The Longhorn Classic 2021
2021 — Austin, TX/US
Lincoln-Douglas Debate Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show Hidefourth year at UT. Currently debate policy for the Texas Debate team, and did 3 years of LD in high school, reaching bid rounds at various national debate tournaments. please refer to kris kaya's paradigm to get an idea of how I think/judge, and ask if you have any questions! put me on the chain please at nikhil.ajjarapu@gmail.com
Hi I debated LD throughout high school at Westwood (2018), earned two career bids and qualified to the TOC. pls flash jugal1999@gmail.com
~ last edited 11/21 ~
2021 Longhorn classic stuff
1. I am probably going to be late to the room, PLEASE have an email doc ready to go before I get there
2. I have not done anything debate related in the past 7 months BUT I still follow politics and current events very closely and watch lectures on 4x speed so the only issues I will have are topic specific items (jargon, common link chains) and clarity
3. UT's campus can be very confusing, please feel free to ask me for directions or food recs. It has also not been particularly safe recently so I will strongly encourage you to not stray past Guadalupe street.
4. once the round is over i'll finish typing feedback on my ballot and then give an rfd. it really disrupts my thought process if you interrupt me until I'm done with my rfd, please hold off on questions until then (write them down if you have to). I promise I will provide some feedback on speeches but if u have specific questions (after I am done) fire away!
5. I think my paradigm is still mostly true but I am less patient/less willing to gloss over things that annoy me. Yes, my paradigm is too long but I think I've conveyed my thought process well enough that you will hopefully know what you're getting when you debate in front of me.
general
I coached Westwood from 2018-2021, I have not been very involved with debate in the 2021 fall season.
I was coached by Rodrigo Paramo and I think I share similar views with Bennett Eckert, Travis Fife, and Aaron Timmons.
If you're lazy some pref shortcuts:
LARP - 1
Theory/T - 1-3 (depending on the frivolity of the position)
Kritiks - 2
Phil - 2-4
Tricks - strike
My general disposition towards debate is that it's a competitive arena that has educational potential, because of that I really believe in providing feedback on the debate so please feel free to ask questions!
--- a byproduct of this is that if I believe you are doing something that excludes your opponent from learning anything i will be very annoyed. Things like reading kritiks/theory or spreading against traditional or novice opponents just to cheese a ballot irritate me deeply, please treat your opponent with respect. i would hate to judge a round where a debater did not learn a single thing.
I am NOT tabula rasa and I don't think anyone actually is.
I will ONLY say slow/clear TWICE and after that I'll stop flowing.
My favorite kind of debate was a simple plan/disad/cp debate because I think those brought about the most clash and in-depth evidence comparison at the high school level. That said, I don't want to hear you failing to go for a disad when you've never read one before.
I will not vote for anything I don't understand - I think I have a good grasp of the "generic K's" and Kant but beyond that some explanation might be necessary given I haven't read all of the literature. I think this is especially true for links and alternatives.
I am a very expressive person - I will constantly be making faces in round, think of them as you would like, but I would recommend just ignoring them.
I have become increasingly cynical with k debate in LD the longer I've been judging. It is not fun to judge debates with no clash since no one knows what their position says including the ones reading it. I urge you not to read it unless you're CONFIDENT in your ability to explain it.
I love a good case debate - challenge the aff's home turf.
I STRONGLY believe in disclosure - The only exception is if you are unaware of what the wiki is. Screenshots MUST be provided including TIME STAMPS.
I have a HIGH threshold for good evidence - I think it should be about your scenario and as specific as possible. If it's a politics disad or a time sensitive argument newer evidence from reliable sources prevails.
In the case of cheating (evidence ethics, clipping, etc) I'll vote against the debater in question but will continue the debate. Speaks will be awarded based on the round and I'll subtract 2 points for the cheating. See Rodrigo's paradigm for more specific details for things I agree with.
I largely agree with Rodrigo regarding trigger warnings.
I treat theory/T as a kind of disad/cp debate with the standards being disads to the aff's interp. Please WEIGH! I need impact calc on the net benefits or I will probably throw out the shell.
If you intend to read 5+ cards on case, tell me to get another page for them. I haven't quite learned how to copy paste while flowing on paper.
I will wait until AFTER postrounding to give speaks - if you and/or your coach is rude then your speaks will suffer.
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Speed
I don't recall anyone being too fast for me to understand (I watch school lectures on 4.5x speed) on evidence but for short analytics like theory standards you HAVE to go slower bc I can't write at light speed.
Clarity is a MUST, and debaters almost always think they're clearer than they actually are so maybe go slower.
Speaks
I will award speaks based on what I think your propensity to win the tournament is, based on the round I judged. If I'm confident you can win, you get a thirty, and it'll go down from there. My perception for this might be skewed and I will usually end up giving you lower than what your final record will end up being.
Efficiency and good strategy will bump u up.
Try not to 100% BS facts. If you say xyz is polling at 80% when they're actually polling at 40 you will lose speaks.
I WILL dock speaks for being rude and award speaks for being kind.
I appreciate numbering arguments (1. no link, 2. link turn, 3. perm) and labeling offs (next off - econ disad).
Reading interesting and good arguments will also bump up your speaks. I love unique and specific plans or disads but if the evidence is trash I'm not gonna like it.
Theory
I think potential abuse exists and can be an effective argument even if you have aff specific offense.
I think most theory shells that are based on CX are frivolous (ex. must list perms, must spec k over T, etc)
Counter interps and interps must be flashed before read.
I'm persuaded by disclosure, open source, and brackets - but they still need a warrant - I won't hack. Round reports is silly tho, i've never been convinced there's any real abuse
If the 2n is literally 6 mins of theory/T I think the aff implicitly gets an rvi, since the 2n has conceded substance. I see no benefit to forcing the aff extend the 1ac for ten seconds.
I really LOVE specific and in-depth interps but try and make sure it still makes sense as a universal rule and as a sentence.
Topicality
Dislike semantics first (nebel) and generally think it's a floor not a ceiling but will still vote on it. That said, I still don't know what grammar is and the argument must be coherently explained. If I don't get your violation or understand the warrant for the definition, I can't vote on it.
Developed standards and voters are important and weigh between them if you want to have a good debate
I don't think a dictionary definition is mandatory but in T debates it will go a long ways - the more specific the definition the better. However, I am compelled by arguments saying that a counter interp is incomplete without them.
Interps and counter interps need to be complete statements. I treat them like plan texts since they are an attempt at defining a norm, so things like "Counter interp: let this aff in" are not real counter interps. I think paragraph theory like "conditionality is a voter" is fine.
Plans
I strongly believe they should have solvency advocates
frameworks are a must
I'm not a fan of underviews filled with analytics but if you're going to read that 1ar theory paradigm PLEASE SLOW DOWN.
CPs
For whatever reason I'm more lenient on the existence of a solvency advocate here, that said having one could be relevant to theory debates
One condo is chill
Not a fan of judge kick and will only evaluate the arg if it's made in the 1NC
PICs
I think these are some of the most strategic arguments in debate but I am persuaded by well crafted theory shells saying they're cheating.
Phil
The way I've always thought about philosophical frameworks is the same as Kritiks. There should be a way of explaining the world, a link to the topic, and some sort of impact.
I love util but in my senior year I branched out to deontologists like Kant and Hobbes.
Miss me with your justice v morality args - I don't care
Kritiks
Not a fan of Floating PIKs - I think they're cheating but if your opponent doesn't ask it's fair game if your evidence justifies it
I was a big fan of the security, anthro, and cap K's but specific links make a world of difference.
Unwarranted evidence is far too common in kritik debates. I find it frustrating when the NC is basically just 5 minutes of glorified impact cards.
I have a high threshold for afropessimism based arguments. I think they're often read poorly in LD and commodified, therefore I'm persuaded by the argument that white people shouldn't be advocating for it.
NOT a fan of generic links like the state is anti-black - the more specific the better
Kritik's must have SOME form of framing and I believe that the ROTB might precede case but this must be clearly justified. No, a card listing all the reasons why capitalism is bad and therefore should be stopped is not a ROTB, it needs to talk about education or activism or something related to debate.
Big fan of framework against kritiks done similarly to how Policy does it.
Performance
go for it as long as it isn't something that could potentially endanger someone
I do think all of your actions must be justified
I'm strongly compelled by T-Framework, and think plans are good for debate
Skep/permissability/tricks
no. A burden will result in an almost instant loss. I'm more than happy to discuss this with you outside of round but I think practices that focus on winning from blippy analytics are bad for debate.
I define a "trick" as a preempt that prohibits an action, like the neg can't read counter plans. Things like aff gets rvis or allow 1ar theory are ok, but annoying.
HI. You can call me Aaron. Currently a Senior at UT and I did LD at Northland Christian School in Houston, tx for 3 years and competed on the national circuit my last 2. I stuck to mostly DAs, CPs, T and Theory, but I've been exposed to a lot at this point. Please note I've been removed from debate for a WHILE. I judge a couple national circuit tournaments a year, so I haven't completely lost all knowledge. But err on the side of over explaining and slowing down some on important arguments/tags. (Don't assume I know the entirety of an argument from a phrase of jargon, tag the arg then explain por favor) If you're off the doc prob don't go full speed and make sure you're clear mostly because I haven't heard people speak fast since last february.
Add me to chain please: abarcio@utexas.edu
Quick Notes:
- BE CLEAR. I haven't judged in about a year so if it's early in the tournament let me get warmed up. Go a little slower on tags, card names, and especially blocks of analytics.
- If you're going to blitz through analytics please send them. If you don't, I'll probably miss some which hurts you.
- Please do framework interaction.
- Collapse and your speaks will be happier and less margin for error on decision
- The less I have to wait before the round begins the happier I will be
Pref Shortcut:
tech>truth (but won't vote off an argument that is incomprehensible---probably won't be an issue)
1- LARP
1- T/Theory
2/3 - Ks (don't expect that I know the lit tho, explain)
3 - phil (I'm fine w the more common stuff like kant, hobbes, etc., but anything more nuanced pls explainnnn) Likely if you really know what you're talking about, I'll be able to catch on.
4 - tricks (I can probably evaluate them ok just never read tricks in high school so explain well)
*If any questions feel free to ask me before rd or email/facebook message me.*
Speaks:
National Circuit
- 29-30 : makes the strategic decision when collapsing, good explanation, writes out the path to the ballot (I think you should break)
- 28-28.9 : either makes the strategic decision or has good explanation and the one you didn't do isn't horrendous (you're on the bubble to break)
- 27-28 : don't make strategic decisions and explain poorly
- 26 : defend something racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist, etc.
Local (I'm pretty lenient I think)
- I'll likely give speaks by the 0.5
- 29-30 : speak clearly, sound knowledgeable about the topic, and make good arguments
- 28-29 : don't do one of the above
- 27-28: don't do two of the above
- +1 to speaks if you don't use all your prep time (by like a decent amount)
I have a decent amount of judging experience but I would suggest treating me as a lay judge. That means going for complex theory arguments is a risky move if not very well communicated.
I would like to be added to the email chain: tanishbhowmick@gmail.com
Some things to consider during round:
1. I prefer logical arguments overall. Whoever has a more persuasive, fluent, and substantial argument has a higher chance of winning, though nothing is guaranteed.
2. Being aggressive is fine, just as long as you are not offensive in any nature
3. I am ok with speed but it's been a while so I suggest starting off a little slower before ramping it up. I will yell slow if you're going too fast and if I have to yell 3 or more times you're getting 27.5 speaks max. I also don't like cramming in extreme amounts of arguments; quality over quantity always.
4. Theory is fine, but do not depend on it for the whole argument. As mentioned before, I still prefer substance over anything else. I wouldn't suggest complex philosophies because, as I said, my experience is limited so try to refrain. If you do decide to go with any complex debate rhetoric, make sure to explain them fully or I might not understand and will ignore the argument during my decision.
Finally, just have fun with the debate. This is in my opinion one of the most enjoyable educational extracurriculars and so I want the debate to be fun and well-spirited.
Note: Things that are bolded in my paradigm are things I think people are generally looking for or I think are worth noting about my preferences. Read the bottom for my speaks paradigm; the TLDR paradigm is the third paragraph in this top section. Everything in this paradigm has a logical justification; ask me if something doesn't make sense and I'll be happy to explain.
Intro: Hi I'm Austin. I mainly debated LD in high school, but I'm familiar with most other event formats. I graduated from Northland Christian HS in 2020 and UT Austin in 2022 with a psych major phil minor. I'm currently a 3L at Texas Law. I competed on the local and national circuit all four years of high school (and have been judging/coaching consistently since graduating), so I like to think I'm pretty up to date on the technical nuances of LD. Add me to the chain at abroussard@utexas.edu. Feel free to email me with specific questions before the round or thoughts on how I could improve my paradigm!
TLDR paradigm: I really love highly technical debates especially on a theoretical layer but I'm good with evaluating policy, kritik-al debate, etc.; by nature (even outside of debate) I default erring on the side of the person who is most logically consistent which means I will not vote for you unless you are ahead on a technical level; my opinion on anything in this paradigm can change, just make the proper arg. Please see "important" section below.
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Important Stances that May Deviate from the Norm:
- I default args must be immediately sequential and/or allow for a sequential response ("new 2nr args permissible" and "new 2ar args impermissible outside of answers to new 2nr args)" are some noteworthy implications to this); this is my default because any other standard allows for the 2ar to always win by either answering arguments from the 1nc conceded by the 1ar/extended in the 2nr in the 2ar or by making new 2ar uplayers (i guess this means my actual default is against any paradigmatic stance that theoretically allows either side to win every debate because that defeats the purpose of the ballot/there being an adjudicator); please ask me about this point if there is any confusion before the debate starts (also note this is not a rigid stance, just a default)
- every claim needs a warrant, even conceded arguments (I don't presume conceded arguments are true); alternatively, if you don't want to extend the warrant for conceded claims, an explanation of why conceded arguments should be considered true is acceptable (there's no justification for the claim without the extension of a warrant or an explanation of why concessions matter)
- if you go for substance and don't read a fw/both debaters are winning offense under their fw but neither explain which fw comes first/no one extends a fw, I'll vote on presumption absent an uplayer (same goes for voters on t/theory)
- I presume: neg if it's aff v squo (bc the post-fiat world of the aff changes the squo); aff if it's aff v generic post-fiat cp/alt (bc the post-fiat world of the neg is further from the squo); neg if it's aff v pic or "reject the aff"/pre-fiat advocacy (bc the post-fiat world of the aff is further from the squo); neg if both debater's are winning pre-fiat offense under a single fw (bc the aff hasn't met their burden of proving the aff is a good idea, it's like a conceded adv vs a conceded disad)
- if you don't extend your plan text/advocacy in some way it's kicked; in other words, you must extend your advocacy/plan text if you are going for a postfiat link/impact turn (one commonly applicable implication of this is if the 2ar goes for postfiat link/impact turns without extending the advocacy/plan text, it no longer defends the plan nor accesses offense from the turns)
-I will NOT make arguments for you because I believe judge intervention is the antithesis of debate; consequently if your opponent does something that propels a model of debate that is sexist/racist/homophobic/transphobic/abelist or something similarly discriminatory I will not drop them unless you say something about it. It can be as simple as "they said/did x and that makes debate less accessible so they should lose." Otherwise the only thing I have jurisdiction to do is report them to tab after the round and give them god awful speaks. Just call them out for being unethical.
