically, debate wise, and for fun. Most of my research is in the kritikal side of things, mostly because I coach a bunch of K debaters. However, I often engage in policy research, and enjoy cutting those cards immensely. In addition, I have coached students who have gone for every argument type under the sun.
Please call me Holden, or judge (Holden is preferable, but if you vibe with judge then go for it). I hate anything more formal than that because it makes me uncomfortable (Mr. Bukowsky, sir, etc.)
Conflicts: Jack C. Hays High School (my alma mater), and the University of North Texas. I currently consult for Westlake (TX). Independently, I coach Barrington AC, Clear Springs EG, Clear Springs MS, East Chapel Hill AX, Jasper SG, Jordan FJ, Jordan KV, Plano West AR, Plano West RC, Riverside Independent JD and Vestavia Hills MH.
Previously, I have been affiliated with Jordan (TX) institutionally, and with American Heritage Broward CW, Bellevue/Washington Independent WL, Cypress Woods MM, Greenhill EX, and McNeil AS.
What does Holden think of debate?
It's a competitive game with pedagogical implications. I love debate immensely, and I take my role in it seriously. It is my job to evaluate arguments as presented, and intervene as little as possible. I'm not ideological on how I evaluate debates because I don't think it's my place to determine the validity of including arguments in debate (barring some exceptions). I think the previous sentence means that you should please do what you are most comfortable with to the best of your ability. There are only two concrete rules in debate - 1. there must be a winner and a loser, and those are decided by me, and 2. speech times are set in stone. Any preference that I have should not matter if you are doing your job, if I have to default to something then you did something incorrect.
To summarize the way that I think about judging, I think Yao Yao Chen does it best, "I believe judging debates is a privilege, not a paycheck. I strive to judge in the most open-minded, faor, and diligent way I can, and I aim to be as thorough and transparent as possible in my decisions. If you worked hard on debate, you deserve judging that matches the effort you put into this activity. Anything short of that is anti-educational and a disappointment."
I’ve been told I take a while to come to a decision. This is true, but not for the reason you might think. Normally, I know how I’m voting approximately 30 seconds to 1 minute after the debate. However, I like to be thorough and make sure that I give the debate the time and effort that it deserves, and as such try to have all of my thoughts together. Believe me, I consider myself somewhat comprehensible most times, I find it reassuring to myself to make sure that all my thoughts about the arguments in debate are in order. This is also why I tend to give longer decisions, because I think there are often questions about argument X on Y sheet which are easily resolved by having those addressed in the rfd. As such, I try to approach each decision from a technical standpoint and how each argument a. interacts with the rest of the debate, b. how large of an impact that argument has, c. think through any defense to that argument, and d. if that argument is the round winner or outweighs the offense of the opposing side.
If it means anything, I think most of my debate takes are in camp "2N who had to be a 2A for a while as well so I think mostly about negative strategy but also think that the aff has the right to counter-terrorism against negative terrorism."
What does Holden like?
I like good debates. If you execute your arguments in a technically impressive manner, I will be pleased.
I like debates that require little intervention, please make my job easier for me via judge instruction, I hate thinking.
I like well researched arguments with clear connections to the topic/the affirmative.
I like when email chains are sent out before the start time so that 1AC's can begin at start time, don't delay the round any more than it has to be please.
I like good case debating, this includes a deep love for impact turns.
I like it when people make themselves easy to flow, this includes labeling your arguments (whether giving your arguments names, or doing organizational strategies like "1, 2, 3" or "a point, b point, c point, etc."), I find it harder to vote for teams that make it difficult for me to know who is responding to what and what those responses are so making sure I can flow you is key.
I like debaters that collapse in final speeches, it gives room for analysis, explanation, and weighing which all make me very happy.
I like it when I am given a framing mechanism to help filter offense. This can takes place via a standard, role of the ballot/judge, framework, fairness v education, a meta-ethic, impact calculus, or anything, I don't care. I just need an evaluative lens to determine how to parse through impact calculus.
What does Holden dislike?
I dislike everything that is the opposite of the above.
I dislike when people make problematic arguments.
I dislike unclear spreading.
I dislike messy debates with no work done to resolve them.
I dislike when people say "my time will start in 3, 2, 1."
I dislike when people ask if they can take prep, it's your prep time, I don't care just tell me you're taking it.
I dislike when debaters posture too much. I don't care, and it annoys me. Debate the debate, especially since half the time when debaters posture it's about the wrong thing. There is a difference between being firm, and being performative.
I dislike when debaters are exclusionary to novice debaters. I define this as running completely overcomplicated strategies that are then deployed with little to no explanation. I am fine with "trial by fire" but think that you shouldn't throw them in the volcano. You know what this means. Not abiding by this will get your speaks tanked.
I dislike when evidence exchange takes too long, this includes when it takes forever for someone to press send on an email, when someone forgets to hit reply all (it's 2024 and y'all have been using technology for how long????). If you think email chains aren't vibe then please use a speechdrop to save all of us the headache.
I dislike topicality where the interpretation card is written by someone in debate, and especially when it's not about the specific terms of art in the topic.
I dislike 1AR restarts.
How has Holden voted?
Since I started judging in 2020, I have judged exactly 653 debate rounds. Of those, I have voted aff approximately 51.45% of the time.
My speaks for the 2024-2025 season have averaged to be around 28.571, and across all of the seasons I have judged they are at 28.528.
I have been a part of 204 panels, where I have sat approximately 12.25% of the time.
What will Holden never vote on?
Arguments that involve the appearance of a debater (shoes theory, formal clothing theory, etc.).
Arguments that say that oppression (in any form) is good.
Arguments that contradict what was said in CX.
Claims without warrants, these are not arguments.
Specific Arguments:
Policy Arguments
Contrary to my reputation, I love CP/DA debates and have an immense amount of experience on the policy side of the argumentative spectrum. I do good amounts of research on the policy side of topics often, and coach teams that go for these arguments predominantly. I love a good DA + case 2NR, and will reward well done executions of these strategies because I think they're great. One of my favorite 2NR's to give while I was debating was DA + circumvention, and I think that these debates are great and really reward good research quality.
Counterplans should be functionally and textually competitive with germane net benefits, I think that most counterplans probably lose to permutations that make arguments about these issues and I greatly enjoy competition debates. Limited intrinsic permutations are probably justified against counterplans that don't say a word about the topic.
I am amenable to all counterplans, and think they're theoretically legitimate (for the most part). I think that half the counterplans people read are not competitive though.
Impact turn debates are amazing, give me more of them please and thank you.
I reward well cut evidence, if you cite a card as part of your warrant for your argument and it's not very good/unwarranted then that minimizes your strength of link/size of impact to that argument. I do read evidence a lot in these debates because I think that often acts as a tie breaker between the spin of two debaters.
Judge instruction is essential to my ballot. Explain how I should frame a piece of evidence, what comes first and why, I think that telling me what to do and how to decipher the dozens of arguments in rounds makes your life and my job much easier and positively correlates to how much you will like my decision.
I enjoy well researched and topic specific process counterplans. They're great, especially when the evidence for them is topic specific and has a good solvency advocate.
I default no judge kick unless you make an argument for it.
Explain what the permutation looks like in the first responsive speech, just saying perm do both is a meaningless argument and I am not filling in the gaps for you.
For affs, I think that I prefer well developed and robust internal links into 2-3 impacts much more than the shot gun 7 impact strategy.
Explanation of how the DA turns case matters a lot to me, adjust your block/2NR accordingly.
Thoughts on conditionality are in the theory section.
K's
Say it with me everyone, Holden does not hack for the kritik. In fact, I've become much more grouchy about K debate lately. Aff's aren't defending anything, neg teams are shotgunning 2NR's without developing offense in comparison to the 1AR and the 2AR, and everyone is making me feel more and more tired. Call me old, but I think that K teams get too lost in the sauce, don't do enough argumentative interaction, and lose debates because they can't keep up technically. I think this is all magnified when the 2NR does not say a word about the aff at all.
This is where most of my research and judging is nowadays. I will be probably know what you're reading, have cut cards for whatever literature you are reading, and have a good amount of rounds judging and going for the K. I've been in debate for 8 years now, and have coached teams with a litany of literature interests, so feel free to read anything you want, just be able to explain it.
Aff teams against the K should go for framework, extinction outweighs, and the alt fails more.
Framework only matters as much as you make it matter. I think both sides of the debate are doing no argument resolution/establishing the implications of what it means to win framework. Does that mean that only consequences of the implementation of the plan matter, and I exclude the links to the plans epistemology? Does that mean that if the neg wins a link, the aff loses because I evaluate epistemology first? Questions like these often go unresolved, and I think teams often debate at each other via block reading without being comparative at all. Middle ground interps are often not as strategic as you think, and you are better off just going for you link you lose, or plan focus. To sum this up, make framework matter if you think it matters, and don't be afraid to just double down about your interp.
My ideal K 1NC will have 2-3 links to the aff (one of which is a link to the action of the aff), an alternative, and some kind of framing mechanism.
I have found that most 2NR's have trouble articulating what the alternative does, and how it interacts with the alts and the links. If you are unable to explain to me what the alternative does, your chance of getting my ballot goes down. Example from both sides of the debate help contextualize the offense y'all are going for in relation to the alternative, the links, and the permutation. Please explain the permutation in the first responsive speech.
I've found that most K teams are bad at debating the impact turn (heg/cap good), this is to say that I think that if you are against the K, I am very much willing to vote on the impact turn given that it is not morally repugnant (see above).
I appreciate innovation of K debate, if you introduce an interesting new argument instead of recyclying the same 1NC you've been running for several seasons I will be extremely thankful. At least update your cards every one in a while.
Please do not run a K just because you think I'll like it, bad K debates have seen some of the worst speaks I've ever given (for example, if you're reading an argument related to Settler Colonialism yet can't answer the 6 moves to innocence).
K tricks are cool if they have a warrant, floating piks need to be hinted at in the 1NC so they can be floating.
For the nerds that wanna know, the literature bases that I know pretty well are: Afro-pessimism, Baudrillard, Beller, Deleuze and Guattari, Grove, Halberstam, Hardt and Negri, Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Reps K's, Scranton/Eco-Pessimism, Security, Settler Colonialism, and Weheliye.
The literature bases that I know somewhat/am reading up on are: Abolition, Accelerationism (Fisher, CCRU people, etc.), Agamben, Bataille, Cybernetics, Disability Literature, Moten and Harney, Puar, and Queer pessimism.
A note on non-black engagement with afro-pessimism: I will watch your execution of this argument like a hawk if you decide to go for it. Particular authors make particular claims about the adoption of afro-pessimist advocacy by non-black individuals, while other authors make different claims, be mindful of this when you are cutting your evidence/constructing your 1NC. While my thoughts on this are more neutral than they once were, that does not mean you can do whatever. If you are reading this K as a non-black person, this becomes the round. If you are disingenious to the literature at all, your speaks are tanked and the ballot may be given away as well depending on how annoyed I am. This is your first and last warning.
K-Aff's
These are fine, cool even. They should defend something, and that something should provide a solvency mechanism for their impact claims. Having your aff discuss the resolution makes your framework answers become much more persuasive, and makes me happier to vote for you, especially since I am becoming increasingly convinced that there should be some stasis for debate.
For those negating these affs, the case debate is the weakest part of the debate from both sides. I think if the negative develops a really good piece of offense by the end of the debate then everything else just becomes so much easier for you to win. I will, in fact, vote for heg good, cap good, and other impact turns, and quite enjoy judging these debates.
Presumption is underrated if people understand how to go for it, unfortunately most people just don't know how. Most aff's don't do anything or have a cogent explanation of what their aff does to solve things and their ballot key warrant is bad, you should probably utilize that.
Marxism will be forever underrated versus K affs, aff's whose only responses are "doesn't explain the aff" and "X explains capitalism" will almost always lose to a decent 2NR on the cap k. This is your suggestion to update your answers to challenge the alternative on some level.