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Miscellaneous:
- tech>>>truth
- I will vote on literally anything when given a framing metric and justification
- you don't have to ask me to flow by ear; I promise I'm both listening and reading your doc (to clarify, I'll catch extemporized blippy analytics)
- Weighing makes me happy, as well as a strong fw tie/explanation
- For ethics challenges/evidence ethics calls, reference the NSDA guidelines for this year; if the guidebook doesn't make a speaks claim I will either evaluate them myself given the speeches read (if any) or default normal round evaluation (meaning speaks spikes are viable)
- I don't have a default on disclosure at the moment but in debate I defaulted disclosure bad; regardless of my default it doesn't affect my ability to listen to either stance and adjudicate accordingly
- My ability to understand spread/speed is pretty good; feel free to go as fast as you want but please be clear
- Please please please ask your opponent if your practices are accessible before the round so you are 1. not exclusionary and 2. not susceptible to an easily avoidable independent voter; if you don't ask and end up doing something inaccessible you'll probably lose (provided they make it a voting issue); this includes giving trigger warnings
- flex prep and joint cross examination are fine
- have a localized recording; absent one, you risk losing whatever content was missed due to tech error (ig hope your opponent is cool with a redo)
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Pref Shortcuts (by my confidence in my ability to adjudicate and 1 being most confident 5 being least):
Theory/T/Tricks- 1
Phil/High Theory- 1
K- 1 or 2 (depending on density)
LARP- 2 to 3 (depending on density)
Pref Shortcuts (by my desire to see them in round and 1 being most desirable 5 being least):
Theory/T/Tricks- 1
Phil/High Theory- 1
K- 2
LARP- 3
note: I will be happy to adjudicate LARP, it's just not my highest preference
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Policy
Plans:
- Love these please know what your own plan says though
- Honestly severance is cool with me but if they point it out and make a theoretical reason to drop it could be hard to beat back
- the solvency section is important for plans, if you don't have one it's gonna be rough
Cps:
- These are cool but better if they're actually competitive; read as many as you want just know anything more than one is hard to justify theoretically especially if it's not uncondo (although I love multiple cp debates)
- Any cp is cool (including actor, process, etc.) just make sure the 2nr extension is sufficient to vote on
- I default condo bad but don't let that discourage you from utilizing it as I think condo is super strategic (which is good for speaks), you just have to be technically ahead on the theory debate; feel free to read like 8 condo cps just know it's an uphill theoretical battle (but certainly not impossible)
- I treat perms like condo advocacies because they always seem to be extended as such but it is really up to you
Das:
- Probably my least favorite position because they all seem to go down the same path towards the 2nr, but a good explanation and coupling with a competitive cp makes this position much better
- the more unique the da the more I'll like listening to it (please don't make me listen to a basic three card econ disad unless you don't plan on going for it)
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Phil/High Theory
- I used to read a few high theory positions but that doesn't mean my threshold for explanation on those positions is lower/higher than any other argument
- I'm hesitant to say this but I did read a decent amount of Baudrillard just know there is a reason why I stopped lol feel free to still read it though I love hearing it as well as any other high theory author
- I especially love hearing new philosophies that are either obscure or that I just haven't heard of yet; phil debate is one of my favorite parts of ld
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Kritiks
General:
- poems/music/art/performance can be offense and if you don't respond to it your opponent can extend it as conceded (I have no problem voting on conceded performance offense with the proper framing mech)
Fw:
- should have a ROB and/or ROJ
- if your opponent asks you a specific question about the framing of your kritik and you cannot give them a cohesive answer it's gonna look bad
Links:
- please don't read links that you yourself link into
- Having specific rhetoric from the aff itself or your opponent is great and much better than just topic/omission links
- I am comfortable voting off state/omission links, they're just boring
Impacts:
- you must have them and they must be unique; please do weighing as well because k impacts don't always contextualize themselves
Alt:
- explain plz; It doesn't have to be explained super well if your opponent doesn't press the issue but I need to have a basic understanding of what I'm voting on i.e. what the world of the alt looks like (unless a set col type arg is made about imagining the alt being a move to settlerism, etc.)
- please don't make the alt condo/dispo if your k is about some sort of oppression, it looks bad
Overviews:
- I LOVE these they make it easier to evaluate the line by line because all the big picture issues are out of the way
- Please make sure the overview is not just line by line in disguise (I was guilty of this) but is instead framing the ways I need to evaluate offense
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T/Theory/Tricks
General:
- literally my favorite the more you read the more I'll enjoy the debate as long as you know what you're doing
- friv is fantastic
Interps:
- be careful of your wording; poor wording leaves you susceptible to easy i meets/indicts
Violations:
- have them and extend them in the next speech
Standards:
- there are really only like four good standards that the rest fall under categorically but it's whatever
- the more the merrier
- if you do fairness and education linkage inside the standard block I'll be happier
Voters/paradigm issues:
- I generally default competing interps unless otherwise specified
- you must justify voters independently of the standards section (i.e. explain why fairness, education, fun, etc. matter)
Tricks:
- I evaluate these arguments like any other (if they have a claim/warrant/impact you're good)
- I think a block of text is funny but definitely annoying as far as the organization of your spikes/tricks so preference is at least numbering but it's really not a big deal if you can explain them well
- These arguments are generally so bad but if you don't respond or spend too much time messing with them the round becomes significantly more difficult/potentially imnpossible to win for you
- I'm fine with indexicals, condo logic, log con, paradoxes, afc, acc, aprioris, etc. (idk how else to say i'll vote on literally any trick/arg generally)
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Speaks
- I will grant a 30 speaks spike (i.e. give both/one of the debaters 30 speaks for x reason) as long as it's extended (or reasons are made as to why an extension isn't necessary)
- if no ties are allowed on the ballot I technically am unable to perform "give both debaters 30 speaks" and i'll evaluate like i normally would; if you know no ties are allowed/are uncertain if ties are allowed, spec 30/29.9 rather than 30s bc that's always permissible on tab (and i'll give the 30 to whoever would be ahead under my typical speaks evaluation unless told otherwise)
- I generally give speaks based on strategic decision making>fluency (and will try to justify the deductions if asked, although ultimately they're always on some level arbitrary)
- Anything that you do that purposefully makes your opponent uncomfortable, expresses discrimination/oppression, or generally makes the debate space unsafe will result in your top speaks being a 25 and more likely will result in a 0 or whatever the lowest allowed speaks value is/report to tab
- for locals I generally give 28-30 and for nat circuit 27-30 unless the tournament has a specified structure; occasionally if the round is super underwhelming I'll evaluate a local like I would a nat circuit
- more leniency for novice debates
- I'll clear twice without a speaks deduction and definitely have more lenience in the online format (i hardly ever clear anyways)
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
Coach at Bellaire High School (TX)
Separately conflicted with: Heights High School, Archbishop Mitty SM, Carnegie Vanguard KF, Cypress Ranch KH, Langham Creek SB, Woodlands SP
Set up the email chain before the round starts and add me. The 1AC should be sent before the scheduled start time, and the 1AC should be ready to start their speech by the start time.
If I'm judging you in PF: bellairedocs.pf@gmail.com
If I'm judging you in LD: bellairedocs.ld@gmail.com
If I'm judging you in Policy: bellairedocs.policy@gmail.com
I debated for Timothy Christian School in New Jersey for four years. I graduated from Rice University, spent 10 years coaching LD, Policy, and WS at Heights High School, am currently a teacher at Bellaire, and coach a variety of debate formats: my program competes through the Texas Forensic Association and the Houston Urban Debate League.
Pref Shortcuts
- Policy: 1
- T/Theory: 1-2
- Phil: 2
- Kritik (identity): 2
- Kritik (pomo): 3
- Tricks: Strike; I can and will cap your speaks at a 27, and if I'm on a panel I will be looking for a way to vote against you.
General
- Absent tricks or arguments that are morally objectionable, you should do what you are best at rather than over-adapting to my paradigm.
- Tech > Truth
- I will try to be tab and dislike intervening so please weigh arguments and compare evidence. It is in your advantage to write my ballot for me by explaining which layers come first and why you win those layers.
- I won't vote on anything that's not on my flow. I also won't vote on any arguments that I can't explain back to your opponent in the oral.
- Not the judge for cowardice. That includes but is not limited to questionable disclosure practices, taking prep to delete analytics, dodgy CX answers, and strategies rooted in argument avoidance.
- It is unlikely that I will vote on a blip in the 2NR/2AR, even if it is conceded. If you want an argument to be instrumental to my ballot, you should commit to it. Split 2NR/2ARs are generally bad. Although, hot take, in the right circumstances a 2NR split between 1:00 of case and the rest on T can be strategic.
- I presume neg; in the absence of offense in either direction, I am compelled by the Change Disad to the plan. However, presumption flips if the 2NR goes for a counter-advocacy that is a greater change from the status quo than the aff. It is unlikely, however, that I will try to justify a ballot in this way; I almost always err towards voting on risk of offense rather than presumption in the absence of presumption arguments made by debaters.
- If you want to ask your opponent what was or was not read, you need to take prep or CX time for it.
- I'm colorblind so speech docs that are highlighted in light blue/gray are difficult for me to read; yellow would be ideal because it's easiest for me to see. Also, if you're re-highlighting your opponent's evidence and the two colors are in the same area of the color wheel, I probably won't be able to differentiate between them.Please don't send cards in the body of emails; Word docs only. Don't read a shell on your opponent if they don't follow these instructions though - it's not that serious.
- You don't get to insert rehighlighting (or anything else, really); if you want me to evaluate it, you have to read it. Obviously doesn't apply to inserts of case cards that were already read in the 1AC for context on an off-case flow.
- Not fond of embedded clash; it's a recipe for judge intervention. I'll flow overviews and you should read them when you're extending a position, but long (0:30+) overviews that trade-off against substantive line-by-line work increase the probability that I'll either forget about an argument or misunderstand its implication.
Policy
- I spent much of my career coaching policy debate, so I am probably most comfortable adjudicating these rounds, but this is your space so you should make the arguments that you want to make in the style that you prefer.
- You should be cutting updates and the more specific the counterplan and the links on the disad the happier I'll be. The size/probability of the impact is a function of the strength/specificity of the link.
- Terminal defense is possible and more common than people seem to think.
- I think impact turns (dedev, cap good/bad, heg good/bad, wipeout, etc.) are underutilized and can make for interesting strategies.
- If a conditional advocacy makes it into the 2NR and you want me to kick it, you have to tell me. Also, I will not judge kick unless the negative wins an argument for why I should, and it will not be difficult for the affirmative to convince me otherwise.
Theory
- I default to competing interpretations.
- I default to no RVIs.
- You need to give me an impact/ballot story when you read a procedural, and the blippier/less-developed the argument is, the higher my threshold is for fleshing this out. Labeling something an "independent voter" or "is a voting issue" is rarely sufficient. These arguments generally implicate into an unjustified, background framework and don't operate at a higher layer absent an explicit warrant explaining why. You still have to answer these arguments if your opponent reads them - it's just that my threshold for voting for underdeveloped independent voters is higher.
- Because I am not a particularly good flower, theory rounds in my experience are challenging to follow because of the quantity of blippy analytical arguments. Please slow down for these debates, clearly label the shell, and number the arguments.
- Disclosure is good. I am largely unimpressed with counterinterpretations positing that some subset of debaters does not have to disclose, with the exception of novices or someone who is genuinely unaware of the wiki.
- "If you read theory against someone who is obviously a novice or a traditional debater who doesn't know how to answer it, I will not evaluate it under competing interps."
- I will not evaluate the debate after any speech that is not the 2AR.
Kritiks
- I have a solid conceptual understanding of kritks, given that I teach the structure and introductory literature to novices every year, but don't presume that I'll recognize the vocabulary from your specific literature base. I am not especially well-read in kritikal literature.
- Pretty good for policy v k debates, or phil v k. Less good for k v k debates.
- I appreciate kritikal debates which are heavy on case-specific link analysis paired with a comprehensive explanation of the alternative.
- I don't judge a terribly large number of k-aff v fw debates, but I've also coached both non-T performative and pure policy teams and so do not have strong ideological leanings here. Pretty middle of the road and could go either way depending on technical execution.
Philosphical Frameworks
- I believe that impacts are relevant insofar as they implicate to a framework, preferably one which is syllogistically warranted. My typical decision calculus, then, goes through the steps of a. determining which layer is the highest/most significant, b. identifying the framework through which offense is funneled through on that layer, and c. adjudicating the pieces of legitimate offense to that framework.
- You should assume if you're reading a philosophically dense position that I do not have a deep familiarity with your literature base; as such, you should probably moderate your speed and over-explain rather than under.
- I default to epistemic confidence.
- Better than many policy judges for phil strategies; I have no especial attachment to consequentialism, given that you are doing technical work on the line-by-line.
Speed
- Speed is generally fine, so long as its clear. I'd place my threshold for speed at a 9 out of 10 where a 10 is the fastest debater on the circuit, although that varies (+/- 1) depending on the type of argument being read.
- Slow down for and enunciate short analytics, taglines, and card authors; it would be especially helpful if you say "and" or "next" as you switch from one card to the next. I am not a particularly good flower so take that into account if you're reading a lot of analytical arguments. If you're reading at top-speed through a dump of blippy uncarded arguments I'll likely miss some. I won't backflow for you, so spread through blips on different flows without pausing at your own risk.
- If you push me after the RFD with "but how did you evaluate THIS analytic embedded in my 10-point dump?" I have no problem telling you that I a. forgot about it, b. missed it, or c. didn't have enough of an implication flowed/understood to draw lines to other flows for you.
Speaker Points
- A 28.5 or above means I think you're good enough to clear. I generally won't give below a 27; lower means I think you did something offensive, although depending on my general level of annoyance, it's possible I'll go under if the round is so bad it makes me want to go home.
- I award speaks based on quality of argumentation and strategic decision-making.
- I don't disclose speaks.
- I give out approximately one 30 a season, so it's probably not going to be you. If you're looking for a speaks fairy, pref someone else. Here are a few ways to get higher speaks in front of me, however:
- I routinely make mental predictions during prep time about what the optimal 2NR/2AR is. Give a different version of the speech than my prediction and convince me that my original projection was strategically inferior. Or, seamlessly execute on my prediction.