Innovation is immensely appreciated by both sides of this debate. I swear I've judged the exact same 2-4 affs about twenty times each and the 1NC's just never change. If your take on a literature base or negative strategy is interesting, innovative, and is something I haven't heard this year you will most definitely get higher speaks.
Performance based arguments are good/acceptable, I have experience coaching and running these arguments myself. However, I find that most times when ran that the performance is not really extended into the speeches after this, obviously there are some limitations but I think that it does give me leeway for leveraging your inevitable application of the performance to other areas of the debate.
T-Framework/T-USFG
In my heart of hearts, I probably am very slightly aff leaning on this question, but my voting record has increasingly become negative leaning. I think this is because affirmatives have become quite bad at answering the negative arguments in a convincing, warranted, and strategic manner. If you are an aff debater reading this, my response to you is toinnovate and to try to emphasize technical debate rather than posturing, you have an aff and you should definitely use it to help substantiate your arguments.
It may be my old age getting to me, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that fairness is a viable impact option for the 2NR to go for. I think it probably has important implications for the ballot in terms of framing the resolution of affirmative and negative impact arguments, and those framing questions are often mishandled by the affirmative. However, I think that to make me enjoy this in debates negative teams need to avoid vacuous and cyclical lines of argumentation that often plague fairness 2NR's and instead
Framework isn't capital T true, but also isn't an automatic act of violence. I think I'm somewhat neutral on the question of how one should debate about the resolution, but I am of the belief that the resolution should at least center the debate in some way. What that means to you, though, is up to you.
Often, framework debates take place mostly at the impact level, with the internal link level to those impacts never being questioned. This is where I think both teams should take advantage of, and produces better debates about what debate should look like.
I have voted on straight up impact turns before, I've voted on counter-interps, and I've also voted on fairness as an impact. The onus is on the debaters to explain and flesh out their arguments in a manner that answers the 1AR/2NR. Reading off your blocks and not engaging specific warrants of DA's to your model often lead to me questioning what I'm voting for because there is no engagement in either side in the debate.
Counter-interpretations seem to be more persuasive to me, and are often underutilized. Counter-interpretations that have a decent explanation of what their model of debate looks like, and what debates under that model feature. Doing all of the above does wonder.
In terms of my thoughts about impacts to framework, my normal takes are clash > fairness > advocacy skills.
"Fairness is good because debate is a game and and we all have intrinsic motivation to compete" >>>> "fairness is an impact because it constrains your ability to evaluate your arguments so hack against them," if the latter is more in line with what your expalantion of fairness is then 9 times out of 10 you are going to lose.
Topicality (Theory is it's Own Monster)
I love T debates, they're absolutely some of my favorite rounds to adjudicate. They've certainly gotten stales and have devolved to some model of T subsets one way or another. However, I will still evaluate and vote on any topicality violation. Interps based on words/phrases of the resolution make me much happier than a lot of the LD "let's read this one card from a debate coach over and over and see where it gets us" approach.
Semantics and precision matter, this is not in a "bare plurals/grammar means it is read this" way but a "this is what this word means in the context of the topic" way.
My normal defaults:
- Competing interps
- Drop the debater
- No RVI's
Reasonability is about your counter-interp, not your aff. People need to relearn how to go for this because it's a lost art in the age of endless theory debates.
Arbitrary counter-interpretations that are not carded or based on evidence are given significantly less weight than counter-interps that define words in the resolution. "Your interp plus my aff" is a bad argument, and you are better served going for a more substantive argument.
Slow down a bit in these debates, I consider myself a decent flow but T is a monster in terms of the constant short arguments that arise in these debates so please give me typing time.
You should probably make a larger impact argument about why topicality matters "voters" if you will. Some standards are impacts on their own (precision mainly) but outside of that I have trouble understanding why limits explosion is bad sans some external argument about why making debate harder is bad.
Weigh internal links to similar pieces of offense, please and thank you.
Theory
I have judged numerous theory debates, more than the average judge for sure, and certainly more than I would care to admit. You'll most likely be fine in these debates in front of me, I ask that you don't blitz through analytics and would prefer you make good in-depth weighing arguments regarding your internal links to your offense. I find that a well-explained abuse story (whether that be potential or in-round) makes me conceptually more persuaded by your impact arguments.
Conditionality is good if you win that it is. i think conditionality is good as a general ideology, but your defense of it should be robust if you plan on abusing the usage of conditionality vehemently. I've noticed a trend among judges recently just blatantly refusing to vote on conditionality through some arbitrary threshold that they think is egrigious, or because they think conditionality is universally good. I am not one of those judges.If you wanna read 6 different counterplans, go ahead, but just dismissing theoretical arguments about conditionality like it's an afterthought will not garner you any sympathy from me. I evaluate conditionality the same no matter the type of event, but my threshold of annoyance for it being introduced varies by number of off and the event you are in. For example, I will be much less annoyed if condo is read in an LD round with 3+ conditional advocacies than I will be if condo is read in a college policy round with 1 conditional advocacy.
Sure, go for whatever shell you want, I'll flow it barring these exceptions:
- Shells abiut the appearance and clothing of anoher debater.
- Disclosure in the case in which a debater has said they can't disclose certain positions for safety reasons, please don't do this
- Reading "no i meets"
- Arguments that a debater may not be able to answer a new argument in the next speech (for example, if the 1AR concedes no new 2AR arguments, and the 2NR reads a new shell, I will always give the 2AR the ability to answer that new shell)
Independent Voters
These seem to be transforming into tricks honestly. I am unconvinced why these are reasons to reject the team most of the time. Words like "accessibility," "safety," and "violence" all have very precise definitions of what they mean in an academic and legal context and I think that they should not be thrown around with little to no care. Make them arguments/offense for you on the flow that they were on, not reasons to reject the team.
I will, however, abandon the flow and vote down that do engage in actively violent practices. I explained this above, but just be a decent human being. Don't be racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.
Evidence Ethics
I would much prefer these debates not occur. If you think there is a violation you either stake the round or don't make an argument about it.If you stake the round I will use the rules of the tournament or whatever organization it associates itself with. Debater that loses the challenge gets a 25, winner gets a 28.5.
For HS-LD:
Tricks
I have realized that I need more explanation when people are going for arguments based on getting into the weeds of logic (think the philosophy logic, IE if p, then q). I took logic but did not pay near enough attention nor care enough to have a deep understanding or desire to understand what you're talking about. This means slow down just a tiny bit and tone down the jargon so my head doesn't hurt as much.
My thoughts about tricks can be summarized as "God please do not if you don't have to, but if you aren't the one to initiate it you can go ham."
I can judge these debates, have judged numerous amounts of them in the past, and have coached/do coach debaters that have gone for these arguments, I would really just rather not deal with them. There's little to no innovation, and I am tired of the same arguments being recycled over and over again. If you throw random a prioris in the 1A/1N do not expect me to be very happy about the debate or your strategy. If I had to choose, carded and well developed tricks > "resolved means firmly determined and you know I am."
Slow down on the underviews, overviews, and impact calc sections of your framework (you know what I'm talking about), Yes I am flowing them but it doesn't help when you're blitzing through independent theory argumetns like they're card text. Going at like 70% of your normal speed in these situation is greatly appreciated.
Be straight up about the implication and warrant for tricks, if you're shifty about them in cross then I will be shifty about whether I feel like evaluating them or whether I'm tanking your speaks. This extends to disclosure practices, you know what this means.
Tricks versus identity-based kritikal affirmatives are bad and violent. Stop it.
Phil
I love phil debates. I coach plenty of debaters who go for phil arguments, and find that their interactions are really great. However, I find that debate has trended towards a shotgun approach to justifying X argument about how our mind works in favor of analytical syllogisms that are often spammy, underwarranted, and make little to no sense. I prefer carded syllogisms that identify a problem with ethics/metaphysics and explain how their framework resolves that via pieces of evidence.
The implication/impact of the parts of your syllogism should be clear from the speech they are introduced in, I dislike late breaking debates because you decided to hide what X argument meant in relation to the debate.
In phil v phil debates, there needs to be a larger emphasis on explanation between competing ethics. These debates are often extremely dense and messy, or extremely informational and engaging, and I would prefer that they be the latter rather than the formr. Explanation, clear engagement, and delineated weighing is how to get my ballot in these debates.
Hijacks are cool, but once again please explain because they're often just 10 seconds long with no actual warrants.
Slow down a bit as well, especially in rebuttals, these debates are often fast and blippy and I can only flow so fast
For those that are wondering, I'm pretty well read in most continental philosophy, social contract theorists, and most of the common names in debate. This includes the usual Kant, Hobbes, Pragmatism, Spinoza, and Deleuze as well as some pretty out of left field characters like Leibniz and Berkeley.
I have read some of the work regarding Rawls, Plato, Aquinas, Virtue Ethics, ILaw, Particularism, and Constitutitionality as well.
I know I have it listed as a phil literature base, but I conceptually have trouble with people reading Deleuze as an ethical framework, especially since the literature doesn't prescribe moral claims but is a question of metaphysics/politics, proceed with caution.
Defaults:
- Comparative worlds > truth testing
- Permissibility negates > affirms
- Presumption negates > affirms
- Epistemic confidence > modesty
Trad/Lay Debate
I mean, sure, why not. I can judge this, and debated on a rather traditional LD circuit in high school. However, I often find these debates to be boring, and most definitely not my cup of tea. If you think that you can change my mind, please go ahead, but I think that given the people that pref me most of the time I think it's in your best interest to pref me low or strike me, for your sake and mine.
NFA-LD:
Everything above applies.
Don't think I'm a K hack. I know my background may suggest otherwise but ideologically I have a high threshold for execution and will punish you for it if you fail to meet it. Seriously, I've voted against kritikal arguments more than I've voted for them. If you are not comfortable going for the K then please do not unless you absolutely want to, please do not adapt to me. I promise I'll be so down for a good disad and case 2NR or something similar.
"It's against NFA-LD rules" is not an argument or impact claim and if it is then it's an internal link to fairness. Only rules violation I will not roll my eyes at are ethics challenges.
Yes non-T affs, yes t - framework, yes cap good/heg good, no to terrible theory arguments like "must delineate stock issues."
Why are we obsessed with bad T arguments that do not have an intent to define words in the topic in the context of the topic? Come on y'all, act like we've been here.
Speaks:
I don't consider myself super stingey or a speaks fairy, though I think I've gotten stingier compared to the rest of the pool.
I don't evaluate "give me X amount of speaks" arguments, if you want it so bad then perform well or use the methods I have outlined to boost your speaks.
Here's a general scale I use, it's adjusted to the tournament as best as possible -
29.5+ - Great round, you should be in late elims or win the tournament
29.1-29.4 - Great round, you should be in mid to late elims
28.6-29 - Good round, you should break or make the bubble at least
28.1-28.5 - About the middle of the pool
27.6-28 - You got some stuff to work on
27-27.5 - You got a lot of stuff to work on
Anything below a 27: You did something really horrible and I will be having a word with tab and your coach about it
Barkley Forum Update (not debate related): I'm a student at Emory right now (chemistry and premed). If you have any questions about Emory in general I'd be happy to answer them for you! Feel free to ask me stuff before or after the round (but please not during lmao).
Other Barkley Forum Update (this one's actually debate related):I haven't judged an LD round in almost a year now (I judged some policy over the summer) and I don't coach anyone so it's been a minute. Please slow down a little bit to probably 80% of your max speed instead of full circuit spreading because I don't want to miss anything y'all are saying. Also I am not as well versed in a lot of the acronyms anymore in circuit debate (particularly tricks) so please take the time to say the full names of things. I will still be able to evaluate the rounds properly just as well as I have been but my vocabulary isn't the same anymore so please explain all the terms you need to (you know what they are).
Here's my full paradigm so plz read
My email is cyprian.dumas@gmail.com. If you ask me for my email I'm gonna assume you didn't read my paradigm.
I did national circuit LD in high school and I primarily ran policy stuff, theory, t, and tricks (I'm prob best for judging these arguments). You can prob put me as a 1 for these on your pref sheets.
I'm down with judging phil and k debate too but I'm not familiar with a lot of the lit (especially pomo k's) so if you're running that please overexplain. You can prob put me as a 2 or 3 for these based on how confusing your lit is but you should probably put me as a 5 if you're running exclusively pomo.
This should go without saying but don't be offensive. You should also try to avoid being a jerk in general because this is supposed to be an enjoyable activity.
Tricks debate is cool but there's some things I'll interfere on there. First, you don't get to change speech times and I evaluate all five speeches. Don't bring in stuff from outside of the round (except disclosure stuff I guess but I'll get to that more in a second). That'll be met with an L and minimum speaks. Everything in this paragraph is non-negotiable.
I'll vote on disclosure theory but I really don't like it at all especially if it's run against someone with substantially less resources than the person running it. Don't expect your speaks to look good if you go for disclosure theory against a stock position.
A claim, warrant, and impact for EVERY argument you want me to evaluate at the end of the round each have to be extended in EVERY speech as well.
Debate should be a safe space for everyone involved. If you're reading something that could be potentially triggering or sensitive for someone please ask everyone involved in the round if they are ok with the material being read.
I'm not a fan of really long paradigms (this one's already pushing it) so I'm not gonna write out every single nitpicky thing for all your RVI warrants and framework weighing and all that other stuff. So PLEASE ask me for specifics in round. I'm looking forward to judging your debate. Good luck and have fun!
faindebate@gmail.com
Auburn ‘16-‘20
Auburn University ‘22-‘26
Prefs:
1 - theory
2 - larp
3 - trix
4 - k
5 - phil
Strike me if you are a traditional debater.
Intro:
- My name is Michael Fain (please refer to me as judge, Mr. Fain, or Michael, in that order). I competed in LD for 3 years and have been judging/coaching for the past 4. My background as a competitor was entirely based around hacky arguments, trix, and baiting theory. As a judge I have gone through many different phases of what I like to get out of rounds and what I am most comfortable listening to. For the longest time I was a hack for trix, this is no longer the case seeing as trix debaters use this to run relatively dense phil and not explain it. The pref chain above is accurate and should be used for big tournaments. As a judge I evaluate the round according to how I flowed it based off of the information that was given to me. I fully believe that a close round with many different layers of offense with 11 of the most qualified judges will result in some sort of judge split. I believe that I side in favor of the majority in these rounds as my squirrel rate in tech rounds is something like 1/100. That being said, I will score the round in my rfd’s about what I think the split would be, and could provide reasons why my contemporaries might vote the other way. All judges value different things, we all hear the round differently, so as long as its close on the flow there is always the potential for a split ballot.
Preferences:
Performative - I am hard of hearing in my left ear, this does not affect round outcome, however, you are responsible for being a mindful debater and positioning yourself in the room to be heard.
I am traditional insofar as debaters ought not look at each other when speaking, should formally address the judge, should stand to speak if able, and should appropriately use their prep time (see below).
Strategic - My voting record and past RFDs indicate a fee tendencies. I am comfortable voting on very small issues with little to no risk (best examples would be like ivis on reps, conceded spikes indicting speech validity, any accessibility arg). For some reason this tends to mean I vote neg more often.
LAYERING:
After having almost 30 different iterations of my paradigm I have settled on this being the only relevant section that ought to be read before a round, anything else can be asked via shared email chain between myself and the competitors before the round. Proper LAYERING and weighing is the only thing that matters when it comes to my ballot. It is your responsibility to defend your offense as the highest layer in the round, and if your offense functions on the same layer as an opponents, why your impact should be weighed as greater. Too many times is there floating offense on different layers where the procedural “rules” of debate force theory to come before substance. Maybe I don’t judge enough but it appears that gone are the days of policymaking good frameworks dueling against the K. I do not need to be scratching my head at the end of a round asking myself whether or not the K or T is top level. The battleground of the round is normally not on a link level in the rounds I judge, and if it is, enough time is not spent explaining it. The real clash is on which offense flows above the other, youd be best suited to spend your time on that.
My name is Jason Han.
Pronouns are he/him.
I'd like to be in the email chain.
DISCLAIMER: 1) Assume I know nothing about the topic 2) Don't speak too fast, I no longer do debate and don't particularly practice listening to spreading or flowing in my student life 3) If something in the paradigm seems important, please ask because perhaps some of my opinions have changed.
For the Vestavia Novice Tournament
It's fine if you don't understand everything here. I want there to be good clash that's well signposted with you displaying that you know your opponents arguments and why they are wrong. Good impact calculus would be a very quick way for me to see why I should vote you up. Please don't be rude, especially in CX, because everyone here is new and I don't want anyone to be turned away from debate just because someone was mean at their first tournament. On the Framework level, take advantage of your framework cards to refute your opponent when necessary. Just for the sake of fairness, I won't weigh the arguments more progressive that DAs and CPs.
General
Tech over truth, this doesn't mean I like trix, but you do you. Do whatever you want during speeches and cross ex whether that means sitting or standing or like laying I guess, whatever makes you comfortable. Please be respectful of me, your opponent, and the building you're debating in.
Instant Drops
If you say anything offensive/racist/sexist or anything of the type, then i will immediately vote you down.
If you are dishonestly cutting, sourcing, or taglining (this is really common, but there's a little leeway so I wouldn't suggest going for this to much as like an evidence ethics argument and instead say no warrant or something like that) any evidence I will vote you down even if your opponent doesn't point it out. Don't just throw buzz words like evidence ethics without actually thinking it through.
Spreading
I'm fine with speed, but I need good articulation just like every other judge out there, and I want to be on the email chain. Please be clear and slow down for tag lines, sites, and probably analytics too (especially if you take those out of the speech doc). I will say "clear" if you are not enunciating enough or aren't loud enough for me to hear.
Misc
Cross-Ex is mostly binding, and I will pay attention. If you want me to write something down or take special notice of a contract you make just refer to me (either Jason or the judge)
I prefer if you just run prep down from 4 minutes. When people just set a timer for like 2 minutes, they just ask to use more time after those 2 minutes end and take like 15 seconds to set up another timer.
ROB
I'll default to choosing whoever debates the round better. I do consider myself to be in the role of an educator in the round so other ROB apply. However, as an educator, I will value fairness very highly, so if abuse happens, you'll need to have some extremely convincing weighing arguments or counterinterps.
Phil
I'm fine with any frameworks that you want to run. I like specific frameworks based on multiple links or syllogisms because they are usually applied more strategically in round, but Util is fine. FW debate should be well warranted, and I want good signposting and summarizing of your opponent's arguments so that I know you understand them.
Plans and Counterplans
For Aff, if you're not running a plan, I'm going to assume you are advocating the whole resolution as your plan unless you specifically say you are defending the resolution as a general principle instead. More specific plans can provide unique impacts and link chains, but I'm open to Topicality if you're opponent thinks that it's too specific or extra.
For Neg, I like having CPs. If not, I'm going to assume that you advocate for the Status Quo instead of the resolution. CPs have to be competitive with the Affirmative, otherwise, you'll be permed. For the status of counterplans, I'm ok with both 2 conditional in a normal round, although I'll still weigh theory arguments if Aff chooses to go for them. More than 2 conditional advocacies is much more sketchy and will warrant lower speaks at the least, but I will weigh it in the round if the Affirmative doesn't run theory or point out abuse, but if they do, you're gonna be on an uphill battle. The Affirmative gets to choose whether their perm is a test of competitiveness or another advocacy, so if you're running conditional, then you should beware.
Disadvantages and Advantages
I will weigh these. Unique arguments, link chains, and impacts would make me prefer these a lot more, not some stock link chain that somehow just escalates instantly to extinction. I really don't like the 1% probability of extinction means you have to vote for me argument. However, link chains to extinction that seem actually probable are fine. DAs and Ads can be really useful to create good impacts in a round, so I'm going to be looking for impact calculus and weighing.
Kritiks
I'm really like unique Kritiks, usually ones like Cap and Biopower are not that special. I don't read the lit much, so if you're going to run them, I want a good overview in the next speech. i still really like the arguments. Usually I default to Theory over K, but if you give me good reasons to think otherwise, I will weigh K over Theory. For the status of the Alt, it's the same as CPs but on identity K's a conditional Alt will come off as insincere to me which means lower speaks.
Theory
I normally weigh Theory over K. Interps should be specific and I want good clash on the standards and even voters if you decide to go for that. I'm fine with both Competing Interps and Reasonability, but I will say that I still have my own opinion and will be as objective as I can on Competing Interps. The brightline for Reasonability should be fair, and if the opponent convinces me it isn't, I will have to just drop Reasonability as a whole. For Competing Interps, if there is no in round abuse, you really have to articulate EXTREMELY well what type of abuse is justified and why that matters in a round with no actual abuse. Spikes are fine in the 1AC.
Truth Testing vs. Comparative Worlds
I default to Comparative Worlds, but you can advocate for either and I will choose whichever one has better argumentation.
(updated 10/4/22 for Duke)
Hi, I'm Rohit. I'm a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, and debated in LD for NCSSM and Ardrey Kell in high school. Feel free to ask me specifics on what I'm comfortable evaluating, but here are some general notes:
****************** for lay rounds ******************
time yourself and your opponent's speeches/prep, I'll also be keeping track but mainly for if time disputes come up
good analytics > poorly explained evidence
explicit extensions of args/contentions in 1AR and 2NR
Please signpost. Make it very clear which argument you are responding to, and under which contention it falls.
2NR should include explicit voters, 2AR should be almost all voters and weighing
DO NOT make me listen to a value debate. There is no meaningful difference between morality and justice, and 90% of the values ran. Just agree on value and debate the value criterion
***************************************************
If you're spreading, add me to the email chain (rohitjagga02@gmail.com). Don't take up >5min of the round setting up the email chain, do it before the round if possible
I like LARP (cp, disads, etc) and theory/T, and feel comfortable judging those debates. Cx checks please.
If you're running some dense phil or an uncommon K, don't assume I know it and err on the side of overexplaining.
Don't be rude or act obnoxiously
Besides that, feel free to debate in the way you prefer. If you have any questions, you're welcome to email me at rohitjagga02@gmail.com or ask me at the beginning of the round.
Shortcut: Identity/Materialism Ks > T > Larp > Ethical frameworks or High theory Ks> Theory > Dense tricks
Please time/record yourselves and each other
Email: Sklein.debate@gmail.com
Hunter '20
I did four years of LD and qualified to the TOC twice. I taught at NSD Flagship '20, NSD Philly '20, and TDC '20. I have not judged since Yale 2021. This is my wiki from senior year.
I will evaluate any argument in the round and try to refrain from inserting my opinions as long as arguments a) have a warrant that I can explain in my decision and b) are not clearly offensive. I will not understand your position (especially philosophical/high theory ones) as well as you do. If you are reading a non-T aff or high theory K, explain what the aff/alt/method does. If an argument is important, let me know: have explicit weighing, spend time on the argument, or even tell me to highlight it on excel.
Additional preferences: https://linktr.ee/sklein.debate
PF: I am looking for the most persuasive debater given the arguments on the flow. I taught PF for four weeks at the NYCUDL and am familiar with the format, but have no background on the current topic. I am fine with speed (I neither expect nor prefer it) but would like to have the speech doc if you spread.
Hi! I did LD for four years when I was in high school, which was not too~ long ago (currently a college sophomore). I mostly competed locally (Alabama), but I've been to circuit tournaments and should know my progressive stuff.
Email: eileen6a@gmail.com
Please include me in the email chain. Also, feel free to email me if you have questions before/after the round.
General
- Clash is very good. Please, please engage with your opponent's arguments
- Tell me why I should vote for you
Framework
- Be sure to explain what your framework is and how I should evaluate it
- Framework comes before contentions, so if you have different frameworks, please debate about it. Be sure to tell me why your opponent's framework is bad
Disads
- I find a lot of disads really improbable. If you want to convince me that something leads to extinction, you’d better have a solid link chain.