- Read a case-specific CP/Disad/PIC that I haven't seen before.
- Teach me something new that doesn't make me want to go home.
- Be kind to an opponent that you are more experienced than.
- If you have a speech impediment, please feel free to tell me. I debated with a lisp and am very sympathetic to debaters who have challenges with clarity. In this context, I will do my best to avoid awarding speaks on the basis of clarity.
- As a teacher and coach, I am committed to the value of debate as an educational activity. Please don't be rude, particularly if you're clearly better than your opponent. I won't hack against you if you go 5-off against someone you're substantively better than, but I don't have any objections to tanking your speaks if you intentionally exclude your opponent in this way.
Background:
Currently a Law Student at Wake Forest Law School 2022-present
Debated for UT Austin from 2018 – 2021
Debated for Winston Churchill (tx) 2014- 2018
Work for Winston Churchill HS and Texas.
Add me to the email chain: williamcoltzer@gmail.com
TLDR: Debate the way you debate best, focus on impact comparison on all levels of the debate, and give me a clear ballot story in the last two speeches. I prefer debates over hypothetical enactment of a policy. My favorite rounds are high-level topicality debates against a plan.
Meta Issues:
· Do not try to over adapt to me. I’d rather listen to a CP/Politics debate, but I would much rather listen to what you debate best.
· Tech > Truth – Debates should be left to the debaters, so I will try to revert to my flow as much as possible. This isn’t to say you need to repeat the same answer to 5 args. You should group or cross-apply your answers. I will try my best to place arguments w because where they apply because expecting you to crossapply all the arguments that are relevant is unrealistic, but the cleaner you make my flow the better your chances are of picking up my ballot.
· Evidence comparison – ev comparison is under-utilized and is very important in deciding close debates. Evidence carries great weight in most debates. Evidence is the only thing that gives credibility to the arguments of a high schooler. In critical debates, I am far more willing to allow for uncarded arguments. You SHOULD still read cards that define your theory and explains the alternative else you don’t have the foundation to make uncarded args.
· Mark your own cards
· In LD Debates – I use moral hedging/modesty – I don’t think that a framework is a preclusive impact filter. Rather, I view it as a weighing mechanism.
Framework:
· * Don't over-adapt to me in these debates. If you are most comfortable going for procedural fairness, do that. If you like going for advocacy skills, you do you. Like any other debate, framework debates hinge on impact calculus and comparison.
· * I don’t view TVA’s as counterplans. They don’t need to have specific texts of a 1AC – your job isn’t to write a 1AC, but to prove that another plan can meet the negs interp and resolve some of their offense. However, better TVAs are often more specific bc you can no link their generic answer to TVAs. The neg needs to provide either topic areas or specific plans that meet your interp and access some of their education/fairness disads. The affirmative shouldn’t read a case neg against the TVA bc it is not supposed to be impenetrable. The aff responses should be about the effective solvency of that TVA to the your offense.
· * When I vote neg, it’s usually because the aff team missed the boat on topical version, has made insufficient inroads into the neg’s limits disad, and/or is winning some exclusion disad but is not doing comparative impact calculus against the neg’s offense. The neg win rate goes up if the 2NR can turn or access the aff's primary impact (e.g. clash and argument testing is vital to ethical subject formation).
· * When I vote aff, it’s usually because the 2NR is disorganized and goes for too many different impacts, there’s no topical version or other way to access the aff’s offense, and/or concedes an exclusion disad that is then impacted out by the 2AR. Without a credible counter-interpretation that the aff meets and that establishes some sufficient limits on the scope of debates, I lean negative.
Topicality:
§ I'm a stickler for the quality of a definition, especially if it's from a source that's contextual to the topic, has some intent to define, is exclusive and not just inclusive, etc.
§ Reasonability is a debate about the aff’s counter-interpretation, not their aff. The size of the link to the limits disad usually determines how sympathetic I am towards this argument, i.e. if the link is small, then I’m more likely to conclude the aff’s C/I is reasonable even without other aff offense.
Kritiks
§ The kritik teams I've judged that have earned the highest speaker points give highly organized and structured speeches, are disciplined in line-by-line debating, and emphasize key moments in their speeches.
§ Just like most judges, the more case-specific your link and the more comprehensive your alternative explanation, the more I’ll be persuaded by your kritik.
§ I greatly prefer the 2NC structure where you have a short (or no) overview and do as much of your explanation on the line-by-line as possible. If your overview is 6 minutes, you make blippy cross-applications on the line-by-line, and then you drop the last three 2AC cards, I’m going to give the 1AR a lot of leeway on extending those concessions, even if they were somewhat implicitly answered in your overview.
§ Framework debates on kritiks rarely factor into my decisions. Frequently, I conclude that there’s not a decisive win for either side here, or that it’s irrelevant because the neg is already allowing the aff to weigh their impacts. Usually, I find myself somewhere in the middle: the neg always has the right to read kritiks, but the aff should have the right to access their advantages. Kritiks that moot the entire 1AC are a tough sell.
§ I’m not a good judge for “role of the ballot” arguments, as I usually find these to be self-serving for the team making them. I’m also not a good judge for “competing methods means the aff doesn’t have a right to a perm”. I think the aff always has a right to a perm, but the question is whether the perm is legitimate and desirable, which is a substantive issue to be debated out, not a gatekeeping issue for me to enforce.
§ I’m an OK judge for K “tricks”. A conceded root cause explanation, value to life impact, or “alt solves the aff” claim is effective if it’s sufficiently explained. The floating PIK needs to be clearly made in the 2NC for me to evaluate it. If your K strategy hinges on hiding a floating PIK and suddenly busting it out in the 2NR, I’m not a good judge for you.
Counterplans
§ Just like most judges, I prefer case-specific over generic counterplans, but we can’t always get what we want.
§ I lean neg on PICs. I lean aff on international fiat, 50 state fiat, condition, and consult. These preferences can change based on evidence or lack thereof. For example, if the neg has a state counterplan solvency advocate in the context of the aff, I’m less sympathetic to theory.
§ I will not judge kick the CP unless explicitly told to do so by the 2NR, and it would not take much for the 2AR to persuade me to ignore the 2NR’s instructions on that issue.
§ Presumption flips if the 2NR goes for a CP.
Disads
§ I’m a sucker for specific and comparative impact calculus. For example, most nuclear war impacts are probably not global nuclear war but some kind of regional scenario. I want to know why your specific regional scenario is faster and/or more probable. Reasonable impact calculus is much more persuasive to me than grandiose impact claims.
§ Uniqueness is important, but I will default to “link controls the direction of the disad” unless told otherwise and conceded by the other team.
§ Zero risk is possible but difficult to prove by the aff. However, a miniscule neg risk of the disad is probably background noise.
Theory
· * I default on drop the argument – I can be persuaded that many theoretical objections require punishing the team and not simply rejecting the argument, but substantial work needs to be done on why setting a precedent on that particular issue is important. This means don’t read generic “drop debater on theory.” You need to articulate a sufficiently offense reason to vote for your shell then articulate how rejecting the team resolves that offense.
· * Potential abuse can be a voter, but I am far less persuaded by potential abuse on theory as compared to T.
· * I am really persuaded by reasonability on theory – I find a lot of the “bad” and “frivolous” shells essentially have no disads to the counterinterp. For example, It might be true that disclosing open source vs just cites can lead to more educational debates, BUT this does not mean that the debates we have under sending cites is uneducaitonal. A marginal improvement in education is unlikely to be enough to gain by ballot.
Head Coach @ Jordan HS
Wake Forest University – 2022
Jack C Hays High School – 2019
Add me to the email chain: jordandebate@googlegroups.com
PFBC update: if your evidence does not have a tag at all, or it is functionally nothing (ie “concludes”, “explains”, etc), I will not flow it
General
I have been told that my paradigm is too short and non-specific. In lieu of adding a bunch of words that may or may not help you, here is a list of people that I regularly talk about debate with and/or tend to think about debate similarly: Patrick Fox (former debate partner), Holden Bukowsky (former teammate), Dylan Jones, Roberto Fernandez, Bryce Piotrowski, Eric Schwerdtfeger
speed is good, pls slow down a little on analytics
if harm has occurred in the round, i will generally let the debater that has been harmed decide whether they would like the debate to continue or not. in egregious instances, i reserve the right to end the debate with 0 speaks and contact tab. violence in the debate space is never ok and i will hold the line. if you have safety concerns about being around your opponent for any reason, please tell me via email or in round.
i am an educator first. that means that my first concern in every debate is that all students are able to access the space. doing things that make the round inaccessible like spreading when your opponent has asked you not to will result in low speaker points at a minimum. racism, transphobia, etc are obviously non-starters
you can use any pronouns for me
For online debate: you should always be recording locally in case of a tech issue
please do not send me a google doc - if your case is on google docs, download it as a PDF and send it as a PDF. Word docs > anything else
Specific arguments:
K/K affs: yes - you should err on the side of more alt/method explanation than less
Framework:
I view fw as a debate about models of debate - I agree a lot with Roberto Fernandez's paradigm on this
I tend to lean aff on fw debates for the sole reason that I think most neg framework debaters are terminally unable to get off of the doc and contextualize offense to the aff. If you can do that, I will be much more likely to vote neg. The issue that I find with k teams is that they rely too much on the top level arguments and neglect the line by line, so please be cognizant of both on the affirmative - and a smart negative team will exploit this. impact turns have their place but i am becoming increasingly less persuaded by them the more i judge. For the neg - the further from the resolution the aff is, the more persuaded i am by fw. your framework shell must interact with the aff in some meaningful way to be persuasive. the overarching theme here is interaction with the aff
To me, framework is a less persuasive option against k affs. Use your coaches, talk to your friends in the community, and learn how to engage in the specifics of k affs instead of only relying on framework to get the W.
DA/CP/Other policy arguments: I tend not to judge policy v policy debates but I like them. I was coached by traditional policy debaters, so I think things like delay counterplans are fun and am happy to vote on them. Please don't make me read evidence at the end of the round - you should be able to explain to me what your evidence says, what your opponents evidence says, and why yours is better.
Topicality/Theory:
I dont like friv theory (ex water bottle theory). absent a response, ill vote on it, but i have a very low threshold for answers.
I will vote on disclosure theory. disclosure is good.
Condo is fine, the amount of conditional off case positions/planks is directly related to how persuaded I am by condo as a 2ar option. it will be very difficult to win condo vs 1 condo off, but it will be very easy to win condo vs 6 condo off.
all theory shells should have a clear in round abuse story
LD Specific:
Tricks:
no thanks
LD Framework/phil:
Explain - If you understand it well enough to explain it to me I will understand it well enough to evaluate it fairly.
add to chain/speech drop:
top level:
Policy and K debates are my favorite, but reading what you want and giving a good speech is much more likely to get higher speaks than trying to tailor what you read to what you think my ideological preferences are.
In regards to Policy vs K debate, if I were biased either direction, it's probably in favor of policy, but I don't think this matters in a technical debate where your arguments have warrants. Do with that what you will.
Tech > truth, but truth determines the extent tech matters. A blatantly false claim like "the sky is red" requires more warranting than a commonly accepted claim ie "the sky is blue". Unwarranted arguments in the constructive that receive warrants later on justify "new" responses to those warrants. This doesn't mean I won't vote on tricks or theory, but the ability to say "X is conceded" relies on "X" having a full Claim/Warrant/Impact - the absence of crucial elements of an argument such as warrants will mean that adding them in later speeches will justify new responses. If an argument is introduced in a speech where no such response is valid, it carries little weight, for example: I am not going to think fairness categorically outweighs education if fairness outweighs is introduced in the 2AR.
(9/11/24) Because of this, claims start from zero and are built up through warrants. I do not want to judge tricks debates. I will abide by the above paragraph with far more scrutiny than I have in the past. Theory and phil debates are still fine, but I'll be much more hesitant to vote on blippy shells, analytic skep triggers, and other less warranted args than I have in the past.
random thoughts:
Qualified authors & solid warrants in your ev are important. Evidence comparison and weighing are also important. In the absence of evidence comparison and weighing, I may make a decision that upsets you. That is fundamentally your fault.
In the absence of paradigm issues, I'm going to evaluate theory contextually. This means I will only grant you the logical implication of the words you say, and will not automatically grant you assumptions like drop the debater. For example, if a 1AR tells me "PICs are a voter cuz they steal the aff", this logically means that PICs are a bad argument, but doesn't explain why the neg should lose for reading it. Functionally, this means I'd default drop the argument absent any explanation. This headache can be easily avoided through warranted, extended arguments.
K affs being vague and shifty hurts you more than it helps. I'm very unsympathetic to 2AR pivots that change the way the aff has been explained. Take care to have a coherent story/explanation of your K aff that starts in the 1AC and remains consistent throughout the debate.
I default to judgekick.
Northview '21
University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign '25
Debated LD in high school for 3 years and coached for 1 year, 10 career bids, cleared at TOC in 2020 and 2021
I've competed in Policy and PF as well - the below paradigm should be flexible enough across all debate divisions
Doc sharing is good for evidence ethics and accessibility, spreading or no spreading.
I prefer using Speech Drop for docs, its easier.
Email: sreyaash.das@gmail.com
Some quick notes and preferences:
1) I'll call clear/slow 3 times, so do be clear.
2) I like fast and efficient debates, so feel free to uplayer and spit out blippy analytics but make sure they're warranted arguments
3) Tech> Truth. Crazy args are fine, but the threshold for answers get lower. Higher level debates should always incorporate some level of truth behind arguments.
4) Non negotiable: speech times/rules, prep can be CX but CX can't be prep, compiling a doc is prep but flashing/emailing isn't, there's no "clarification time" before CX, clipping and ev ethics.
5) I'll disclose speaks. I think its a good norm to follow.
6) Don't let the type of debater you are facing affect your arguments. Exposure to different forms of argumentation on both sides is what spreads education within debate, regardless of experience; I wouldn’t have joined circuit LD if I hadn’t faced different progressive arguments at locals. Only condition is that you should be nice and reasonable: spread but send docs, be nice in cx, and your speaks will be boosted. Be sketchy and tricky just to get an easy ballot, and I'll nuke your speaks.
7) "If you are clearly better than your opponent and it is obvious that you are winning the round, please, dear lord, do not use all of your speech time just because you have the time- win the round and sit down so we can have a discussion and make it more educational than just you repeating conceded arguments for 13 minutes." ~ Stephen Scopa
8) I disclosed with good practices - open source with round reports and first/last 3. If your wiki is a model of what I believe to be good disclosure norms, show/tell me before the round and I'll bump up speaks.