Ks
- I’m not familiar with a lot of K lit, but I think they're cool. If you run one, just explain it
Theory
- I really like Theory, and I will totally vote on it
- I also think Theory comes before Ks unless convinced otherwise. (It's not too hard to convince me)
Other
- I will pay attention during cross-ex, but if something important is said, make sure to say it in one of your speeches too.
- Please be nice to everyone
tldr do what you do best; i'll only vote for complete arguments that make sense; weighing & judge instruction tip the scales in your favor; disclosure is good; i care about argument engagement and i value flexibility; stay hydrated & be a good person.
--
About me:
she/her
policy coach @ damien-st. lucy's: spring 2022 - present
--
Recently rewritten paradigm, probably best to give it a quick skim!
My strongest belief about argumentation is that argument engagement is good - I don't have a strong preference as to what styles of arguments teams read in front of me, but I'd prefer if both teams engaged with their opponents' arguments; I don't enjoy teams who avoid clash (regardless of the style of argument they are reading). I value ideological flexibility in judges and actively try not to be someone who will exclusively vote on only "policy" or only "k" arguments.
I am good for policy teams that do topic research and aim to not go for process cp backfiles every 2nr. I am also good for k teams that do topic research and answer the aff and go for 2nr arguments that are substantive (not "role of the ballot"). I am bad for ld teams that go for ld-specific things ("tricks"), but am good for ld teams that are well-researched and read policy or k arguments.
More LD-specific notes/thoughts at bottom of paradigm.
--
Topic Knowledge:
I don't teach at a policy camp in the summer. I am involved in the Damien-St. Lucy's team research, and have vaguely kept up with the camp evidence updates. Most of my early-season topic knowledge is a result of hearing Chris yap at me about how he has a law degree in this field. So, consider my topic knowledge to be a less-smart version of Chris. Will update this section of the paradigm if/when that changes. Independent of this, I am generally a bad judge for arguments that rely on understanding of or alignment with community-developed norms -- I don't form my topicality opinions in July and then become immovable on them for the remainder of the season.
--
email chains:
ld email chains: nethmindebate@gmail.com
policy email chains: damiendebate47@gmail.com and nethmindebate@gmail.com
if you need to contact me directly about rfd questions, accessibility requests, or anything else, please email nethmindebate@gmail.com (please don't email the teamail for these types of requests)!
please include an adult (your coach, chaperone, or even parent) on the email chain if you are emailing me directly -- just a good safety norm to not have direct communications between minors & adults that don't know them!
--
flowing: it is good and teams should do it
stolen from alderete - if you show me a decent flow, you can get up to 1 extra speaker point. this can only help you - i won't deduct points for an atrocious flow. this is to encourage teams to actually flow:)
--
Some general notes
Accessibility & content warnings: Email me if there is an accessibility request that I can help facilitate - I always want to do my part to make debates more accessible. I prefer not to judge debates that involve procedurals about accessibility and/or content warnings. I think it is more productive to have a pre-round discussion where both teams request any accommodation(s) necessary for them to engage in an equitable debate. I feel increasingly uncomfortable evaluating debates that come down to accessibility/cw procedurals, especially when the issue could have easily been resolved pre-round.
Speed/clarity – I will say clear up to two times per speech before just doing my best to flow you. I can handle a decent amount of speed. Going slower on analytics is a good idea. You should account for pen time/scroll time.
Online debate -- 1] please record your speeches, if there are tech issues, I'll listen to a recording of the speech, but not a re-do. 2] debate's still about communication - please watch for nonverbals, listen for people saying "clear," etc.
I am aggressively pro-disclosure. Disclosure is one of the elements of debate that is most important for small-school and novice accessibility. If you do not disclose, I will assume that you prefer the exclusionary system where only big schools have access, and I will punish your speaker points accordingly. I am so aggressive about enforcing disclosure with all teams (big and small school) because I believe in the mission of the open evidence project and other similar open source disclosure practices. tldr disclose or lose!
--
Speaker points:
Speaker points are dependent on strategy, execution, clarity, and overall engagement in the round and are scaled to adapt to the quality/difficulty/prestige of the tournament.
I try to give points as follows:
30: you're a strong contender to win the tournament & this round was genuinely impressive
29.5+: late elims, many moments of good decisionmaking & argumentative understanding, adapted well to in-round pivots
29+: you'll clear for sure, generally good strat & round vision, a few things could've been more refined
28.5+: likely to clear but not guaranteed, there are some key errors that you should fix
28+: even record, probably losing in the 3-2 round
27.5+: winning less than 50% of your rounds, key technical/strategic errors
27+: winning less than 50% of your rounds, multiple notable technical/strategic errors
26+: errors that indicated a fundamental lack of preparation for the rigor/style of this tournament
25-: you did something really bad/offensive/unsafe.
Extra speaks for flowing, being clear, kindness, adaptation, and good disclosure practices.
Minus speaks for discrimination of any sort, bad-faith disclosure practices, rudeness/unkindness, and attempts to avoid engagement/clash.
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Opinions on Specific Positions (ctrl+f section):
--
Case:
I think that negatives that don't engage with the 1ac are putting themselves in a bad position. This is true for both K debates and policy debates.
Extensions should involve warrants, not just tagline extensions - I'm willing to give some amount of leeway for the 1ar/2ar extrapolating a warrant that wasn't the focal point of the 2ac, but I should be able to tell from your extensions what the impact is, what the internal links are, and why you solve.
--
Planless affs:
I tend to believe that affirmatives need to defend the topic. I think most planless affs can/should be reconfigured as soft left affs. I have voted for affs that don't defend the topic, but it requires superior technical debating from the aff team.
You need to be able to explain what your aff does/why it's good.
I tend to dislike planless affs where the strategy is to make the aff seem like a word salad until after 2ac cx and then give the aff a bunch of new (and not super well-warranted) implications in the 1ar. I tend to be better for planless aff teams when they have a meaningful relationship to the topic, they are straight-up about what they do/don't defend, they use their aff strategically, engage with neg arguments, and make smart 1ar & 2ar decisions with good ballot analysis.
--
T/framework vs planless affs:
In a 100% evenly debated round, I am likely better for the neg than the aff. However, approximately none of these debates are evenly debated. Either team/side can win my ballot by doing the better technical debating. This past season, I often voted for a K team that I thought was smart and technical. Specific thoughts on framework below:
The best way for aff teams to win my ballot is to be more technical than the neg team. Seems obvious, but what I'm trying to convey here is that I'm less persuaded by personal/emotional pleas for the ballot and more persuaded by a rigorous and technical defense of why your model of debate is good in this instance or in general. I have historically voted against aff teams that made arguments along the lines of "vote for me or I'll quit debate."
I think that TVAs can be more helpful than teams realize. While having a TVA isn't always necessary, winning a TVA provides substantial defense on many of the aff's exclusion arguments.
I don't have a preference on whether your chosen 2nr is skills or fairness (or something else). I think that both options have strategic value based on the round you're in. Framework teams almost always get better points in front of me when they are able to contextualize their arguments to their opponents' strategy.
I also don't have a preference between the aff going for impact turns or going for a counterinterp. The strategic value of this is dependent on how topical/non-topical your aff is, in my opinion.
--
Theory:
The less frivolous your theory argument, the better I am for it.
Please weigh! It's not nearly as intuitive to make a decision in theory debates - I can fill in the gaps for why extinction is more impactful than localized war more easily than I can fill in the gaps for why neg flex matters more/less than research burdens.
--
Topicality (not framework):
I like T debates that have robust and contextualized definitions of the relevant words/phrases/entities in the resolution. Have a clear explanation of what your interpretation is/isn't; examples/caselists are your friend.
Grammar-based topicality arguments: I don't find most of the grammar arguments being made these days to be very intuitive. You should explain/warrant them more than you would in front of a judge who loves those arguments.
--
Kritiks (neg):
I tend to like K teams that engage with the aff and have a clear analysis of what's wrong with the aff's model/framing/epistemology/etc. I tend to be a bit annoyed when judging K teams that read word-salad or author-salad Ks, refuse to engage with arguments, expect me to fill in massive gaps for them, don't do adequate weighing/ballot analysis/judge instruction, or are actively hostile toward their opponents. The more of the aforementioned things you do, the more annoyed I'll be. The inverse is also true - the more you actively work to ensure that you don't do these things, the happier I'll be!
--
Disads:
Zero risk probably doesn't exist, but very-close-to-zero risk probably does. Teams that answer their opponents' warrants instead of reading generic defense tend to fare better in close rounds. Good evidence tends to matter more in these debates - I'd rather judge a round with 2 great cards + debaters explaining their cards than a round with 10 horrible cards + debaters asking me to interpret their dumpster-quality cards for them.
Counterplans:
I don't have strong ideological biases about theory other than that some amount of condo is probably good. More egregious abuse = easier to persuade me on theory; the issue I usually see in theory debates is a lack of warranting for why the neg's model was uniquely abusive - specific analysis > generic args + no explanation.
No judge kick. Make a choice!
--
LD-specific section:
-you might think of cx judges in ld as people who despise judging ld and despise you for doing ld. i try to not let this be true about me. all of my issues with ld can be grouped into two general categories: 1) speech times/structure (not your fault, won't penalize you for it), and 2) the tendency to read unwarranted nonsense, such as "tricks," shoes theory, etc (you can avoid reading these args very easily and make me very happy)
-i am a horrid judge for tricks and frivolous theory. please just go for another argument!
-i am okay for phil. i don't have any personal opposition to philosophy-based arguments, i just don't coach/judge these arguments often, so i will need more explanation/hand-holding. many phil debates recently have involved tricks, which has soured me on this argumentative style, but i would be happy to judge a straight-up phil debate:)
-you don't get 1ar add-ons -- there is no 2ac in ld
-i teach at ld camp every summer, so assume i have some idea of community norms, but don't assume i am following trends super closely
--
Arguments that are simply too bad to be evaluated:
-a team should get the ballot simply for proving that they are not unfair or uneducational
-the ballot should be a referendum on a debater's character, personal life, pref sheet, etc
-the affirmative's theory argument comes before the negative's topicality argument
-some random piece of offense becomes an "independent voter" simply because it is labeled as such
-debates would be better if they were unfair, uneducational, lacked a stasis point, lacked clash, etc
-a debater's moral character is determined by whether they read policy or k arguments
-evidence ethics should be a case neg, as opposed to an opportunity for reasonable preround discussion and an opportunity to correct mistakes
-"tricks"
-debaters get to make arguments about how many speaker points they should get
-teams should not be required to disclose on opencaselist
-the debate should be evaluated after any speech that is not the 2ar
-the "role of the ballot" means topicality doesn't matter
-debaters get to claim the alternative is a floating pik after pretending not to know what a floating pik is during cx
--
Arguments that I am personally skeptical of, but will try to evaluate fairly:
-it would be better for debate if affirmatives did not have a meaningful relationship to the topic
-debate would be better if the negative team was not allowed to read any conditional advocacies
-reading topicality causes violence or discrimination within debate
-"role of the ballot"
-the outcome of a particular debate will change someone's mind or will change the state of debate
-the 5-second aspec argument that was hidden in the 1nc can become a winning 2nr
-the affirmative may not read a plan because of "bare plurals"
--
if there's anything i didn't mention or you have any questions, feel free to email me! if there's anything i can do to make debate more accessible for you, let me know! i really love debate and i coach because i want to make debate/the community a better place; please don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything you need.
Hi, I'm Alan! I'm a parli debater at Columbia University, and debated for NCSSM and Ardrey Kell in high school. I had 3 years of LD experience and a little bit of PF. I'm from a fairly lay circuit, so im definitely on the lay end of the LD spectrum. Feel free to ask me specifics on what I'm comfortable evaluating.
***For lay tournaments: tips for a more enjoyable round
I do not time speeches or prep. Time yourself and your opponent.
Good analytics > poorly explained evidence
Explicit extensions of contentions in 1AR/2NR
Defense is sticky
Impact to framework in (basically) every speech: make the framework matter
2NR should include explicit voters. 2AR should be almost all voters and weighing.
Please signpost. Make it very clear which argument you are responding to, and under which contention it falls.
DO NOT make me listen to a value debate. There is no meaningful difference between morality and justice, and 90% of the values ran. Just agree on value and debate the value criterion
***
If you're spreading add me to the email chain: alanmrsa@gmail.com
I like lay debate.
I like LARP and theory/T, and feel comfortable judging those debates. Cx checks please.
I don't like trix but I can judge them. Pretty low threshold for responses.
If you're a K debater please overexplain everything. I'm familiar with some of the common K's but for your safety you should probably assume I know nothing about what you're running. If you're looking at who to strike I'm probably up there.
Don't be rude or act obnoxiously.
If I end up judging PF you can basically run and do whatever you want. I do not flow cross and do not listen to grand. I'm a fan of disclosure. I find that a lot of PF teams don't weigh and impact as much as I would like. Explain to me why I should vote for you, write my ballot for me. Tell me what is important in the round and why it's important.
Besides that, feel free to debate in the way you prefer. If you have any questions, you're welcome to email me at alanmrsa@gmail.com or ask me at the beginning of the round.
PF/LD in HS, former UT policy debater (2A/1N).
PSHS '20, UT '24
Conflicts: Plano Senior HS (Plano, TX), Jasper HS (Plano, TX), Clark HS (Plano, TX)
plano.speechdocs@gmail.com (Email for email chain)
Judges who I largely agree with:
Pref Sheet for all Events (1 is highest, 5 is lowest)
1 - LARP/theory
2 - K
3 - phil
4 - tricks
5 - K aff, performance
Defaults
Theory - DtA, Reasonability, RVIs*
Presumption/Permissibility flows neg
Policymaking in the absence of a RotB and Utilitarianism in absence of an alternative framework
Note that these are just what I default to in the absence of arguments made for any of these issues, if any arguments are made on these I will obviously evaluate them.
*Check theory section if you do CX Debate
As a general note, my favorite rounds to judge are really solid LARP/theory/K rounds, but don't worry if that's not your strat because I'm fine with anything as long as you do a really good job of it. Good flow-oriented debate will always beat grandstanding and not flow-oriented debate.
TLDR if you are pressed for time: Debated LARP style and a little bit of K. Do your strat and I will do my best to evaluate it.
PF
- +0.5 speaks for disclosure on the NDCA wiki before round with proof
- just because you have a piece of evidence doesn't mean it has a warrant - make sure each card you provide in any speech has sufficient warranting
- second rebuttal should frontline offense in the first rebuttal
- defense isn't sticky in summary
- summary and final should ideally mirror each other
- weigh, weigh, weigh! good weighing will reward you in round
LD/CX
LARP - favorite style of debate. I really like smaller affs and specific case debate. Good weighing in the 2NR/2AR is a good way to get my ballot in a LARP round. Finally, please extend case in the 2AR if you want me to evaluate it at the end of the round. If case was conceded in the 2NR, a small 2AR extension at the top of the 2AR will suffice.
Theory - I prefer more fleshed out arguments rather than blips. I would also like you to go a little slower through analytics and on the interp text/counterinterp text. I will vote on disclosure theory but I think there is a difference between someone not disclosing at all and someone not adhering to every single little interp you have. I also probably won't evaluate disclosure on people who can prove in a verifiable way that their school policy prevents it. Other than that, I don't have any strong preferences on theory but I will say the bar to responding to friv theory is much lower. Good standard weighing and clear abuse stories are easy ways to get my ballot in a theory round. *CX Specific - theory/T are not RVIs, so don't try it.*
T - I only really ask that you have a TVA/caselist with any topicality argument or I will err more on the aff side of topicality. Other than that, anything is fine.
Tricks - I mean, I guess you can but I won't be too thrilled about it. Just delineate them, err on the side of overexplaining the arguments (like don't be blippy) and be up front in CX. I will not vote off condo logic - its a terrible argument (tbf all tricks are terrible but this one just is worse than the rest).
Phil - I'm familiar with Kant, Rawls, Hobbes and virtue ethics at a basic level but assume I don't know your lit and err on the side of overexplaining what the framework is and how the offense links under it.
K - I've only really read cap and security as a debater so assume I don't know your lit so err on the side of overexplaining the theory of power in the 2NR. I really like well done K debates, so please don't forgo the line-by-line for overarching overview answers and shallow explanations of the arguments that regurgitate buzzwords, that will make me sad. Including examples to explain the theory of power and/or alternative are also good. I also like specific links to the 1AC, generic links are fine but specificity will always better your chances of winning and/or getting good speaks.
K affs/performance - I don't really know the ins-and-outs of this style of debate too well because I never really debated in this style, but I will say I tend to lean on the neg side of T-framework just because I ended up on that side in a lot of debates.
Hey, I’m Jack and I debated for St. Petersburg High School graduating in 2020.
2024 Update:2023 update still applies but worse. Signpost well, 70% speed or slower, and we'll be good. I've also noticed over the years that I'm WAY underqualified to judge certain arguments. I have no ideological preference against intense LARP v LARP or KvK debates, but I simply feel like I don't have the knowledge or experience to adequately judge them. If these are your go-to strats, pref me low for your own sake. If this is what you want to read in front of me I will evaluate them to the best of my ability.
2023 BF update: I haven’t judged for over a year and haven’t debated for two. This means I’m nowhere near up to date on new lingo/tricks, so err on the side of over explanation. Keep it 80% speed or less.
Update for Blake 21: Haven’t thought about debate in a year or so. That means you should definitely slow down to 75-80% speed and try not to extemp tricks Bc I’ll probably miss something. Also, I realized I’m even worse for performance K’s than I thought. If this is what you do best, I’d recommend you strike or at the very least pref me at the bottom of your list. While I think these arguments are really interesting and have their place in debate, I’m just not great at evaluating them.
Note for Lex RR: Please go at like 80% of your normal constructive speed. The audio might be kinda shaky on messenger and I don’t wanna miss an arg bc of it, so just slow down and it’ll be better for all parties.
Top level: Debate is fundamentally a game. Thus, when you’re in front of me your best strategy is to go for whatever you’re most comfortable with and gives you the best chance to win (barring anything that makes the round unsafe). I also believe that the role of the judge isn’t to inject my ideological biases into the round but rather to adapt to the debaters’ in order to create the most objective decision. I really don’t care what you read and I have appreciation for every style in the activity, whether that’s performance, LARP, trix, or anything else in between. That being said, I do have some preferences, and I don’t know how they will affect me since I haven’t judged yet, so those are posted below.
Theory
All good here. Read this in a lot of rounds so this is probably what I'm the most comfortable evaluating. Don’t care how frivolous or wacky the shell is as long as you win it. And no, responses like “this shell is stupid” isn’t gonna cut it.
Also, flashing analytics would be much appreciated bc I'm not the best flower.
Defaults:
- Competing interps. I’ll vote on reasonability but I need a brightline to be able to evaluate it. To clarify, a brightline isn’t a defensive counter-interp but rather a threshold of offense you need to mitigate in order to beat back the shell. For example, if your opponent reads disclosure, an acceptable brightline would be something like “in-round abuse”, not “it’s ok if they didn’t ask pre-round”
- No RVI’s
- Truth testing > comp worlds
- Metatheory > T > theory > K > substance
- I don’t default fairness and education as voters. If it goes unwarranted through the debate, the shell has no impact and I’ll vote off substance. Same with drop the debater/drop the argument
- Converse of the interp probably doesn’t make grammatical sense as a counter-interp but I’ll evaluate it as the opposite of the interp if your opponent doesn’t call you out. “I’ll defend the violation” probably makes more sense
- Presumption flows aff, permissibility flows neg
These are all defaults and I really don’t wanna have to remember them to make decisions so just take a stance and we’ll be good.
Phil
Good here as well. Read this a lot I think I’ll be decent at evaluating these debates. These rounds can get hard to resolve, but it helps if the 2N/2A cleanly wins their syllogism and why it comes first. The strategy of extending independent justifications to hijack the NC/AC is cool too just make sure to weigh. I default confidence, but I’m willing to vote on modesty if won.
Trix
Yep, coming from Florida I understand these fairly well. I have more experience going for theory tricks than substantive tricks, but I’m down to vote for both if explained. The only exception to this is evaluate the debater after the AC/NC. This is because in order to evaluate the argument I need to hear it in the last speech, but that would mean evaluating after the first or second speech would require me evaluating all speeches.
Please at least separate the arguments into numbers and subpoints so I can get everything down.
I’m cool if you read these against K affs, but try being a little more sensitive than “oppression doesn’t exist lmao gotem”. I think the inclusion hijack under TT can be really strategic here.
If you read these against novices or trad debaters your speaks are capped at 26
LARP
Didn’t debate this a ton in high school, but it's what I've exclusively done in college so I’m confident I’ll be able to evaluate these debates. Might not know topic-specific acronyms all the time, but I’ll be fine for jf20 at least. I think layered util frameworks with extinction first, EM, TJFs, reject calc indicts etc. can be really strategic.
.
Speaks
I’ll probably average around a 28.7, but I may inflate, who knows. I’m willing to disclose speaks if asked, if not then I’ll probably forget.
Good luck!
My name is Basim Naim (he/him/his), and I debated Lincoln-Douglas at Vestavia Hills High School (2016–2020).
Contact: bnaim0502@gmail.com
Include me in email chains if used in the debate round. If you have any questions not answered below, ask me before the debate round's first speech begins.
General
• Weighing of contentions is dependent on the provided frameworks, so engage in framework debate if applicable
• Don't manipulate, clip, or power-tag evidence
• Don't be mean or rude to less-experienced debaters
• Blatantly false arguments are nearly impossible to vote on (i.e. global warming is a hoax)
• Don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc. That's a nearly automatic vote down
Delivery
• Be clear in both delivery and development of arguments
• Slow down when reading contention names and author names and/or date of publication for cards/evidence
• Speak clearly. I will say "slow" or "clear" if you're speaking too quickly or I can't understand what you're saying
Cross-examination and prep time
• Keep track of your use of prep time; I'll keep track as well
• I prefer you not use cross-examination for prep time
• Let me know if you want to use prep time for cross-examination; if your opponent agrees, it's good with me
Theory
• My theory knowledge is limited to the traditional style: (a) is interpretation, (b) is violation, (c) is standards, and (d) is voters. Overexplain if you opt for something fancier or more progressive
• Lay theory or paragraph theory can be as effective as a formal shell
• Regarding RVI's, use the context of your argumentation to explain why I should or shouldn't favor them
• It's nearly impossible to, in good faith, vote on frivolous theory shells
Disads
• Explain your link chains thoroughly, given the pragmatic improbability of many, if not most, disads
K's and other progressive stuff
• I'm not well-versed in kritiks or anything else as progressive, so err on the side of overexplaining all components
I was an LD/Congress debater for three years (2016-2019) and mostly competed at local tournaments, but I have experience with bid/national circuit tournaments as well. I'm pretty much here because of a combination of nostalgia and an obligation to give back to an activity that gave me so much.
Some wisdom looking back:
Don't be afraid to take up space. What you have to say matters! That being said, you can be assertive without putting down your opponent.
Debate about what you care about! Do you care about women's issues? Climate change? Access to healthcare? Find a way to relate the topic to what you deeply care about. It will make research so much more interesting and will often result in unique arguments that can be strategically favorable.
Vestavia Hills '19
Berry College '22
she/her (they/them pronouns are ok)
Email: snelson001923@gmail.com Feel free to email me for whatever, my debate resources (though not many) are your resources. I'm always down to chat about science, medicine, and environmentalism :)
Online Tournaments: Speech docs are a must!! Even if you’re not spreading, I probably won’t be able to hear you as clearly as you'd like; I've heard plenty of rounds where someone was cutting out every few seconds.
I think defaulting to they/them pronouns for everyone in the round is a pretty good practice (but not a voting issue). If you prefer something else, let me know or put your pronouns in your tabroom profile.