9) Arguments and their truth level start at 0 and work their way up based on effective warranting. Conceded claims don't mean I automatically vote for them if they were originally unwarranted.
Prefs Overview
Note: Just because certain things are ranked low, DOESNT mean I won't vote off it, nor does it mean I don't enjoy it. I pride myself on trying to be as flex as possible, so feel free to run virtually anything. 1 = Most familiar/Best at judging this. 4 = Least Familiar/Worst at judging this
Policy/Larp -2
Kritiks - 2
Theory - 1
Phil -3
Tricks -2
I'm serious with these pref ranks - I'm comfortable with judging any form of argumentation
Policy/Larp:
Defaults: Judge Kick, ev > analytics
Be smart and do link analysis
Politics and process args are fine, higher bar for explanation tho
Zero risk is a thing
Explain cards - these debates are won with good analysis AND evidence
Ev comparison is key - don't make me spend 20 minutes reading through all the cards
1ARs - read theory vs CPs, low bar for case extensions if its simple
2NRs - answer theory vs CPs, please structure the collapse
Don't forget to kick out of things
Theory
Defaults: F/E are voters, drop the debater, competing interps, rvis
Standard weighing is dead - plz do it
Paragraph theory is fine
Be clear on standards so I at least have the standard name flowed
Terminal D on a shell is a thing even under competing interps, there has to be offense isolated at the end of the round.
Send interps/counter interps plz
Combo shells are cool, reasonability is persuasive versus them
Kritiks:
Dont be a doc bot the entire time
Link analysis contextualized to the aff is cool, it isn't enough to win your theory of power
Framework (weigh/cant weigh case) determines the result most of the time - win it
Buzzwords don't mean anything - just because the 1ar didn't explicitly say the words "Role of the ballot" doesnt mean there isn't defense on the kritik's theory of power
K Affs/T:
These Affs should have isolated a problem and proposed a method or model
Personal narratives hold little weight to me since the ballot isn't a referendum on one's identity
Reading a K aff isn't an excuse to not be technical, same for the 2NR on T
Fairness/Clash/Research is cool, do weighing if going for T
No preference in a K aff v. framework debate - I've been on both sides
Nuanced framework interps and warrants are cool (sabotage, passive voice, etc.)
Philosophy:
Defaults: epistemic confidence, comparative worlds
I'm cool with anything - the denser the phil the more explanation required
I think this type of debate still requires some level of interaction with actual offense
Spec phil affs are cool and I wish I saw more
Tricks:
Defaults: presumption negates unless the neg defends an advocacy, permissibility affirms
If it's gonna be a tricks round, delineate all arguments and dont be sketch in cx
Rebuttal extensions have to point me to what I am extending on the flow
Slow down on blips - flowability is key
Otherwise, I'll vote on anything explained.
Traditional:
I was a trad lad for a year, so you can have a traditional round, though I'd prefer otherwise.
Substance > V/VC debate
Frameworks are so arbitrary in lay debate, half the time theres no distinction between 2
I vote off the flow, ethos/pathos boosts speaks but won't just get you the ballot. Contrary to most beliefs, even traditional debate is based off of some level of technicality.
Speaker Points:
I think speaker points are based off of arguments made, and the strategies taken to attempt to win the round. As long as I understood you throughout the round, and you made sound strategic decisions in the round based off my paradigm, you'll get high speaks.
Hey Guys,
I debated in the Austin circuit from 2016-2018 and qualified for TFA state in 2018. I haven't been in the debate space much since 2018 so think of me as a lay/parent judge. The easiest way to get my ballot is to explain your argument in a logical and persuasive manner. I prefer substance over everything, with that being said I would not recommend you run a complex phil/theory arg since i've been out of the debate space for a while. Speed is fine, just be clear on the tags. If I have to say clear more than 3 times assume that your speaks will drop, 28.5 is what I normally begin with. If you make me laugh you can assume that your speaks will be higher. Anything offensive said in round will automatically tank your speaks to 25. Other than that, remember to have fun and be respectful to your opponent.
Please add me to the email chain: nandak9176@gmail.com
Email- mmdoggett@gmail.com
Background:
My college career started back in the 90s when CEDA still had 2 resolutions a year. I have coached in CEDA, NFA, NPDA, IPDA, and a little public forum. I am now coaching mainly in NFA LD.
General:
First, you should not assume that I know anything. This includes your shorthand, theory, or K literature. If you do, given our age differences, you might be shocked at the conclusions I'm going to come to.
Second, if you don't offer an alternative framework I will be net benefits and prefer big impacts.
Third, I presume the aff is topical unless the negative proves otherwise. I don't necessarily need proven abuse either. What I need is a clean story from the final negative explaining why they win and why I'm voting there. T is a voter, and I'm not going to vote on a reverse voter (vote against a debater) unless it is dropped or the carded evidence is really good. I am more willing to ignore topicality and look elsewhere than I am to vote the negative down on it. In rare instances, a negative can win without going all in on it, but that is very, very unlikely.
Fourth, I tend to give the affirmative risk of solvency and the negative, a risk of their DA.
Fifth, I'm probably going to need some offense/risk of offense somewhere on the flow to vote for you.
Sixth, if your K links are non-unique (apply to the status quo as well), you are only going to win if you win your alternative.
Seventh, on conditionality (LD specific)- I will probably vote conditionality bad if you have more than one conditional position.
Eighth, I will vote on them, but I'm not a fan of tricks. Tricks are usually a good indication that you know that you have done something pretty shady but if the opponent let's you get away with it, I'll vote for it.
In closing, I think that pretty accurately describes who I am but just remember I try to vote on the flow, but I tend to only look at the parts of the flow the debaters tell me too. Good luck!
I am the Director of Debate at Immaculate Heart High School. I am a conflict for any competitors on this list.
General:
1. I will vote on nearly any argument that is well explained and compared to the arguments your opponent has made.
2. Accusing your opponent of an evidence ethics or clipping violation requires you to stake the debate on said allegation. If such an allegation is made, I will stop the debate, determine who I think is in the wrong, and vote against that person and give them the lowest speaker points allowed by the tournament.
3. I won’t vote on arguments that I don’t understand or that I don’t have flowed. I have been involved in circuit LD for almost ten years now and consider myself very good at flowing, so if I missed an argument it is likely because you were incomprehensible.
4. I am a strong proponent of disclosure, and I consider failing to disclose/incorrect disclosure a voting issue, though I am growing weary of nit-picky disclosure arguments that I don’t think are being read in good faith.
5. For online debate, please keep a local recording of your speech so that you can continue your speech and share it with your opponent and me in the event of a disconnect.
6. Weighing arguments are not new even if introduced in the final rebuttal speech. The Affirmative should not be expected to weigh their advantage against five DAs before the Negative has collapsed.
7. You need to use CX to ask which cards were read and which were skipped.
Some thoughts of mine:
1. I dislike arguments about individual debaters' personal identities. Though I have voted for these arguments plenty of times, I think I would vote against them the majority of the time in an evenly matched debate.
2. I am increasingly disinterested in voting for topicality arguments about bare plurals or theory arguments suggesting that either debater should take a stance on some random thing. No topic is infinitely large and voting for these arguments discourages topic research. I do however enjoy substantive topicality debates about meaningful interpretive disagreements regarding terms of art used in the resolution.
3. “Jurisdiction” and “resolvability” standards for theory arguments make little sense to me. Unless you can point out a debate from 2013 that is still in progress because somebody read a case that lacked an explicit weighing mechanism, I will have a very low threshold for responses to these arguments.
4. I dislike critiques that rely exclusively on framework arguments to make the Aff irrelevant. The critique alternative is one of the debate arguments I'm most skeptical of. I think it is best understood as a “counter-idea” that avoids the problematic assumptions identified by the link arguments, but this also means that “alt solves” the case arguments are misguided because the alternative is not something that the Negative typically claims is fiated. If the Negative does claim that the alternative is fiated, then I think they should lose to perm do both shields the link. With that said, I still vote on critiques plenty and will evaluate these debates as per your instructions.
5. Despite what you may have heard, I enjoy philosophy arguments quite a bit and have grown nostalgic for them as LD increasingly becomes indistinct from policy. What I dislike is when debaters try to fashion non-normative philosophy arguments about epistemology, metaphysics, or aesthetics into NCs that purport to justify a prescriptive standard. I find philosophy heavy strategies that concede the entirety of the opposing side’s contention or advantage to be unpersuasive.
6. “Negate” is not a word that has been used in any resolution to date so frameworks that rely on a definition of this word will have close to no impact on my assessment of the debate.
Update fall 2024:I've coached for the last few years but have otherwise been somewhat removed from debate. Below information is still correct; in addition, I spend most of my time now thinking about psychoanalysis, Deleuze, and aesthetics.
Hi, I'm Ben! I debated at Strake Jesuit for 4 years on the TFA and TOC circuits, qualling to TOC sophomore, junior, and senior year. For quick prefs, below are types of args based on how much I feel comfortable judging them. I'm happy to judge anything, and the list isn't meant to be limiting at all!
1. Kritiks, policy stuff
2. Theory, T, phil
3. Tricks
I won't vote on any argument that makes debate unsafe, and, generally, please don't be sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, etc.
More specific stuff (I hope to add to this as I judge more and realize my specific thoughts on debate):
Theory and T:
I default competing interps, drop the debater, and no RVIs for shells that indict advocacies or entire positions (e.g., condo) and drop the arg for other shells (e.g., aff definition choice). Those aren't hard and fast rules, and I'd much rather that you introduce paradigms if you're reading theory.
I'm not opposed to the semantics 2NR at all, but I find that I have trouble flowing the dense grammar stuff at full speed. As such, I really appreciate examples and clarity here!
Policy stuff/LARP:
I'll judge kick if you ask me to, but I won't default judge kick on advocacies the 2NR extends without asking me to do so.
Kritiks:
I enjoy kritik debates where the 1NC makes an effort to contextualize links to the plan's discourse and action. I don't think links to the topic are absolutely necessary to achieve this, but they certainly don't hurt.
I don't often find myself persuaded by collapses against kritiks that are defensive, particularly against reps Ks. Generate offense!
Lots of kritiks, especially pessimistic ones, are read as if they are afropessimism - if your cards don't say ontological death, then you shouldn't either! Please please read and debate the kritik in a way that is consistent with your literature instead of explicitly parasitic on Black debate.
Phil:
I am more familiar with Kant, Pettit, Hobbes, and Levinas and less so with other theories. Happy to hear them, just explain well!
Tricks:
Please signpost effectively or I will not be able to flow these debates.
Miscellaneous stuff:
I'll default to tournament rules for evidence ethics, but I generally think violations like misrepresenting the author's intent or violating tournament rules are sufficient for you to stop the round. I'd rather you introduce violations like missing a few words at the end of a card as a theory argument so I don't have to use my own predispositions to determine if it constitutes losing the round, but you do you.
Prep ends when you finish compiling the doc.
Speaks are a reflection of your strategy, efficiency, and argument quality. I generally think speaks tend to be biased and inflated/deflated depending on the tournament, so I'll keep that in mind
Email: srimangaddam@gmail.com
PF/LD 4 yrs
LD Paradigm -
As a debater I did a bit of everything: framework, topicality/theory, policy, K’s, etc. I’m not deeply familiar with any particular body of literature, but I will likely have enough exposure to understand your argument and it’s implication for the round with clear explanations. So I’ll vote on pretty much anything that doesn’t make me doubt the activity’s value (e.g. racism good).
One caveat, for philosophically dense arguments, I value clarity very highly and don't enjoy digging through cards to make sense of your argument, especially when it comes to your advocacy (what am I voting for).
As a notice, I am no longer actively involved in debate, so be considerate. Speed should not be a problem - I am not afraid to call clear and slow - but I might not catch onto or be receptive to any new strategy antics that debaters love to pull.
I give speaker points based on a) general clarity and ethos, b) how well you understand and use your arguments (smart strategy)
PF Paradigm -
Overviews: Offensive overviews (overviews that are basically a new contention and aren't a direct turn to your opponent's case) are fine only in 1st rebuttal.
Theory: I don't care if theory is in shell form or paragraph form but make sure either way to not make a blippy argument without warrants.
Framework/Weighing: When presenting any alt framework, make sure to give a reason to prefer your framework over util.
Cross: Cross doesn't impact my decision, anything important needs to be brought up in a speech.
1st Speaking Team/2nd Speaking Team Differences: 2nd rebuttal has to respond to all offense from 1st rebuttal (turns+offensive overviews). 1st summary doesn't need to extend terminal defense unless 2nd rebuttal frontlines those responses.
LD- I'm open and can understand traditional and progressive arguments. I judge mostly on voters/impacts, clear and concise delivery and adherence to the prevailing framework according to the flow. I can understand spreading (if you know how to spread). Please don't misapply or abuse theory arguments. I weigh evidence and the most topical, latest or most logical cards coupled with framework/r.o.b solvency and voters usually wins out. I'm always available via email for questions about rounds or ballots. (agaunichaux@utexas.edu)
PF- As mainly an LDer, I can handle speed but since this form of debate is meant to be accessible to laymen, I strongly discourage spreading and including overly complex frameworks/advantages and arguments. Establishing impact and remembering to extend or drop arguments is very important for my flow and the team who best establishes advantages under the strongest framework/advantages always has an edge, even if the framework/advantages were co-opted from their opponents by linking in. And the framework/advantages which are most germane to the resolution are usually preferred. Up to date and relevant evidence with depth and scope is best. I'm always available via email for questions about rounds or ballots. (agaunichaux@utexas.edu)
Final update - Aug 2024
Docs: speechdrop.net
Director of the DebateDrills Club Team - here are various policies, incident reporting forms, and roster/ conflict info.
Enloe HS '20 + UPenn '24. 2x LD TOC qual (cleared junior year/ skipped senior year) + 13 bids. Actively coached from 2020-2024. Directing DebateDrills since 2023.
I primarily read policy args + T/theory. I am fairly familiar with but do not particularly care for philosophy, tricks, or the K; however, I will not insert my preferences absent a poorly resolved debate - read what you feel comfortable with.
Debating
Debate is a competitive game that imparts useful life skills, flow clarification is CX, CX isn't prep, speaks are my choice and not yours
Speaks boost for taking less prep and sitting down early if you've clearly won (i.e. dropped condo)
You should disclose properly, and it doesn't take 30 minutes to "make changes" to the aff
Not voting on:
---Args that deny the wrongness of racism/ sexism/ homophobia/ etc (potential auto-loss given severity)
---Death/ suffering good (spark/ wipeout type stuff is fine)
---Ad-homs or args based on out of round actions or a debater's appearance/ location/ etc (except disclosure screenshots)
---Arguments that are "vote for me because I’m x" or "I get [to do] y because I'm x"
---Independent voters that are not labeled as such in the speech they are introduced with a reason why they are
Defaults: fairness and education are voters, drop the debater, competing interps, no RVIs, comparative worlds, util, epistemic confidence, policy presumption, OCIs incoherent, perm theory is drop the arg
Tell me to read ev if you want me to
Judge kick requires winning an argument for it
Read rehighlightings if they make a new/ different argument - insert them if they show x thing is in y context or something was omitted, and explain any insertions
1ARs should probably read theory and 2NRs should probably answer it
Consequences probably matter but perhaps you can convince me otherwise
Tricks tend not to have warrants in the speech they're introduced or in the speech they're extended in
Ks need to prove that the aff is a bad idea, affs probably get to weigh case and extinction probably outweighs
I seem to vote for Ks far more vs phil affs than vs policy affs
K affs need to do something but usually do not - I do not want to adjudicate personal survival strategies or callouts
T framework - fairness and clash/ research > skills/ movements
Things I shouldn’t have to say
---All arguments need to be both originally made with and extended with a coherent warrant
---Won’t vote on arguments that I don’t understand the warrant for in the first speech they're introduced
---Delineate and explain arguments and their implications throughout the debate
Cheating
Clipping: Ending the debate if I catch it. If you have a recording, you can stake the round. Skipping 3+ words multiple times probably constitutes clipping.
Ev Ethics: If I catch a violation, speaks will plummet and the card will be ignored. These constitute a violation such that I'd act or you can stake the round/ make a challenge:
---Card starts/ends in the middle of a sentence or paragraph
---Text has been added to or removed from the original text of the cited article within the start/end of the card
---Card has been cut/highlighted/bracketed to make a claim that the article does not warrant
You can read any of these or any other violation you want as theory. If another part of the article contradicts the argument made in the card, I'd prefer to see a recutting of the article read as an argument.
Hey, I'm Joey, and I debated for Strake Jesuit and graduated in 2021.
Add me to the email chain, and please have it set up before round. I also am fine with fileshare or speechdrop, whatever is fastest.
For online rounds, if we can start the round sooner (if all debaters are there before time), I'll boost speaks, but no pressure I'm fine starting right on time as well
PF:
I prefer theory debates; otherwise, I'll adjudicate more similarly to a traditional judge since I'm not as immediately familiar with extension logistics and whatnot.
assume I know absolutely nothing about the topic/topic jargon
LD:
!!Note: I am usually highly preffed by debaters who read tricks/tricky positions, so if you are not fond of that style of debate, be wary in preffing me.
Non-negotiables:
One winner and one loser
Normal speech times - 6-3-7-3-4-6-3
Defaults:
~I can be convinced to go the other way very easily.
No judgekick
Truth testing
How to Win:
You do you – just do it well. Tell me very clearly how to evaluate the round and why you’re winning compared to your opponent, and that’ll probably be what I decide on. I liked to read a little of everything in my rounds, so don’t be afraid to try out some obscure strategy in front of me – just know how to explain it well enough for the win. I will say, though, I am more than fine evaluating these rounds, of course, but my least favorite types of rounds are LARP vs. LARP rounds.
How to Greatly Improve Your Chances at Winning & Boost Speaks:
-Weigh: Do it as much as you possibly can manage. It doesn't matter to me if you're winning 99% of the arguments on the flow; if your opponent wins just that 1% and does a better job at explaining WHY that 1% matters more in terms of the entire debate, you will probably lose that debate. Weighing + meta weighing + meta-meta weighing and so on is music to my ears. Also, doing risk analysis is excellent and very persuasive for weighing.
-Crystallize + Judge Instruction: You really don't need to go for every possible argument that you're winning. You should take the time to provide me with a very clear ballot story so that I know why I should vote for you. It might even behoove you to explicitly say: "Look. Here's the thesis of the aff/neg: (insert story of the aff/neg). Here's what we do that they can't solve for: (insert reason(s) to vote aff/neg). Insofar as I'm winning this/these argument(s), you vote aff/neg."
-Warrant your Arguments: When making arguments, be sure to provide clear WARRANTS that prove WHY your argument is true. Highlight these warrants for me and make sure to extend them for the arguments that you're going for in later speeches - if done strategically and well, I will probably vote for you. Also, pointing out the concession of warrants is just generally good for strength of link weighing, which I absolutely love. Please don't claim that stuff that isn't conceded is conceded, though; that is annoying to myself and your opponent.
-Signpost: Make very clear to me where you are on the flow and where you want me to put your responses. This will help to prevent any ambiguities that might affect my decision.
-Creatively Interpret/Implicate Your Arguments: Feel free (in fact, I encourage you) to provide your own unique spin to your arguments by providing implications that may not be explicit at first glance. Just make sure your original argument is open-ended enough to allow for your new interpretation. Truth claims are truth claims, so I don't care if you go for extinction outweighs theory, the kritik link turns fairness, or anything of the like, as long as you warrant the argument and win it.
Speed:
I’m fine with it– make sure to start off slow and ramp up to your higher speeds so that I can get used to it. I flow on my computer and will say slow or clear several times if necessary – that being said, if you still continue to be incoherent, I will not get your arguments on my flow and will not be able to evaluate them.
That being said, there are things I will DEFINITELY want you to slow down for to make sure that I catch them.
Slow down on:
1. Advocacy/CP Texts
2. Text of Evaluative Mechanism (This can include the text of your ROB, your standard/value criterion, etc.)
3. Theory Interps
4. After Signposting (Just pause for a second so that I can navigate to that part of my flow)
Speaks:
I will assign speaks based on your strategic decisions in round, but being clear definitely doesn’t hurt.
Random Notes:
-Tech > Truth:Technical proficiency outweighs the actual truth value of an argument. Even if I do not personally agree with your argument, the onus is on the opponent to prove why the argument is false or shouldn't be evaluated. If your opponent fails to do this, then I will view the argument as legitimate and will evaluate the argument accordingly.
-Talk to me prior to the round if you need any accommodations. If you have a legitimate problem with a specific argument that impedes you from debating at your best, then please, by all means, let me know before the round starts.
-Have Fun with the Activity: feel free to make jokes/references/meme (a bit) in round. Debate is admittedly a stressful activity, and so is school and basically the rest of life, so feel free to relax. Make sure that your humor is in good taste. However, there is a very fine line between humor and arrogance/insults, and I do not want to have to deal with a situation where "fun goes wrong."
Further notes:
- IF YOU'RE GIVING A 2AR VERSUS T OR THEORY, EXTEND CASE. I will negate on presumption if it's just a 3-minute PICs 2AR with nothing on case
- AGAINST NOVICES/NON-PROGRESSIVE DEBATERS: If this is a bid tournament, just don't be rude. You can read whatever position you want, but if you don't spread and read like a good phil NC or something so that the round is educational, you'll get good speaks. otherwise, read whatever you want. Idc ill give u normal speaks -- just try to make the round educational. the only time I will rly have to dock ur speaks is if you're being mean straight up. if it's elims, do whatever you need to win.
- I will not vote on an argument I don't understand or didn't hear in the initial speech, obviously, so even if you're crushing it on the flow, make sure you're flowable and explain things well.
- Prep time ends when you're done prepping, you don't need to take prep to send out the doc by email, but you do for compiling a doc.
- I will vote on non-T positions; just tell me why I should and explain the ballot story.
- Don't steal prep or miscut. u can call ev ethics by staking the round or reading it as a shell/making it an in-round argument - whatever u want.
Paradigms I ideologically agree with/took inspiration from:
Neville Tom (took the majority of his paradigm), Chris Castillo, Tom Evnen, Matthew Chen
TOC 2023
Hello - I did LD for 5 years at various schools in Plano, which is a suburb of Dallas (loosely speaking). I qualified to the TOC 3x with 9 career bids and participated in some round robins. As of TOC 2023, I'm a sophomore at UT and have been fairly removed from the activity outside of coaching PESH AW (Aadit Walia), PESH NG (Nathan Gong) and McNeil last school year.
I don't judge a ton and thus don't get much practice flowing outside of the drills I do with my students. Understanding a voice you're familiar with at 300wpm is very different from one you've never heard before. Take the risk that I miss important arguments seriously. To mitigate that, I recommend you:
- Start speeches and signpost a bit closer to conversational speed, be at around ~75-85% of your top speed during analytics and card tags, and go closer to top speed while reading cards.
- Recognize that if I yell slow or clear, I likely missed what you just said - if you want to ensure its on my flow, repeat it. A fault of mine has been waiting too long to yell slow/clear, so I will try to be a bit more proactive about this.
- Number and tag analytics before you make them. Putting labels to arguments will result in me knowing what to listen for and having a better flow.
- Recognize that if you're reading dense Phil/K positions, the bar for slowing down is higher. Often times the tags of Ks felt as difficult to follow as the tags themselves. I get you've done your reading and want to illustrate it, but either simplifying your explanation/language or slowing it down is important if you want me to grasp it.
Making sure I have a complete record of your arguments is the biggest factor for me making a decision you're okay with.
The second biggest factor is argumentative clarity. Some rounds are just obvious. The way I decide if I'm in a round that isn't is by making an RFD for both sides and seeing which requires the fewest logical jumps. That works great when there are only a few potential RFDs - namely, when both sides collapsed and directly compared their offense on the key questions of the debate against that of the other side. But when there are a ton of arguments that could be a part of my RFD, I may get lost connecting all the dots. So I advise collapsing, implicating the arguments you make and weighing/meta-weighing in places you may otherwise have not.
As for style: when I was debating I mainly read policy arguments and theory, but I dabbled in a few Phil positions (Kant, Gauthier and Hobbes mainly, although I'm somewhat familiar with Virtue Ethics, Levinas and probably others that slip my mind now). I took some interest in and read Ks at various points but found a lot of the concepts harder to grasp than moral philosophy, so I was never particularly proficient there. I don't care what you read, but will say I'm slightly less comfortable evaluating complex Ks than the other layers.
Last thing: read things because you want to read them, particularly if its your last chance to, and don't take this too seriously. Sure, winning is cool and I will understand if you opt to be intense, but many of these rounds will either be your last or those of your opponents - they don't come back, try to enjoy them.
Congrats on getting here and good luck.
Background
First, and most importantly, I am a Black man. I competed in policy for three years in high school at Parkview Arts/Science Magnet High School; I did an additional year at the University of Kentucky. I am now on the coaching staff at Little Rock Central High School. I have a bachelor's and a master's in Communication Studies and a master's in Secondary Education. I said that not to sound pompous but so that you will understand that my lack of exposure to an argument will not preclude me from evaluating it; I know how to analyze argumentation. I have represented Arkansas at the Debate Topic Selection for the past few years (I authored the Middle East paper in 2018 and the Criminal Justice paper in 2019) and that has altered how I view both the topic process and debates, in a good way. I think this makes me a more informed, balanced judge. Summer '22 I chaired the Wording Committee for NFHS Policy Debate Topic Selection; do with this information what you want.
Include me on all email chains at cgdebate1906@gmail.com. If it’s a policy round then ALSO includelrchdebatedocs@gmail.com,If it’s an LD round then ALSO include lrc.lddocs@gmail.com please and thank you
Randoms
I find that many teams are rude and obnoxious in round and don’t see the need to treat their opponents with dignity. I find this mode of thinking offensive and disrespectful to the activity as a whole
I consider myself an open slate person but that doesn’t mean that you can pull the most obscure argument from your backfiles and run it in front of me. Debate is an intellectual game. Because of this I find it offensive when debaters run arguments just run them.
I don’t mind speed and consider myself an exceptional flower. That being said, I think that it helps us judges when debaters slow down on important things like plan/CP texts, perms, theory arguments, and anything else that will require me to get what you said verbatim. I flow on a computer so I need typing time. Your speed will always outpace my ability to type; please be conscious of this.
Intentionally saying anything remotely racist, ableist, transphobic, etc will get you an auto loss in front of me. If that means you need to strike me then do us both a favor and strike me. That being said, I’m sure most people would prefer to win straight up and not because a person was rhetorically problematic, in round.
Judge Commitments
I’m SO sick and tired of circuit-level teams/competitors providing NON-circuit/lay judges to cover their commitment. Debaters spend a LOT of time crafting/drafting arguments and deserve to come to tournaments and have judges who will work equally as hard, when it comes to evaluating debates. If I am judging you and your school did/does NOT provide quality judging then expect me to be more arbitrary in judging debates than I would normally; if you are unwilling to provide others with a quality judge experience then I have no qualms giving bad, arbitrary, or other non-flow based decisions. IF you want me to provide you with a quality judging experience then you should populate the pool with similar-minded people. If you are unsure of what constitutes non-quality judging then see the non-comprehensive list below:
- parent judges
- lay judges
- judges who refuse to listen to certain arguments because they don’t like them (excluding tricks)
- judges who would prefer high school kids capitulate to what THEY want and not what the kids want to discuss
We as a community understand that some people cannot hire out judges and maybe only their parent is available but the lack of training that they give to those parents/certain questionable ways that they teach them to judge are still not good. In short, if you want me to be the best version of myself then provide other judges who are willing to work equally as hard.
Update for Online Debate
Asking "is anyone not ready" before an online speech an excise in futility; if someone's computer is glitching they have no way of telling you they aren’t ready. Wait for verbal/nonverbal confirmation that all individuals are ready before beginning your speech, please. If my camera is off, I am not ready for your speech. Online debate makes speed a problem for all of us. Anything above 75% of your top speed ensures I will miss something; govern yourselves accordingly.
Please make sure I can see your face/mouth when you are speaking if at all possible. I would really prefer that you kept your camera on. I understand how invasive of an ask this is. If you CANNOT for reasons (tech, personal reasons, etc.) I am completely ok with going on with the camera off. Debate is inherently an exclusive activity, if the camera on is a problem I would rather not even broach the issue.
I would strongly suggest recording your own speeches in case someone's internet cuts out. When this issue arises, a local recording is a life saver. Do not record other people's speeches without their consent; that is a quick way to earn a one-way trip to L town sponsored by my ballot.
Lastly, if the round is scheduled to start at 2, don’t show up to the room asking for my email at 1:58. Be in the room by tech time (it’s there for a reason) so that you can take care of everything in preparation for the round. 2 o’clock start time means the 1ac is being read at 2, not the email chain being set up at 2. Timeliness, or lack thereof, is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. Too often debaters are too cavalier with time. Two things to keep in mind: 1) it shortens my decision time and 2) it’s a quick way to short yourself on speaks (I’m real get-off-my-lawn about this).
Short Version
My previous paradigm had a thorough explanation of how I evaluate most arguments. For the sake of prefs and pre round prep I have decided to amend it. When I debated, I was mostly a T/CP/DA debater. That being said, I am open to just about any form of argumentation you want to make. If it is a high theory argument don’t take for granted that I understand most of the terminology your author(s) use.