Any argument that I deem racist, sexist, homophobic, classist, ableist etc. will result in an immediate drop. Debate and civil discourse often excludes the voices of disadvantaged groups, and arguments like these can further deter people of these groups from participating. I default to viewing the round as a microcosm of real public policy-making/discourse, so it should be a model of respect and tolerance despite the poor example set for us by current politicians.
Plagiarism or cutting cards in a way that changes their meaning (i.e. cutting out the word NOT from a sentence) will result in an automatic loss no matter what happened on the flow if I discover it. Less blatantly incorrect but still deceptive cutting will result in me not evaluating the card in the round and a possible reduction in speaker points. If you go for evidence ethics and lose it, I won't automatically vote you down, but I'll probably lower your speaks.
PF
I've only seriously debated PF at one (online) tournament, so take that as you will. I'm not 100% on the norms as far as what counts as a dropped arg (like how much you have to do on your own case in 2nd rebuttal), so I'll let the debaters set their own norms for these and tell me why making an argument at a certain point is abusive or not.
General Stuff:
Unless I'm told to do otherwise, I'll just evaluate under util. I'll have a high threshold to be persuaded to use another fw.
COLLAPSE AND WEIGH! I hate looking at a flow with 5 contentions where cards are pretty much at a deadlock and having to decide who won.
Evidence: Paraphrasing is ok as long as cards are available. If the entire round ends up being hinged on a card or two, then I might call for them before I write my ballot. If a team fails to present me or their opponents with a card within one minute of it being called for, I won't consider the evidence.
Long rant about progressive args:
It seems like PF is following the trend of other debate events in that is getting more and more tech. I've run Ks at an online PF tournament just for fun, but whether this kind of debate should become a norm in public forum is a difficult question to answer for me. For now, I'll set these standards:
Feel free bring up issues such as structural violence and even introduce framing that is not simply a "cost-benefit analysis", but I won't weigh it entirely before substance like "pre fiat impacts" usually are in tech rounds. If you don't read this and do run a K, I'll just weigh it like a contention and there will be a high threshold for me to weigh it first (it pretty much has to be completely conceded and extended cleanly). Also, I'll be more likely to evaluate Ks like set col, afro pessimism, fem, etc because I think that these are actually issues that policymakers should consider in real life. Ks like baudrillard or anprim won't get my vote in these rounds. I won't vote on tricks in actual PF rounds. I don't really see how tricks benefit policymaking skills, which is supposed to be the point of PF. For theory, I won't weigh theory that is frivolous or dumb (shoe theory, cough cough). If the violating school is not on the wiki, I will not evaluate disclosure interps. Running disclosure on teams that don't even know that the wiki exists is horrible for small schools. If there is clear abuse in the round (like running a plan or counterplan or some other arg that inherently limits your ability to respond, including Ks and tricks), I'll weigh theory against that pretty heavily because it's the only way to check back on that abuse.
LD
I started LD at my school really just so that I wouldn't have to debate with a partner, but I ultimately fell in love with all of the layers and intricacies of LD rounds. Stock rounds are fine; they're more accessible, after all. But really, I love the meta aspect of LD that allows us to take a step back and address the assumptions that shape the round and our world through kritiks or theory. Also, introducing layers just makes my job as a judge easier most of the time.
General (if you don't want to spend forever reading all of my ramblings, just read this section)
Quick Pref Guide:
LARP: 1
Theory (basic): 1
Ks (in the direction of the topic): 2
Trad: 2/3
Tricks: 3
Ks (identity, hostage taking, not intrinsic to the topic): 3/4
Phil: 4 (dumb it down for me)
High Theory: 5/strike
I'll weigh T>theory>K>case (this is pretty basic, there will be rare instances where this differs based on how bad the top layer was or if I'm persuaded that one layer has more out of round impacts).
Tech>Truth
Please give me an off-time roadmap and signpost! Taking a couple of extra seconds can be the difference between me voting on your argument and me not even being able to put it on the flow.
Speed: If you're spreading or basically spreading under the guise of "speaking fast", just be safe and make an email chain. That way, there's no question of whether I can clearly hear and evaluate your arguments. The last thing I want is to have to leave things off my flow because I couldn't understand what you were saying.
CX: BINDING!! But also, I think it’s kinda a weak arg if you use something vaguely implied in cross as a link.
On progressive args: Accessibility to debate is (believe it or not) pretty important. Lincoln Douglas in Alabama has been slowly dying (and limited to only a few schools), while other events (PF, Congress, IEs), have generally been doing pretty well. The reason for this is that LD is inherently less accessible; the layering permitted in LD rounds requires a lot of education and resources that many debaters do not have. LD is cool in that you get to run this obscure stuff, but the point of LD is to DEBATE, as it is called Lincoln Douglas DEBATE. If you're debating against someone who has less resources and had no means to learn how to respond to these args, running tricks or high theory is going to make for an extremely unproductive round. Being able to LARP debate is still a very important and foundational skill (even if it seems like it's not because it's usually the bottom layer). If you can't get a ballot in a LARP round in this context, then you probably didn't deserve it from me in the first place. If you make it so that the other side cannot engage, I'll dock your speaks (think like 26 max), and you can say goodbye to a speaker award or a good seed for break rounds.
LARP
I was a big LARPer in high school (really because I wasn't taught much outside of LARP debate and learned more about the other stuff as a judge). If you want to limit the chance of me screwing you over with my decision, a LARP round is probably the way to go.
In LD, framework is key. It tells me how to evaluate the round, so take time to explain why I should prefer your value/value criterion/ROTB and why your case fulfills it. I would prefer that your criterion has an author explaining why it achieves your value, but if it doesn't, I'll buy analytical arguments. I'll default to util until I'm given any other fw.
CPs: I loved running these and would pretty much have an obscure CP for every topic in high school. But, there is a difference between an obscure advocacy and an abusive one. I'm very likely to prefer theory if it's run well against a PIC or conditional CP.
Plans: If your plan does not maintain the original intent of the resolution or is extra-topical, I'll prefer good theory from the neg. Keep in mind that I'm relatively a stickler for topicality, but spec as long as it fulfills the res is fine.
Disads: Don't be sloppy with the links. Tell me why you o/w on magnitude/probability.
Kritiks
I think that Ks are a very important aspect of debate in that we get to dig deeper and question the underlying societal assumptions that inform public policy making and debate. I am more familiar some of the more common ones (capitalism, biopower, anthro, afro-pessimism, queer-pessimism, fem, security etc.) I'll also vote on hostage taking/satire if extended throughout as long as the other side doesn't point out a perf con (that's the biggest weakness I see in those rounds) or have a good turn etc. Don't assume that I'm familiar with some obscure K. If you want to run something that is not on this list, PLEASE ask me about it before round. This is basically me saying that it's your responsibility to make sure that I will be able to vote on what you read. Also, I'm probably not the best person to judge a K vs K round. Because I believe that it is the affirmative's duty to be topical, it'll be hard for you to make me evaluate some K affs, but if you've learned anything from reading this, I don't have a lot of black and white rules for how a debate should go. I'll ultimately weigh the round based on the rules that are established by the debaters, so see theory below.
Performance/identity Ks are cool, but again I'd prefer that you in some way link your advocacy to the topic if you're running these on the AFF, but I won't gut check non-intrinsic K affs. Don't just go up there and read a story or say "because I'm ___ vote for me" (it has happened). Explain how my vote actually indicates a paradigm shift. Reading these well is probably one of the best ways to get high speaks from me.
If you're going for the K, the method will be under harsh scrutiny. I'm super sympathetic to charity cannibalism args against id pol Ks, especially if you don't identify with the group that is the subject of the K. Shouldn't have to be said but just... don't exploit people's suffering for the ballot.
Theory
I'm a lot better versed in theory than I am in Ks. I like it a lot more than most debaters probably, but that doesn't mean that I love friv theory. See below:
Theory serves as a check on abuse in the round and is also important in terms of setting norms for debate as an activity. Theory is not something that should just be thrown at any argument for which you didn't prep or used as a weapon to waste your opponent's time by forcing them to respond to it in the next speech. If your opponent goes for the RVI in those cases, I'll probably give it to them. That being said, I don't know why so many judges hate RVIs, but I'm often willing to vote on them to deter frivolous theory. If your opponent calls for competing interps, you'd better have a counter-interp because lack of one can easily become a voting issue. I don't really prefer education or fairness, so feel free to run either. I'm more likely to buy "drop the argument", but if initiating theory required you to drop other substance in the round, feel free to run "drop the debater". Spikes are fine; I don't love them because they're kind of abusive, so any response to them at all by the other side will require you to spend some actual time explaining why the spike is good for debate in your next speech.
Things I want to see eventually if I'm going to evaluate theory as the top layer in the debate:
-An interp stating what debaters SHOULD do (not what they should not do)
-A clear violation linking specifically to what your opponent read
-A couple standards listing problems that the abuse causes/exacerbates in the round and how this practice prevents fairness and/or education
-Voters/paradigm issues: Tell me WHY promoting fairness or education is a prereq to the rest of the flow. Tell me whether I should drop the debater or the argument (drop the debater needs some kind of justification for why this abuse requires a deterrent that severe). I default to reasonability if nothing is specified but have a low threshold for evaluating competing interps.
Interps that I'll be especially sympathetic to:
-Any T framework
-Spec Good/Bad (nebel)
-PICs bad
-Condo bad
-no Alts bad
-severance perms bad
-NIBs bad
Tricks
If you're running tricks and say "what's an a priori", minus two speaks.
Tricks are pretty much dependent on truth testing framing (trying to make tricks a voting issue with comparative worlds framing is dumb, don't do it), so they're not as infallible as they may seem. I'll be receptive to tricks, but if you're debating against someone who knows what they're doing, you'll probably just end up kicking them and you will have really just wasted your own speech time. I'm not a big fan of NIBs, but I can't say that I'm not partially here to be entertained, so if you make the round entertaining with tricks or just anything unexpected, that'll be reflected in your speaker points. At the same time, if you're a big school debater running these against a small school debater or novice who doesn't even know what they are, your speaks will be docked a bit (see LD general).
Speaks
+0.3 for running something fem
-0.5 for disrespectful expressions while your opponent is speaking (I see this a lot between partners in PF)
+0.2 for a good pun (limited to only one addition of 0.2 points, please don't make me cringe)
+0.4 for some (ACCURATE) chemistry explanation. This would be cool, but you'd also probably waste some time doing this if you're going for the ballot. If you just want speaks, this is an easy bonus. I have had someone take advantage of this once, and it made my day.
-0.5 if it's pretty clear that you have no idea what your cards actually say
-1 if you're a big school debater and try to tell a small school debater what's good for them
*See LD General about progressive args and speaks
Points can be added subjectively for how entertained I was by your speeches.
If you have any questions about what to run, feel free to ask me before the round.
Shades Valley '20
SpeakFirst '20
University of Alabama debate '24
I finaled a few locals and had even records at the majority of circuit tourneys
I will probably ask for a piece of paper.
I ran Afropess/Antiblackness the large majority of my senior year so you can be as trad or progressive as you want.
With that being said nonblack people shouldn't run afropess or antiblackness.
Please make the activity accessible, if you know your opponent isn't as progressive as you and I can tell, I'm docking you by at least one point.
no tricks
Feel free to ask any questions.
Overview
Hi, I am Jacob Palmer (he/they). I did 4 years of policy at Emory. I also did 4 years of LD at Durham and have coached at Durham since I graduated. I mostly judge LD but occasionally find myself in a PF or Policy pool, so most of this paradigm is targeted at LDers. Regardless of the event I am judging though, I will do my best to adapt to you and evaluate the round solely off the flow. TDLR: Don’t cheat. Be a good person. Make real arguments. Do those things, and I will adapt to you.
Add me to the chain: jacob.gestypalmer@gmail.com. I won't backflow off the doc, and I will yell clear or slow if needed. Docs should be sent promptly at the round start time.