I will prioritize my ballot around what the 2NR/2AR highlights as the key issues in the debate. I try to start with the last two speeches and work my way back through the debate evaluating the arguments that the debaters are making. I don’t have to personally agree with an argument to vote for it.
T-USfg
Yes I coach primarily K teams but I have voted for T/framework quite often; win the argument and you win my ballot. Too often debaters read a lot of blocks and don’t do enough engaging in these kinds of debates. The “Role of the Ballot” needs to be explicit and there needs to be a discussion of how your ROB is accessible by both teams. If you want to skirt the issue of accessibility then you need to articulate why the impact(s) of the aff outweigh whatever arguments the neg is going for.
I am less persuaded by fairness arguments; I think fairness is more of an internal link to a more concrete impact (e.g., truth testing, argument refinement). Affs should be able to articulate what the role of the negative is under their model. If the aff is in the direction of the topic, I tend to give them some leeway in responding to a lot of the neg claims. Central to convincing me to vote for a non-resolutionally based affirmative is their ability to describe to me what the role of the negative would be under their model of debate. The aff should spend time on impact turning framework while simultaneously using their aff to short circuit some of the impact claims advanced by the neg.
When aff teams lose my ballot in these debates it’s often because they neglect to articulate why the claims they make in the 1ac implicate/inform the neg’s interp and impacts here. A lot of times they go for a poorly explained, barely extended impact turn without doing the necessary work of using the aff to implicate the neg’s standards.
When neg teams lose my ballot in these debates it’s often because they don’t engage the aff. Often times, I find myself having a low bar for presumption when the aff is poorly explained (both in speeches and CX) yet neg teams rarely use this to their advantage. A good framework-centered 2NR versus most k affs involves some type of engagement on case (solvency deficit, presumption, case turn, etc.) and your framework claims; I think too often the neg gives the aff full risk of their aff and solvency which gives them more weight on impact turns than they should have. If you don’t answer the aff AT ALL in the 2NR I will have a hard time voting for you; 2AR’s would be smart to point this out and leverage this on the impact debate.
If you want toread a kritik of debate,I have no problems with that. While, in a vacuum, I think debate is an intrinsic good, we too often forget we exist in a bubble. We must be introspective (as an activity) about the part(s) we like and the part(s) we don't like; if that starts with this prelim round or elim debate then so be it. As structured, debate is super exclusionary if we don't allow internal criticism, we risk extinction in such a fragile world.
LD
If you don't read a "plan" then all the neg has to do is win a link to the resolution. For instance, if you read an aff that's 6 minutes of “whole rez” but you don't defend a specific action then the neg just needs to win a link based on the resolution OR your impact scenario(s). If you don't like it then write better affs that FORCE the neg to get more creative on the link debate.
If theory is your go-to strategy, on either side, please strike me. I am sick and tired debaters refusing to engage substance and only read frivolous theory arguments you barely understand. If you spend your time in the 1AR going for theory don’t you dare fix your lips to go for substance over theory and expect my ballot in the 2AR. LD, in its current state, is violent, racist, and upholds white supremacy; if you disagree do us both a favor and strike me (see above). Always expecting people to open source disclose is what is driving a lot of non-white people from the activity. I spend most of my time judging policy so an LD round that mimics a policy debate is what I would prefer to hear.
I’m sick of debaters not flowing then thinking they can ask what was read “before” CX starts. Once you start asking questions, THAT IS CX TIME. I have gotten to the point that I WILL DOCK YOUR SPEAKS if you do this; I keep an exceptional flow and you should as well. If you go over time, I will stop you and your opponent will not be required to answer questions. You are eating into decision time but not only that it shows a blatant lack of respect for the "rules" of activity. If this happens and you go for some kind of "fairness good" claim I'm not voting for it; enjoy your Hot L (shoutout to Chris Randall and Shunta Jordan). Lastly, most of these philosophers y’all love quoting were violently racist to minorities. If you want me (a black man) to pick you up while you defend a racist you better be very compelling and leave no room for misunderstandings.
Parting Thoughts
I came into this activity as a fierce competitor, at this juncture in my life I’m in it solely for the education of the debaters involved; I am less concerned with who I am judging and more concerned with the content of what I debate. I am an educator and a lover of learning things; what I say is how I view debate and not a roadmap to my ballot. Don’t manipulate what you are best at to fit into my paradigm of viewing debate. Do what you do best and I will do what I do best in evaluating the debate.
Mike Girouard
Years involved in debate: 20+ (policy 20+years, PF 7yrs, LD 7yrs)
Coached at Baylor, Kansas State, U of Rochester, The New School, Augustana College, The Asian Debate League and several High Schools - Debated at Univ of North Texas
I hate people who try to pigeon-hole judges into fitting a particular mold or label them as hacks that only vote for certain args or certain types of arguments. That being said I would say that I feel as though I can judge and evaluate any kind of debate that you want to have. I have some feeling about args and I will discuss those more in detail below, but it’s important to keep in mind that when you debate in front of me you should be comfortable in yourself and your arg and you should be fine. Have the debate that you want to have, because in the end that will make it more enjoyable and educational for everyone involved.
One last caveat, as this year has progressed and with the transition to paperless debate I find myself calling for less and less evidence after the round. I feel as though you should be doing the debating in the round. If it is a question of what the card says or doesn’t say I will probably call for the evidence, but don’t expect me to piece together your argument by reading all of your evidence after the round. I feel as though this does a disservice to a team that is at least attempting to do the argumentation on the line-by-line.
Prep Time – my default is that prep time should stop when the other team is flashing their evid. That being said if there is blatant disregard for this or abusing of this I will revert to prep-time not ending till after the speech has been flashed and given to the opponents. Before this does occur I will say something in the round.
CP’s – I love a good PIC. I think it should be the burden of the Aff to defend every aspect of the plan and should have some defense of including it in the plan. I really don’t like to vote on theory, but I will if that is what you want the debate to be about. As far as perms go, use them as you like. Just justify your theory and your fine. If you are going for a CP in front of me keep a few things in mind: it must have a net benefit and some sort of DA to the perm, it doesn’t necessarily have to solve for all of the Aff, but you need to have something to answer the portions that you don’t solve for, you can have a critical net benefit if you like, just explain how it functions in relationship to the Aff and the advocacy of the CP.
DA’s – Not really a whole lot to say here. I like U cards to have some sort of a warrant. Debate the warrants in the round and don’t make me have to evaluate 15+ U cards to help settle that debate. I would prefer fewer cards with more warrants to help settle this problem. Make sure you are giving me some sort of impact calc in the last few speeches and weighing all the potential outcomes of the impacts (i.e. – even, if statements). If the aff reads a K of your impacts you have to justify them or you will probably lose that argument. I prefer scenarios with fewer and more warranted internal links as to avoid the proliferation of outlandish impact scenarios. Make sure there is a solid link and you are weighing everything in the last few speeches and you should be fine.
The K – I am open to most K’s. I don’t believe that Realism/Framework is the end all answer to the K. Try engaging in the arguments that are being run and you have a better chance of picking up the ballot in front of me. Arguments that question your representations or epistemological starting point are best answered by providing an offensive justification for your reps or your starting point. Just make sure you are explaining how you want me to evaluate your K in relationship to the Aff. What are the impacts, what are the implications, do you have an alt, and what is the link. Make sure all of these things are in the debate and you will be fine. I do find that most people don’t answer one fundamental question in these types of rounds: What is the role of the critic? Just answer or at least recognize that these questions exist and you should be alright.
Topicality – My default is that this debate should be about competing interpretations. You should attempt to answer the question: which interpretation is better for both this debate round and the community as a whole. This being said, if you don’t want me to evaluate it based on competing interpretations just make the arg and justify it with warranted args and you should be fine. If you are going for T in front of me you probably need to spend a little bit of time on it in the 2NR. I’m not saying that you have to go for T and nothing else, but I think it’s an arg that requires a little bit of time for you to adequately go for it. Things I look for in a T debate: Clear distinction between interpretations, warranted reasons for why your interp is better as well as why the other interp is bad, and the impact these have on not only the round but the community at large.
Theory – Not a big theory hack, but will vote on it from time to time, especially in instances of clear articulated in round abuse. Just make sure you are giving warranted reasons why your theory is legit, the specific abuse that has occurred and the impact of them being allowed to do what they did. That being said, theory should be more than just a whine, engage their args and make sure that you are at least answering their args. If you expect for me to vote on theory you should devote some time to it in the last couple of speeches.
Performance – I’m fine with different styles of debate. There are instances where you can ask me to not flow or be so “flogo-centric” and assuming there is a warranted reason why this is legit I will be alright. A few things to keep in mind if you do chose to do this in front of me: why is your method better than what exists now? why should it be preferred and what are the larger implications on the debate community? Just make sure you are attempting to at least perceptually engage the other teams args and you will be fine.
Hello I debated for 4 years in High school and have been judging for 7 years, I am in my second year an Assistant Coach at Blanson CTE High School
Debaters: If your opponent clearly is less experienced than you and you exploit that to stroke your ego I will drop your speaks to the lowest number I can and i will down you even if you won the round on the flow and I will contact your coach. Practices like that are unethical and takes away the educational aspect of debate. Also I don't like these progressive things that have been ran at recent tournaments, I have no problem with progressive arguments that are ran well however most of the time they are not done well.
Do not ask me to pre flow you should know your case already, I like big picture or line by line I'll judge the round on either, impact calculus, make sure you weigh for me, I HATE FRIVOLOUS THEORY, and also don't run anything you don't understand. Be respectful and have fun
I want an educational round over a competitive round. If you spread the other team out of the room, are intentionally vague and unwilling to explain your vocab, or are generally rude and dismissive, especially against a novice team, I'm giving you an L and giving you the minimum number of speaks. My view of debate is as an educational activity first and competitive second. Local tournaments are to foster critical thinking skills and create more nuanced, educated high schoolers.
First: this is a communication event it does not matter if I can understand speed DO NOT SPREAD, I cannot flow what I cannot understand and it is not my job to read off of a doc. You can send me the doc, but I will only refer to it if there is a problem with evidence.
Second: be respectful the easiest way to get me to drop your speaks (and you'll likely loose the round too) is if you are being rude
Third:DO NOT MAKE UP SOURCES I will fact check you and I will get in touch with your coach and the tournament director, you CAN use the internet in rounds now
Fourth: Debaters I DO NOT DISCLOSE Do not ask me to disclose and all comments will be on the ballot
Congress Kids: do not wait until the round has started to take splits do that before the round. and I HATE in house recesses to take splits especially when y'all just started. another thing, when y'all take splits and you need to write a speech in round go with the least popular side of the debate as it increases your chances at getting the speech. CLASH IS ESSENTIAL FOR CONGRESS TO BE A DEBATE EVENT!!!!!! When y'all take in house recesses it makes you look unprepared. When you get up to give a speech make sure you are actually adding something to the debate rehashing old arguments does nothing for the debate. When you clash with past arguments make sure you mention specific arguments brought up and the speaker who said it.
Extemp: I like to see a well organized and structured speech. You need a good hook to capture the audiences attention. DO NOT MAKE UP SOURCES I can tell when a source is made up and if I think you are making up a source I will fact check you. I hate being lied to in extemp. MAKE SURE YOU ANSWER THE QUESTION!!! That is the quickest way to get me to drop you in rank if you don't answer the question, you could have excellent analysis but you must answer the question
Interp: I'm not gonna lie this is probably the event I am least equipped to judge, but I like to see good blocking, clear character transitions and distinctions between characters. In POI make sure you have a variety of pieces in your program. Bring the emotion out in your piece, that does not mean you need to scream to convey emotions
OO:I like to listen to a good oratory. I love the speeches where I learn something and maybe make me feel inspired. Speech should have a catchy agd/hook that transitions naturally into your background information. Make sure you have a solution for your problem. When choosing a topic try to make it unique there are several topics that are commonly used so make your speech unique. I like to see acronyms for your solution. Make sure you have a call to action
Info: Informative is a different event from OO so don't give an OO in info. One of the main differences is that in Info you do not offer a solution you offer societal implications. I love to see infos that actually teach me something I didn't know before I came to judge the round, so be creative I love to see unique info visuals and topics
Conflicts: Blanson CTE, Avalos P-TECH
PREF SHORTLIST: Ks > Policy >>>>>> everything else and if ur a trad debater pls strike me thank u in advance
Disclaimer: writing this completely from scratch as of 9/26/22 bc the other one was long & outdated & I didn’t feel like updating it.
anyways hi I’m James, if you don’t know me call me J. SFA ’21 & UT Austin ’25. I debated in cx/ld for 5(ish) years total & competed locally/nationally for all of those
Other disclaimers:
- I start at a 28 & go up/down from there
- +0.2 speaks for pet reveals in the doc
- my verbal rfds are usually pretty long but please don't let me keep you, if you're hungry or if you have a team meeting or if you're competing in another event or if you literally just want to leave you're more than welcome to. everything actually important is written on the ballot anyway
In a nutshell:
- Yes chain: 27offlol@gmail.com
- Any pronouns
- Tech = truth
- speed is good
- theory is cool
- t-usfg is cringe & non-t affs are based (as long as they don't just lose to presumption)
- minus .2 speaks for each off in the 1nc that makes me use >6 sheets (LD) or >7 sheets (Policy)
- meme rounds are cool just make sure y’all are all in on it
- do not annoy me. Annoy me = nuked speaks. Things that annoy me:
o postrounding (please just email me after the round you can be as rude as you want just let me get food lol)
o being toxic to ur opponent
o not disclosing. New affs included. Brightline = if it requires a new tag then disclose that tag/cite. Idc about open-source but I will hack for any new theory in either cx or ld rebuttals regarding an arg that was presumably undisclosed for a strategic edge
o stealing prep. Yes I will notice
o reading things besides a k or policy, and this is the only categorical imperative I’m willing to entertain
- do not piss me off. Piss me off = L25 and I tell tab that you pissed me off. Things that piss me off:
o Being prejudiced/violent or reading args that attempt to justify it
o Evidence ethics violations
o Telling a group of people what to do when you don’t identify with said group of people (e.g. nonblack debaters who read afropess)
o Edelman. I don't have/want to elaborate further just don't lol
Questions? Comments? Smart-aleck remarks? Email me. K thanks glhf
Strake Jesuit Class of 2020
Fordham 2024
Email - hatfieldwyatt@gmail.com
Debate is a game, first and foremost.
I qualified for the TOC Junior and Senior years and came into contact with virtually every type of argument
Please note that I have strong opinions on what debate should be, but I will not believe them automatically every round they have to be won just like any other argument. Tech>truth no exceptions.
I am not a fan of identity-based arguments. Please don't run arguments that are only valid based on your or your opponent's identity.
Additionally do not swear in round or use profanities it will effect speaker points.