Feel free to read the arguments that interest you. If you make warranted arguments and tell me why they matter in the broader context of the debate you will do well. I will evaluate any argument that has a warrant, clear implication, and isn't actively exclusionary. I am tech in that I will keep a rigorous flow and evaluate the debate solely off that flow, but there are some limits to my tech-ness as a judge. I will always evaluate every speech in the debate. I will not evaluate arguments made after speech times end. I think arguments must be logically valid and their warranting should be sound. I think lazy warranting is antithetical to technical argumentation. As a logical extension of that, spamming arguments for the sake of spamming arguments is bad. Reading truer arguments will make your job and my job substantially easier. I won't vote on something not explained in round.
Be a good person. Debate often brings out the worst of our competitive habits, but that is not an excuse for being rude or disrespectful. Respect pronouns. Respect accessibility requests. Provide due content warnings.
Since other people do this and I think its nice to respect the people that helped me in my own debate journey, thank you to the all the people that have coached me or shaped who I am as a debater: Jackson DeConcini, Bennett Dombcik, Allison Harper, Brian Klarman, DKP, Ed Lee, Becca Steiner, Gabe Morbeck, Mikaela Malsin, Marshall Thompson, CQ, Nick Smith, and Devane Murphy. Special thanks to Crawford Leavoy for introducing me to this activity.
Specifics
Policy – Advantages and DAs shouldn’t be more complicated than they need to be. Plan and counterplan texts should be specific and have a solvency advocate. Spec is fine against vague positions but the sillier the shell the harder it will be to win an actual internal link to fairness or education. I'm generally fine with condo, but the more condo you read the more receptive I'll be to theory. To win the 2ar on condo the 1ar shell needs to be more than a sentence. Judge kick is fine, but I won't do it unless you tell me to. The 2nr in LD is not a 2nc. If your 2nr strategy relies on reading lots of new impact modules or sandbagging cards that should've been in the 1nc, I am not the judge for you. To an extent, carded 2nr blocks are fine, e.g. when answering a perm, but all the evidence you should need to win the 2nr should just be in the 1nc.
T – Don't be blippy. Weigh between interps and show what Affs, Advantages, DAs, etc. are actually lost or gained. The worst T debates are an abstract competition over ethereal goods like fairness. The best T debates forward a clear vision of what debates on the topic should look like and explains why the debates based on one interpretation of the topic are materially more fair or educational than others. I think affirmatives should generally be predictably limited. I think functional limits can solve a lot of neg offense if correctly explained.
K – These debates are also probably where I care the most about quality over quantity. Specificity matters - Not all Ks are the same and not all plans are the same. If your 1nc shell doesn’t vary based on the 1ac, or your 1ar blocks don’t change based on the kritik I will be very sad. I generally think I should vote for whoever did the better debating, but y'all are free to hash out what that means.
More often than not, it seems like I am judging K debates nowadays. Whether you are the K debater or the Policy/Phil debater in these rounds, judge instruction is essential. The 2nr and 2ar should start with a clear explanation of what arguments need to be won to warrant an aff or neg ballot and why. The rest of the 2nr or 2ar should then just do whatever line-by-line is necessary to win said arguments. I find that in clash debates more than other debates, debaters often get lost in extending their own arguments without giving much round-specific contextualization of said extensions or reasons why the arguments extended are reasons they should win the debate. You need to tell me what to do with the arguments you think you are winning and why those specific arguments are sufficient for my ballot.
Non-T/Planless Affs – I am happy to judge these debates and have no issues with non-t affs. Solvency is important. From the 1ac there should be a very clear picture of how the affirmative resolves whatever harms you have identified. For negatives, T USFG is solid. I’ve read it. I’ve voted on it. Turn strategies (heg good, growth good, humanism good, etc.) are also good. For T, I find topical versions of the aff to be less important than some other judges. Maybe that’s just because I find most TVAs to be largely underdeveloped or not actually based in any real set of literature. Cap and other kritiks can also be good. I no qualms evaluating a K v K or methods debate.
Phil – I love phil debates. I think these debates benefit greatly from more thorough argumentation and significantly less tricks. Explain your syllogism, how to filter offense, and tell me what you're advocating for. If I don't know how impact calc functions under your framework, then I will have a very hard time evaluating the round. If your framework has a bunch of analytics, slow down and number them.
Theory – Theory should be used to check legitimate abuse within the debate. As with blatantly untrue DAs or Advantages, silly theory arguments will be winnable, but my threshold of what constitutes a sufficient response will be significantly lower. Slow down on the analytics and be sure to weigh. I think paragraph theory is fine, but you still need to read warrants. I think fairness and education are both important, and I haven’t really seen good debates on which matters more. Debates where you weigh internal links to fairness and/or education are generally much better. I think most cp theory or theoretical objections to other specific types of arguments are DTA and really don’t warrant an RVI, but you can always convince me otherwise.
Tricks – If this is really your thing, I will listen to your arguments and evaluate them in a way that I feel is fair, granted that may not be the way you feel is most fair. I have found many of the things LDers have historically called tricks to be neither logically valid nor sound. I have no issue with voting on arguments like skep or determinism or paradoxes, but they must have a sufficient level of warranting when they are first introduced. Every argument you make needs to be a complete argument with a warrant that I can flow. All arguments should also be tied to specific framing that tells me how to evaluate them within the larger context of the debate. Also, be upfront about your arguments. Being shady in cx just makes me mad and sacrifices valuable time that you could spend explaining your arguments.
Independent Voters - I think arguments should only generate offense through specific framing mechanisms. Somewhat tied into this I feel incredibly uncomfortable voting on people's character or using my ballot to make moral judgements about debaters. I also don’t want to hear arguments about events outside of the round I am judging. If something your opponent did truly makes you feel unsafe or unable to debate, then you should either contact me, your coach, tab, or the tournament equity office. We can always end the round and figure something out.
Updated for 2024-25 Season
Please put me on the speech thread! Thank you.
Email: thelquinn@gmail.com
Titles: Director of Debate at Samford University (AL).
Meta-thoughts:
Debate is a game we play on the weekend with friends. The true values of debate are the skills and connections gained.
I’m not the smartest human. You’re maybe/likely smarter than me. Please do not assume I know anything you are talking about. And I would honestly love to learn some new things in a debate about arguments you researched.
Debaters are guilty until proven innocent of clipping cards. I follow along in speech docs. I believe it is judges job to police clipping and it is unfair to make debaters alone check it. I will likely say clear though, it's nothing personal.
I keep a running clock and "read along" with speech docs to prevent clipping. At the end of the round, I find myself most comfortable voting for a team that has the best synthesis between good ethos, good tech/execution, and good evidence. I will not vote on better evidence if the other team out debates you, but I assign a heavy emphasis on quality evidence when evaluating competing arguments, especially offensive positions.
Education/Debate Background:
Wake Forest University: 2011-2015. Top Speaker at ADA Nationals my Junior Year. 2x NDT First-Round Bid at Wake Forest. 2x NDT Octofinalist. 2x Kentucky Round Robin. Dartmouth Round Robin. Pittsburgh Round Robin.
Mountain Brook High School: 2007-2011. 3x TOC Qualifier. 2011 Winner of Emory's Barkley Forum in Policy Debate. Greenhill and Harvard Round Robin. Third Place at NSDA Nationals in 2011. Seventh Place NSDA Nationals 2010. Winner of Woodward JV Nationals.
Policy Thoughts:
Tl;dr: Offense/defense, the algorithm, cards are currency. UQ determines link unless otherwise said. Willing to pull the trigger on T/theory.
Flow: Most debaters should make analytics off their flows, especially in digital debate. Conversely, if you include analytics on your speech doc but I do not find you clear but I recognize where you are on your speech doc, I will not consider them arguments.
Condo: Im largely ok with conditionality. I think the best aff args against conditional are against contradictory conditional options. I do not really like the counter-interp of dispo. Im a much bigger fan of CI is non-contradictory conditional options.
- 3 or less non contradictory conditional options is ok to me
- 2 contra condo is fine
- 3 contradictory condo (including a K) and I am willing to vote on contra condo bad.
- For new affs, I think at most 5 contra condo is permissive. Anymore and I think you risk losing on theory.
- I think negs should take the 2 seconds it takes to have a CI that isn't "what we did." "What we did" is not really a good CI in debates.
CP Theory: If the 2AC straight turns your disad, no amount of theory will justify a 2NC CP out of/around the straight turned DA. 2NC CP's vs addons are different and chill/encouraged. Generic Process/ Conditions/ consult CPs cause me to lean aff on theory/perm, unless you have a good solvency advocate specific to their plan text which can prove its predictable and important for that area of debate. But I’m persuaded that a generic/predictable aff posted on the wiki can win a theory debate/perm do CP against a generic process/ conditions/ consult CPs. This is especially true with any Con Con CP. Con Con is the worst.
I hate judge kick. Do you want me to flow for you too? Maybe compose your speech doc while you're at it? I don't give the affirmative random permutations. Don't make me kick your trash counterplan for you.
T: My "favorite" standards are predictable limits (debatability) and real-world context (literature/education). I think a topicality interp that has both of those standards I will err on. Evidence that is both inclusive and exclusive is the gold standard. I tend to be more moderate with reasonability. I am not in the cult of limits. I err aff if I believe your interpretation is "reasonable" and that the negative did not prove you made debate impossible even if their interpretation is slightly better.
Kritikal Debate. I vote off the flow, which means my opinions on K debate are secondary to my voting. And I was 4-0 for Wake BD last year in some big debates against policy teams, so I'm going to vote for the team that I thought did the better debating (But are you Wake BD?). Im not really opposed to kritiks on the negative that are tied to the plan/resolution or kritikal affirmatives that defend a topical plan of action. I think where I draw the line is that I'm not a good judge for more performance based "affirmatives/negatives" that neither affirm nor negate the plan text/resolution. I lean very heavily neg on FW v non or anti-topical K affs. I think a good topical version of the affirmative is the best argument on FW. The role of the judge is to vote for the team who does the better debating. Debate is an educational game we play on the weekend with friends. I will not evaluate arguments that derive from actions/events out of the debate I am judging. Fairness is an impact and intrinsically good. I do not believe the ballot has material power to change the means of production/structures and thinking it does may even be problematic.
Please do not read global warming good. Global warming is real and will kill us all. And I am particularly persuaded by the argument that introducing these arguments in debate is unethical for spreading propaganda and should be deterred by rejecting the team. I'm way more persuaded by inevitability and alt cause args.
Hello! My name is TJ Riggs and I'm a Junior Policy Debater at Samford University (Qualed to NDT 2022 and 2023) and head coach of the SpeakFirst debate team. I have been debating since sophomore year of high school at both the state and national level. I always try my best to avoid intervention and I will generally weigh tech over truth. That being said, I reserve the right to gut check egregiously false claims. I am a pretty active listener, so if you see me nodding my head then I am probably vibing with your args. If I look confused or unconvinced you'll probably see it on my face. I look forward to judging you!
INCLUDE ME ON THE EMAIL CHAIN: tjriggs03@gmail.com
Below is a more comprehensive list of my judging preferences:
1 - LARP/Policy
2 - Trad
3 - K's
4 - Dense Phil
Strike - Tricks
Preferences (LD):
Traditional (V/VC Framework): Traditional debate is where I got my start, and I always love hearing a solid traditional round. Framework is important, however I also heavily value the impact debate. Explicitly tell me why under your framework your impacts matter. Being able to tie your case together is essential.
Dense Phil: Eh, not really my favorite. I am generally unconvinced that intentions matter more than consequences in the face of extinction level scenarios. Not to say I won't vote on it but I probably should not be at the top of your pref sheet.
Tricks: Tricks are really stupid and bad for debate. I honestly don't even really care if your opponent just refuses to acknowledge them the whole round, I'm still probably not going to drop them for it. Go ahead and strike me :)
Adv/DA: Easy, clean debate. Please clearly announce when you are moving to the next advantage or disadvantage. If you are reading an advantage aff please read a plan, even if it’s “Plan: Do The Res”.