Styles of Debate -
I will vote on all of them if I see your winning them
Tricks - 1
Larp - 2
Phil - 1
K - 3
Theory - 1
K performance - 5
DEBATE ROUNDS
To win my ballot: Logical links and clear connections are important whether you're running a traditional or progressive case. Your argumentation skills and strategies is what your opponent is challenging, therefore; a clear, cut, concise connection is what wins the round. Listen to your opponent, (FLOW), provide impacts and know what your talking about. If you've got a few tricks up your sleeve, be sure you know how to use them.
I do not mind speed, but if you decide to spread make sure you slow down on tag-lines. Consider speaker points when spreading. I look to vote for a strong link and one's ability to prove why your case wins the round. Voters are extremely important to me so make sure you use the time in your last speech wisely.
I do my best to flow all arguments presented in the debate and rely heavily on my flow to determine the round winner. Make sure to signpost well, and please give me a roadmap of your speeches.
If you decide to do an email chain please, add me. mhix@neisd.net
Speaker Points
Positives: politeness, confidence, well-placed humor, preparation and well executed strategies/arguments.
Negatives: rudeness and unnecessary condescending comments, pointless cross examination, skirting the issues or avoidance
SPEECH ROUNDS
Staying true to the competition rubrics.
If I can't hear you, then I can't score you. Please, speak loud and clear.
Parent judge
How I eval rounds:
Explain things logically
Arguments should be consistent with scientific theories (e.g., in economics, psychology, etc.)
Advance social value and strong ethics.
Speak slowly and clearly
Please weigh
Email: hehuang@hotmail.com
Debate: No spreading. Offer clear arguments and reasons to direct me in RFD of the round.
Speech Events: Interesting and unique topic that holds my attention the entire time. Simple and clear presentation of speech. Good use of humor and research throughout the speech.
Interp Events: Great use of characterization and blocking. The piece should paint a clear visual of the scene that holds my attention. The topic should be relevant and important to the competitor and society.
UPDATE 2024: Have not judged debate in a couple years, so don't spread super fast, over explain the topic for me a bit, and make the round as easy as possible for me to vote for you. Wouldn't recommend you run Ks, theory, dense phil, or any tricks. Happy to answer any other questions.
Hi! My name is Zara, I’m a junior at UT and I did LD for 3 years at Round Rock High School. Please add me on the email chain: zara.inam@gmail.com
I’m pretty much fine with anything that you want to run, but you need to do a good job running it and making sure that I understand. I’m fine with speed, but slow down on the tag lines and cites.
Disclaimer: I have not debated in a little bit and am not very familiar with this topic, so please just make sure to explain your arguments and things like acronyms and plans a little more thoroughly for me to understand. It'll make it easier for me to evaluate the round, and probably easier for you to win my ballot
virtual debate: please go a bit slower than you would normally in person, online debate makes spreading a lot harder to understand. Try to go like 80-90% of your original speed.
I'm not keeping time, so make sure to time yourself and your opponent. Please speak up if they go over time and don't realize.
tech > truth: 99% of the time (the exception being racism, sexism, etc)
signpost and off time roadmap!!
Preferences
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LARP (DA’s, CP’s) - this is mainly what I read when I debated and what I am most comfortable with. Make sure to fully explain your link chain and impacts. I really want to hear about the impacts and please please weigh, thats the best way for me to understand what you're saying.
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Theory - I'm fine with theory - but I am not likely to vote off of a frivolous theory shell. I want to see a lot of engagement with the theory argument if you want me to end up voting off of it, it is up to you to explain the abuse and what I should do about this.
- Traditional Debate - I'm also fine with this, but still want you to focus on everything in the round. If you drop stuff/ spend all of your time on framework, it makes it really hard for me to vote for you. be strategic.
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K’s: I personally did not read a lot of K's, but I think they are super interesting. If its not a super common K - you'll need to explain the literature well. Pls make sure you are ready to explain the K well - I need to be able to understand it well to vote off of it. Like everything else - just be clear with your arguments, rushing thru super fast and expecting me to understand a complicated K won't go well.
- Framework/Phil: I honestly think a good framework debate is really interesting, go ahead with this, but be sure to explain if its a complicated framework. However I am not well versed in dense phil or uncommon frameworks - so you will need to do a good job of making it clear to me and how I should evaluate it.
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Tricks or abusive arguments: i'd really rather you not read these lol
Bottom line: feel free to run what you want, but if its something a little more uncommon, please be sure that you actually know what you are saying and are able to explain it. If I get what you're saying and why it matters - i'll easily vote for you. I typically ran LARP arguments, so that’s what I’m most comfortable with. Again, feel free to run anything, but again, if you are running a complicated FW or a K, make sure to explain it well to me so that I understand.
I’m very focused on the flow so please make sure to extend everything (and give a good extension summarizing why the arg actually matters and apply it to the round) and provide a good line by line. Please focus on the line by line, and I'd like to see you actually attacking the integrity of their cards and ev. If theres some sketchy evidence or the card is not reliable - bring it up!
Use your rebuttal speeches effectively and don’t drop parts of the flow (!!!!) and stay organized so that we all know where you are on the flow. Dropping arguments is really unfortunate in a debate round and I really don't want to have to vote against you for doing this!!! Be strategic, and make sure to make your arguments clear earlier in the debate, because if you come up with completely new arguments late in the debate, I won’t be able to evaluate them.
PLEASE WEIGH your arguments and make it clear how I should evaluate this round and what really matters.
I really don't want to intervene too much in the round and have to interpret things for myself - the best way for you to win the round is to be clear with the arguments that you are winning and why these args are important.
I’ll base your speaks off of both strategy and clarity of speaking/spreading. I'm not too harsh with speaks - just make be strategic and clear.
Debate can be overwhelming and stressful at times - please be compassionate and nice to your opponents!
I don’t really know what else to put on here, so please ask me any questions you have before the round, and I’ll be happy to answer!!
Have fun and good luck!! :)
I would call myself a tab judge with traditional sensibilities. I'll flow anything you tell me (although spreading isn't my favorite and I'll ask you to slow down if it hurts my ability to follow the debate) and love being given voters. I value clash and impact calculus, but am happy to vote on whatever you tell me to.
Add me to the chain: juliejohnstoneauthor@gmail.com
I'll evaluate anything that isn't problematic with equal credence because I believe it's probably pedagogically valuable to test from as many angles as possible (with a few exceptions listed down below), but the pref chain below is just indicative of how comfortable I am with said style of argumentation.
Pref Chain:
K, Topicality - 1
Trad - 1
Policy - 2
Theory - 2/3
Tricks - 3/4
Phil - 4/5
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
- I love creative arguments regardless of which style of debate they're categorized as. Things like Clash Royale theory, the 21 Savage Kritik, and the Rider Disadvantage are things I enjoy very much. Creativity/Interesting strategy will be rewarded with better speaks.
- Debate is probably a game, but the conversations within can spill outside of debate.
- Probably shouldn't read framework if your only definition is resolved.
- Non-fwk Topicality shells should probably have an explicit caselist.
- Slightly err on the side of condo being good, but as with everything, good debating can change that.
- No stance on severance - you should actually justify why it's bad.
Things I don't like/ Will refuse to evaluate:
- Death Good (Not including niche impact turns like spark, nuke war good, climate change good, alien wipeout, leveraging ontology, etc. I mean like Benatar type stuff)
- Patriarchy Good, Racism Good or other edgelord impact turns of similar discipline
- Tricks or spamming friv stuff against debaters with accommodations. To be clear, tricks are fair game otherwise.
- Very high threshold for disclosure against novices and/or small school trad debaters (anything else is fair game tho, i just think disclosure against debaters who don't know how to disclose/know what it is should be taught out of round.)
If you do ANY of these things, expect a 25
Speaker Points:
I believe that speaker points are pretty arbitrary because they're pretty subjective, so I'm pretty receptive to speaks arguments. Absent anything of the sort, I believe that I am a bit of a speaks fairy so take that as you will.
[[ ]] new: policy teams have, for some reason, decided the only thing they want to read in the 1ar vs negative kritiks is framework. generally, this strategy tends to lose in front of me. if framework is true, the alternative still exists and you probably need to do other things to answer a potential materialism push. usually the negative gets the link and the aff gets to weigh the case.
[[ ]] I was told my old paradigm was too long, so I've shortened it considerably. I still agree with everything that was there broadly, and you can read the archived versionhere.
[[ ]] NEW: I HAVE UPDATED MY EMAIL FOR ORGANIZATION PURPOSES. SEND DOCS HERE: djdebatedocs@gmail.com
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[[ ]] About Me
- affiliations: dulles (current), plano west (grad 2021), mcneil (2023-2024)
- I debated in HS and won some stuff, graduating in 2021. I also had a brief stint in NDT/CEDA policy and won nothing. I haven't competed since early 2022.
- Disinterested in judging vacuous non-arguments and listening to kids be jerks to each other. Be nice. Violence in front of me is an L0 and a talk with your coach. The target of this violence decides what happens with the debate. Yes, this includes misgendering. its probably best to avoid gendering whoever ur debating as a good rule of thumb. i expect mutual kindness, respect, and professionalism.
- MUCH WORSE FOR E-DEBATE. It's too draining and I zone out a lot. Pref me online at your own risk.
- I want to be on the email chain, and I want you to send docs in Word doc format: djdebatedocs@gmail.com.i strongly prefer an email chain to speechdrop.
- Yes speed, if you have to ask though you're likely unclear and I urge you to correct it.
- Yes, clash. No to arguments that are specifically designed to avoid engagement
- tech and truth both matter. truth informs how technically difficult an argument is to win. more willing to believe that grass is green than 2+2=5 but both are winnable, just a matter of threshold.
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[[ ]] Specfic Arguments
- tl;dr is that I think every decision is interventionist to some degree, but I try to be as predictable and open about my preferences as possible.
- yes policy; counterplans, disads, etc. are fine. Zero risk is probably a thing. I think it's more interventionist to vote on unwarranted arguments unjustified by the evidence than to read evidence after the debate without being prompted. My BS detector is good and if you're lying about evidence, I'll probably know. i will not judge kick unless you justify it, and i can probably be persuaded it's bad to do so. neg leaning on most counterplan theory and condo, but its not an unwinnable battle for the aff. condo is definitely an uphill fight though.
- yes kritiks, but I lean more toward policy these days. this is not because of anything paradigmatic but rather because i've found most kritikal debates to be overwhelmingly generic lately. these next two sentences might seem paradoxical, but I assure you they are not. I am deeply interested in poststructuralist positions and think I will be the best for you if this is your thing. you should defend something material and do something. preference for speeches that contain the alternative and do something material instead of heavy framework dumps with "reject the aff." To clarify, framework and a link is a fine 2nr but the important part is a link. If I don't know what the aff is doing that is actively bad I cannot vote it down even under your framework interp. the negative will always get the link, the aff gets the plan, not much will change that.
- yes planless/creatively topical/critical affs, but again I lean more toward policy these days. justify why reading your aff in a space where it must be negated and debated against is good, not just why it's good in a vacuum. talking about the resolution is a must - you should not be recycling backfiles from a different topic and saying nothing about the resolution. Talk about the entire resolution and don't abstract from words or modifiers. if I don't know what the aff does, I'm not voting for it. I'm a big sucker for presumption.
- yes T-FWK. fine for both fairness and clash, although if you're going for fairness as an internal link, you're probably better set going for clash as an impact itself. Talk about the aff, don't just debate past it. letting the aff win that they resolve xyz impact turn with conceded warrants from case usually means you will lose.
- yes non-framework topicality arguments. i am the antonin scalia of topicality and am a diehard textualist.
- i dont think ive ever voted for "disclosure bad" or similar arguments. if the aff isnt disclosed, you lose. sorry. i am reasonable and i think taking proactive or good faith steps to disclose is sufficient.
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[[ ]] LD Specific:
- Phil: sometimes. I understand these arguments theoretically considering it's what I'm studying and I know what people like Kant, Levinas, Spinoza, and Hegel say. I don't understand the debate application of these folks. Be clear and overexplain.
- Tricks: strike me.
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[[ ]] PF: tl;dr im technical but rather disinterested in hearing progressive arguments. strong preference to not hear diet policy debates b/c speech times make it so that the more things you have to explain the less likely you will win.
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If you have questions email me, although the archived version of my paradigm at the top will likely answer them. Good luck!
email: rakoort99@gmail.com.
former debater at UH, now judge/coach there.
You do you. I have few predispositions about how the round ought be. I have no real preference between policy and K arguments, but I am significantly more experienced with the policy side of things. I won't be as familiar as you with your specific lit base.
Judge instruction is important and I take it seriously. It is better for you as debaters and me as the judge when you explain a clear path to the ballot rather than having me do unguided forensic analysis on the flow.
I love case debate. I think it is underutilized. The 2ac is often allowed to get away with far too much. I am not unwilling to zero solvency when affs are missing key pieces. I take evidence quality seriously when it is made an issue in round.
Almost certainly won't vote on condo or new affs bad, won't default to judge kick but can be swayed.
Be kind, have fun.
I'm a Master's student at UTHealth Houston. I did LD at Westwood High School from 2015-2019, then coached/judged actively from 2019-2022.
Since 2022, I did not judge nearly as often and therefore have not critically thought about debate since then. My debate brain processes information at a fairly slower speed than it did before and therefore is not good at translating new acronyms or hearing debaters blitz through scripted monologues at top speed. My best advice for you is to slow down (at least a little bit) on things you want me write down on the ballot and explain things you deem important.
Email: trumantle@gmail.com
I've shortened this paradigm because it was very lengthy, but the full one from the 2021-2022 season can be found here.
Main things:
1] I am most comfortable judging policy-style debates and T/theory debates, though the worse the shell gets, the more unhappy I am. I am comfortable judging phil and kritik debates if they don't get too advanced for my brain (pomo, Baudrillard, existentialism, etc.). I am not comfortable judging tricks debates, and though I will still evaluate those debates, I have great distaste in that debate and my threshold for answering those arguments is much lower than other arguments.
2] My views on debate have mostly been shaped by Rodrigo Paramo, Morgan Grosch, and Jugal Amodwala. What you choose to do with that information is up to you. I also agree with Rodrigo Paramo on evidence ethics and trigger warnings. Detailed specifics for ev ethics is below as well.
3] My threshold on tricks is if the more I believe the argument is used to avoid clash the less I like it and the less likely I'll vote on it. This seems to exclude a lot of arguments debaters tend to read now, including but not limited to "evaluate the debate after the 1AC," indexicals, tacit ballot conditional, and various other paradoxes/1AR restart strategies. This is in large part because I just don't understand these arguments, but also because of my belief these arguments are not beneficial or educational to the activity. If you're not sure whether an argument is too tricky to read in front of me, err on the side of caution, or just email me pre-round.