CP: Counterplans are always nice. Run them as you please, and I’m happy to listen. I don't love PIC's in LD but I will listen to them. 1 or 2 condo is probably ok, more than that starts to push it. 3+ contradictory options and it starts getting bad for you (NOTE: New affs probably justify infinite condo).
Theory/T: Theory and T are fine as long as it’s reasonably warranted. Topicality really has to be warranted or I’m not going to drop them for it. I think topic relevant definitions are important, I probably won't drop them because your dictionary.com definition of "the" meaning "all" probably won't convince me they aren't topical. Please make sure you are familiar with the format of Theory and T shells, don’t run them if you aren’t. I will listen to RVI arguments (LD not Policy). I will listen to Frivolous Theory because it is your time and you can do with it as you please but I won't give you the round over it, so its most likely a waste of your breath.
Kritiks: Topical Kritiks are fine. Non-topical Kritiks are not my favorite but if it is properly warranted i'll vote on it. Familiar with most standard K lit, anything fancy please explain well.
Preferences (Public Forum):
Email Chains: Up to debaters if they would like to chain.
Evidence Standard: Not a fan of paraphrasing. Let the experts who wrote your cards do the talking for you. I won't instantly drop you for paraphrasing ev, but I will read the evidence and am open to arguments from your opponent as to why paraphrasing is bad. Excessive exaggeration of what your evidence says will hurt your speaker points and possibly even your chance at the ballot.
Extending Arguments: Please argue the substance of your ev, not just the taglines. I am going to be much more inclined to buy your evidence if you thoughtfully explain why it specifically answers parts of the flow. Just saying "Extend Riggs 2021" is not sufficient. Carry your arguments through the flow, I should be able to draw a line from your constructive to your final focus and see the argument evolve throughout the round.
Speech Preferences:
Speed: I'm cool with any speed. Spreading is fine, but please articulate. If I can not understand you I will say "clear". Please do not go faster than you are capable of, many arguments can be made just as well by slowing down and sticking to the point.
Speaker Points: Clarity is key for speaks. Please be respectful to your opponent, being rude will result in points being docked.
If you have any questions about my judging style, experience, or preferences, please feel free to email me at tjriggs03@gmail.com
I debated for three years with Auburn High School. I have debated PF, LD, and Congress. My specialty is in LD and I have been to both local and national circuit tournaments, so I am accustomed to all types of arguments, and/or speed no matter how traditional or progressive as long as you are clear about your arguments. The points below apply to all forms of debate. If you have any questions about my paradigm or have a question about something I do not cover below, feel free to ask before the round.
--DO NOT bring up new arguments in your last speech. They will not be weighted. Go for a few strong arguments that you have made throughout the round rather than running out of, and wasting time trying to go for every argument on the flow. If you think your opponent has made a new argument, tell me if it happens to be on my flow nothing will be counted against you.
--In the round, I typically vote off of FW, impacts and dropped arguments (in that order unless it's PF and then impacts weigh highest) unless there is a reason either on my flow, or weighed by the debaters in the round, as to why something else ought to be voted on.
**Disclaimer for weighing: I will not do your impact cal for you. Spell it out for me. If you think something is important and you don't tell me I won't guess. Also if you think something is important, bring it through to the end of the round in ALL of your speeches.
--On a scale of 1-10 for speed, I can handle somewhere around 8 but would prefer around 6-7. However, I will not downvote you, or drop your speaks if you spread at an 8 unless I cannot understand you. If you speak quickly, but unclearly it is very frustrating for me trying to flow, and in some cases, I would say it can border on the violation of education of the round. I would prefer you to slow down or pause for taglines.
**Disclaimer for speed: If I am unable to understand you, or need you to slow down I will say clear. I will say clear two to three times before I stop trying to flow.
--I do not flow cross so unless you bring it up in your next speech it will not hold weight in the round.
--I am fine if you time yourselves
--In the instance of direct evidence clash tell me why to prioritize your evidence over theirs or your line of thinking over theirs. Otherwise, I will consider the whole thing a wash and will find something else to vote on.
-- If your opponent calls into question your evidence and you cannot provide what is being asked of you within one minute I will assume that either you do not have the evidence or the card is not as valid as I was led to believe, and may lead me to question the validity of the rest of your evidence.
--Please signpost/roadmap (tell me where you are on the flow/the chain of your arguments)- I hate when it is unclear where you are and I get bounced around the flow.
--Please do not be rude to your opponent during CX (especially during grand in pf.) There is a difference between being aggressive/assertive, and rude. If you are rude I will drop your speaks.
--Humor is a great way to boost speaks :)
I’m a former HS LD debater, current Junior in College. Preface: There's too much stuff to go over in text and I don't presume to have considered nearly enough scenarios, so you can ask as many questions as you want before round, I don't mind at all.
Prog Stuff:'
If either debater just straight up isn't comfortable with any progressive stuff then I would prefer it if we stayed away from it. If you still have to, then go ahead but I have to think your explanation is clear enough that the other debater could reasonably figure out a way to respond. Otherwise, I think it's abusive.
I'll pretty much evaluate any arg you want to bring to the table. But one thing to keep in mind when doing so is I haven't actively debated in 3 years so my ability to properly follow any new or niche args you bring is mostly dependent on whether or not I can understand your perspective. So basically don't throw a bunch of tech jargon that I haven't actively used in 3 years and expect it to stick.
I'm fine with K's, T-shells, CP's, basically anything but performance. Performance cause I don't think I can fairly evaluate it.
K's - the link has to be super clear and can't be tangential. I kind of subscribe to the idea that unless an analogy/link is close to a direct 1 for 1 then it's not tenable. Kind of like how technically almost anything can be an analogy to Christ or Hitler. If I think your K is abusive along those lines of too much extrapolation and your opponent calls you out for it, I'll probably weigh that heavily. So just gut check whether or not you think your K is actively relevant.
Tricks - Go for it, if the opponent is able to somewhat prove that it's abusive and you just respond with "nuh-uh people run it all the time" then I'm gonna dock you for it.
Speaking
If you spread without clearly enunciating, I will ask you to speak more clearly, slow down, and restart your speech. I'd prefer if it didn't get to that point, but if nothing changes - I'll just do my best and I'll evaluate what I can understand.
General stuff
60% Tech, 40% Truth - I vote Tech but I think truth is a valid argument and gut reasonability checks are fair if they are justified. I don't like the tech vs truth evidence credibility rabbit hole unless that becomes the entire debate. Most of the time I'll wash that and try to vote off other args.
I don't read philosophy anymore and I don't follow much of current debate standards, but I have a pretty heavy background.
I don't like hyper specific jargon in general because I think it just makes debate more inaccessible and doesn't translate into any useful skill. This doesn't mean don't use debate terms but if you bring up a philosophy term specific to your case then you better explain it - presume I've never heard of it because that's how I'll evaluate it.
You can postround me, but I'll dock your speaks if it fails. And by postrounding I mean if I completely missed an argument - not arguing against me. Keep in mind everyone thinks differently and has a totally different internal scale on every single decision. There is no universal correct ruling and every decision I make is ultimately based on my own internal scale. And you're probably not gonna change that. So postrounding is only reserved for if I just forgot about something.
Also if you just seem too rude or aggressive in round I'll dock your speaks. Debate should never feel intimidating or like bullying.
Good luck and have fun!
Research Triangle '20
University of Georgia '24
Add me to the email chain: oliviastoneman20@gmail.com
About me: I read mostly LARP positions, with a few kritiks like cap and security, and topicality. I did some traditional debate too. If that is your thing, I will gladly listen to it but I prefer circuit debate. I can handle speed, but please slow down if you are making short analytics because otherwise I will probably miss them. Something to know about me is that I'm not a good judge for long underviews and tricks with arguments I can easily miss. I'm not flowing off the doc, and I'm only going to look at it to read cards after the round. I feel most comfortable judging LARP, topicality, and legitimate theory debates (condo, PICs bad, etc.). I will evaluate any argument unless it is offensive or rude. Also just a reminder to weigh and make clear which layers in the debate come first when I evaluate the round.
Also, I know nothing about this topic.
Defaults for how I evaluate rounds:
1) comparative worlds
2) competing interps > reasonability
3) no rvis
4) tech > truth but techy truth is fantastic
Traditional debate: I spent a solid amount of time doing this in high school. If this is your thing, go ahead and do it, but I prefer circuit debate. I often find these debates hard to resolve so please make it clear. Also, if you want to save time, no need to read a value if you don't want to please just debate the value criterions.
LARP: Personally love it. Quality of ev is important if there is any competing arguments that say opposite things. Also, I like the politics disad but please read recent ev if you are going to otherwise I will be sad :(
Topicality: I love a good T debate. Just make sure to weigh. I default no RVIs on T, and it will probably be hard to convince me to vote on an RVI.
Theory: Happy to listen to legitimate theory debates. Just make sure to be clear during analytics. Also, I am willing to listen to RVI justifications, especially if you are debating friv theory.
Ks: Happy to judge these rounds, but I'm not super experienced with a lot of the lit, so err on the side of explaining more if it's not generic.
Tricks/friv theory: Strike me or pref me low I will probably be confused.
Speaker points: I'll start at a 28 and go up or down as I see fit.
Updated for 2024 season. Yay debate!
Email: joeytarnowski [at] gmail
he/him
I did policy at Samford (class of 2024), qualified 4 times to the NDT, and did4 years of LD in high school.
I was coached by Lee Quinn, and some other judges/debaters who have influenced how I think about debate include Brett Bricker, Erik Mathis, Ana Bittner, Ari Davidson, and Bennett Dombcik. Non-exhaustive list of course, but I generally found as a debater having some reference points on how a judge thinks about debate as helpful.
General
Line-by-line, impact calculus, and evidence quality and comparison all matter a great deal to me. Well-researched and prepared strategies (regardless of ideological content) will almost always be a better choice in front of me than generic or poorly researched strategies. I think the aff should say some implementation of the resolution is a good idea, and the neg should say that the aff is a bad idea.
I generally consider myself tech over truth, but I also strongly believe that arguments start off only as strong as their initial warrants. I'm generally predisposed against arguments that are reliant on extremely sketchy/pseudoscientific evidence (i.e. climate change good), but if there's an argument you're confident you've got the goods on, go for it.
If you're rehighlighting evidence, you should read that rehighlighting. This is especially true if you're getting anything external off it (i.e. using it as a thumper, alt cause, or any type of offense). I also think I generally have a higher standard of what constitutes a good card than most judges, so good evidence indicts/comparison will make me happy.
There are very few arguments I categorically won't vote on: death good, RVIs, and egregiously unethical impact turns like racism/sexism/other forms of bigotry good.
**I have some minor issues with auditory processing, so I would recommend starting off your speech at like 75-80% speed to give me a second to adjust before you build up to full speed. Clear differentiation between tags and the card body is also greatly appreciated.
Specifics
I tend to lean neg on most counterplan theory debates and usually default to reasonability and judge kick, but I'm more than willing to flip on either of those. I'm pretty unlikely to vote aff on condo bad unless something egregious happens (i.e. an extremely excessive amount of 1NC options, lots of condo planks, blatantly contradictory options, or 2NC CPs out of straight turns). I generally think most other theory debates are better leveraged as offense to help win the competition debate than as a theory argument on its own.
I don't mind T debates and think they can be very strategically valuable. Evidence comparison is even more important to me in these kinds of debates, and I generally find specific visions of what the topic looks like under your interp (i.e. a well fleshed-out caselist) to be very helpful.
I'm generally of the predisposition that the aff should defend some implementation of the resolution. The specifics of what that means can be debated out, but I'm usually not a huge fan of strategies that just choose to ignore the resolution altogether. Fairness is an impact, but impacts still need warrants and impact calc.
Indicts to util/consequentialism should also be coupled with an explanation of how I should evaluate impacts absent that framing.
Otherwise unethical/shady tactics including hiding arguments, lying about disclosure/not disclosing, etc. are not winning strategies in front of me.