4] I believe in open-source disclosure. I think most disclosure arguments that go beyond this are bad (contact info, round reports, actual tournament name, etc.).
5] I give speaks based on how far I believe your performance would get you at the tournament I'm judging at. 28.5 generally means I think you'll break, 29.5+ means I'd expect to see your performance in late elims. Yes I will disclose speaks if requested.
6] I require much more explanation for arguments than you think I do. Many 2AR's that I've judged go for a 3-second argument in the 1AR that I did not catch/have an understanding for, and many 2NR's that I've judged blitz through overviews of the theory of power/philosophical position that I cannot keep up with. Either slow down or be clearer in explanations.
7] Slow down please, especially in online debates. You will not be happy with my RFD if I don't catch something because you're blitzing too fast.
8] I am extremely visually expressive. I know it's hard during online debate to see my face when you're reading through a doc, but you should almost always be able to tell if I like something/find something confusing.
9] I don't know anything about this topic. Err towards overexplaining and try not to use too many acronyms.
[Evidence Ethics]
I perceive the following to be cheating (or check Rodrigo's paradigm):
- Clipping
- Cards starting or ending in the middle of a paragraph, or leaving paragraphs out (yes this includes the "they continue" stuff
- Miscutting evidence
- Misrepresenting the date of evidence
I would much prefer debaters stake the round on evidence ethics claims. I will notice clipping without debaters pointing it out, though you should still do so to make it easier for me. If there is an evidence ethics violation, it will result in the offending debater getting an L 25. If there is not a violation, the accusing debater will get an L 25.
Been involved with the game in some way since 2008, do as you wish and I shall evaluate it in the way that I feel requires the least interference from myself.
Put me on the chain please: debate.emails@gmail.com, for the most part I do not look at the documents other than some cursory glances during prep time if a card intrigues me. I still may ask for specific cards at the end of the debate so I do not need to sort through each document, I appreciate it in advance.
I believe that debate is a communication activity with an emphasis on persuasion. If you are not clear or have not extended all components of an argument (claim/warrant/implication) it will not factor into my decision.
I flow on paper, it is how I was taught and I think it helps me retain more information and be more present in debates. Given that I would appreciate yall slowing down and giving me pen time on counterplan texts and theory arguments (as well as permutations).
The most important thing in debates for me is to establish a framework for how (and why) I should evaluate impacts. I am often left with two distinct impacts/scenarios at the end of the debate without any instruction on how to assess their validity vis-à-vis one another or which one to prioritize. The team that sets this up early in the debate and filtering the rebuttals through it often gets my ballot. I believe that this is not just true of “clash” debates but is (if not even more) an important component of debates where terminal impacts are the same but their scenarios are not (ie two different pathways to nuclear war/extinction).
While I think that debate is best when the affirmative is interacting with the resolution in some way I have no sentiment about how this interaction need to happen nor a dogmatic stance that 1AC’s have a relation to the resolution. I have voted for procedural fairness and have also voted for the impact turns. Despite finding myself voting more and more for procedural fairness I am much more persuaded by fairness as an internal link rather than terminal impact. Affirmative’s often beat around the bush and have trouble deciding if they want to go for the impact turn or the middle ground, I think picking a strategy and going for it will serve you best. A lot of 2NRs squander very good block arguments by not spending enough time (or any) at the terminal impact level, please don’t be those people. I also feel as if most negative teams spend much time reading definitions in the 1NC and do not utilize them later in the debate even absent aff counter definitions which seems like wasted 1NC time. While it does not impact how I evaluate the flow I do reward teams with better speaker points when they have unique and substantive framework takes beyond the prewritten impact turn or clash good blocks that have proliferated the game (this is also something you should be doing to counter the blocktastic nature of modern framework debates).
It would behove many teams and debaters to extend their evidence by author name in the 2NR/2AR. I tend to not read a large amount of evidence and think the trend of sending out half the 1AC/1NC in the card document is robbing teams of a fair decision, so narrowing in and extending the truly relevant pieces of evidence by author name increases both my willingness to read those cards and my confidence that you have a solid piece of evidence for a claim rather than me being asked to piece together an argument from a multitude of different cards.
Prep time ends when the email has been sent (if for some reason you still use flash drives then when the drive leaves the computer). In the past few years so much time is being spent saving documents, gathering flows, setting up a stand etc. that it has become egregious and ultimately feel limits both decision time and my ability to deliver criticism after the round. Limited prep is a huge part of what makes the activity both enjoyable and competitive. I said in my old philosophy that policing this is difficult and I would not go out of my way to do it, however I will now take the extra time beyond roadmaps/speech time into account when I determine speaker points.
I find myself frustrated in debates where the final rebuttals are only about theory. I do not judge many of these debates and the ones I have feel like there is an inevitable modicum of judge intervention. While I have voted for conditonality bad several times, personally my thought on condo is "don't care get better."
Plan-text writing has become a lost art and should invite negative advocacy attrition and/or substantive topicality debates.
Feel free to email or ask any questions before or after the debate. Above all else enjoy the game you get to play and have fun.
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Experience:
Competitor-- Winston Churchill (2008-2012)
Assistant Coaching--
Past: Jenks (2012-2015) Reagan (2015-2017) Winston Churchill (2018-2023)
Currently: Texas (2017-present)
Debated for Winston Churchill High School (TX). Debated at Texas. Camps worked at: VBI, Baylor, UTNIF.
Email: jacoblugo101@gmail.com
Please have the email chain ready as soon as both opponents meet before the round.
A few thoughts:
- I consider my role in the debate is to decide who did the better debating.
- I prefer for there to not be any room in the debate to input my own opinions. Prefer debates to be as clean and explicit as possible to make the most objective decision.
- I'll listen to most any type of argument. Not a fan of vacuous theory arguments or paragraphs of spikes/preempts (most pertinent to LD).
- I tend to/prefer to flow on paper. Take that into consideration. If you see me flowing on my computer, be mindful when you are transitioning between arguments.
- I flow what you say. Not looking at the doc during speeches unless I have absolutely no idea what you are saying (at which point I will stop flowing and stare at you until you notice). I read the docs between speeches/during CX/after the round.
- Please slow down during analytics. For some reason people tend to read through these faster and faster every year.
- I'm very expressive. My face is a good indicator of where the debate is going.
- If I'm absolutely unsure of what is going on/no arguments have been made, I'm most likely going to err neg.
- I'm always listening.
- Speaker points: I like to be entertained. I care about pathos. I enjoy creative and strategic argumentation. I generously doc speaks if I feel that you are being unnecessarily rude.
I HIGHLY APPRECIATE AN EMAIL CHAIN: My email is enriquemtz300@gmail.com.
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General Comments:
Hello Everyone! My name is Enrique Martinez, and I am:
Will be pursuing a MA in Economics at George Mason University: Fall 2022-May 2024 (projected)
Former coach at Mount Pleasant High School: 2020-2022
Mount Pleasant High School Class of 2018 (Go Tigers): Competed in Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debate
UNT Class of 2019 (Go Mean Green): Judged debate, speech, interp at various tournaments. No competing.
I have expanded my knowledge of the various competitions that are readily available for students to participate in since competing as a student. So I am very aware of much of the workings of various speech and debate events.
Please let me know if there are any general questions before the round starts. I have outlined how I view several arguments for debate competitions below.
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Lincoln-Douglas Debate:
Thoughts: I lean more traditional (I don't mind which way you go tbh), but I am entirely open to the possibility of hearing critical arguments. If I hear a critical argument, you must explain it and its role in the round. LD debaters can cross-reference my views of policy debate. In regards to speed, keep it about 65-75%. Cool if you need to finish a point before the time is up, but make sure you're not going so fast that I don't understand you. (MORE COMING SOON, ASK FOR SPECIFICS)
Progressive vs. Traditional: I'm completely fine with either form of LD debate. If I were to put these on a spectrum, I would be closer to traditional than progressive, but I am not bothered by either form of debate. This is mainly because I have debated and judged in both CX and LD at some point.
Framework: Whether it be Value/Criterion or simply a framework, this is one of the most vital parts of an LD case. I like to see weighing going on between frameworks. I also want to see one side (respectfully) dismantle the opponent's fw. Lastly, I need to see and hear how the fw case ties to the resolution and the case as a whole.
Kritik: I need the presenter of the K to explain how it is applicable in the sense of the round. I am okay with hearing the K, but I am unaware of all literature involved in these arguments. Even if I was, it is the competitors' responsibility to show their understanding of the K, doesn't expect me to make any leaps. In my perspective, viability and empirics are vital for the NEG to win the K. In addition to commonly accepted ideas, I would discourage reading a communist alternative in a K, as my research and background make it difficult to vote for it.
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Cross-Examination/Policy Debate:
Overview: As a policymaker judge, I prefer that argument stay within the realm of the resolution. I am okay with K's, T's, and theory arguments as long as you can explain their applicability in the round or policymaking. I will break down my thoughts on most arguments. If you have any questions, please ask. As for my experience: I was a CX debater for two years and occasionally did LD as well as an HS student, and I have been coaching since 2020.
Comments: I will STRONGLY ENCOURAGE that you do not run a whole chunk of off-case arguments if you're going to throw them out. At the same time, go for whatever suits you best within the round, but please explain why you are kicking an argument.
DA- With every DA, make sure it covers everything in a DA, such as impacts. Also, generic DA's are fine, but the more specific it is to the AFF, the better.
CP- I am good with CP's, but ensure you cover everything when presenting it in the 2AC. Explain how the resolution is not plausible or why the CP is preferable. Make sure that I can completely understand
T- Topicality is fine with me, with the most crucial thing in the round being the interpretations. It would help if you also conveyed to the judge why your interpretation is preferable to the opposition's definition.
K- While I am a policymaker judge, I am willing to hear K's out. I ask each team running the K to take some time to explain how the K lit because I may not be as familiar with it depending on the K. Also, explain how the K does/doesn't relate to the actual resolution and policy. In my perspective, viability and empirics are vital for the NEG to win the K. In addition to commonly accepted ideas, I would discourage reading a communist alternative in a K, as my research and background make it difficult to vote for it.
Theory- This argument is fine with me, but ensure it runs correctly. Be able to explain if there is/isn't an abuse issue.
Framework- Framework is a debatable issue in the round. Be able to explain why I should prefer your framework over the one presented by the opponent.
Impact Calc-Highly appreciated.
Speed: Keep it about 60-70%, or about 215-245 words per minute, if that helps more. I tend to prefer that your arguments are well thought out and that you can express your arguments to the fullest of your ability without risking the possibility that the message is not conveyed. I understand that spreading can be the norm and the benefits, such as creating valuable skills like processing thoughts rapidly. Still, it is not how most people, especially policymakers, discuss their ideas. Cool if you need to finish a point before the time is up, but make sure you're not going so fast that I don't understand you.
Speaker Points-Top speaker (usually) gets a 30. Everyone else falls according to volume, clarity, and appropriate tone (not as vital). The only exception is if there is no outstanding speaker in the round. If there is a preset speaker point system on my end with details provided by the tournament organizers, I will default to those and judge accordingly. Since I judge many schools from different backgrounds, having one set of speaker points is challenging.
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Speech:
Extemp-I prefer more substantive analysis rather than the number of sources. With that said, 1-2 sources per point are usually safe. Ensure the speech is well-structured, including signposts to facilitate following along.
Hi! I'm Cale- I've been coaching and judging for 8 years (PF and LD, some policy).
Affiliations: Del Norte, Magnolia, Director of PF at VBI
Former: Westlake, Flanagan, Corona del Sol, Brophy, Quarry Lane
General:
- Read whatever you like: judging debaters who enjoy what they read is fun. However, keep in mind the coherence of my RFD will scale with your clarity- slow for analytics and tags, send well-organized docs, signpost, and number answers when you can. You'll be much happier with my decision.
- I will not 'gut check' or strike an argument just because you've deemed it unwarranted or silly. Instead, I encourage you to make an active response- it should be quick to do so if the argument is as underdeveloped as you say.
- Extend your arguments. Something more than the tag is necessary, even if you think it's conceded.
- Keep the round a safe and pleasant place for everyone. I will work hard to give you a thorough decision so long as we can all access the debate and speak about it afterwards without hostility.
Policy:
I'll judge kick the CP. I am good for your competition-based or process CP. Most often, teams would be better served engaging in a competition debate rather than reading a blippy theory argument. Default limitless condo (won't hack for it, but it's a strong default).
Zero-risk exists, and while it is difficult to achieve, it is entirely possible to make an argument's implication so marginal that its functional weight in the round is zero.
I am happy to judge critical debates, but please engage in the lbl and err against being too overview heavy- especially true in the case of a planless affirmative.
LD:
Policy- What I judge most. Above section applies, I'll just add that a. 3 word perms aren't arguments- explain the world of the perm and b. Limitless condo less strong a default given speech times in LD- still think you're better off engaging in a competition debate, but more open to cp theory claims.
Theory- A lot of what I judge. Always send interps and slow for anything you extemp. Far too often in these debates there's no weighing or line by line done on paradigm issues: the 1n reads their theory hedge and vaguely crossapplies it to the 1ac underview, and then all of these arguments just float around in the 1ar and 2n without resolution- please lbl to make judging this tolerable.
K- I frequently judge & cut a variety of cap & setcol arguments- external to that, I will need more judge instruction/won't be steeped in your literature's jargon. Please lbl clearly: I find myself most lost in k 2n/2ars when the overview is jargon-heavy and crossapplied everywhere.
Tricks- Requirements for me to vote here: 1. It has a warrant & implication 2. It is delineated in the doc (not in the cut of a card or hidden in a tag) 3. You're not being intentionally obtuse in cross 4. You slow way down in the rebuttal speeches and make the extension + application of the argument exceptionally clear. With all of that being said, I have no predisposition against voting here, particularly if you're reading triggers for a fw, skep or p&p.
Phil- I have next to no experience save for a lot of Kant, I mostly judge tricky weird stuff. Need you to slow down and give me extra judge instruction if you're reading anything denser, but happy to learn.
PF:
Extend defense the speech after it's answered and be comparative when you're weighing or going for a fw argument. Otherwise, read what you think is most fun and educational. This can include theory, critical arguments, and other forms less common to PF- I only ask you don't read these positions just for the sake of doing it. Read them well.
Come to round ready to debate (pre-flowed, have docs ready if you're sending them, etc). The only way to frustrate me beyond being rude is to drag out the round by individually calling for a lot of evidence and taking forever to send it.
Hi! I'm Sam. Harvard Westlake '21, Vanderbilt '25. Email chain please:samantha.mcloughlin@harker.org. LD TOC qual 4x (octos soph year, skipped etoc junior year, quarters senior year), 20 bids, won some tournaments (Valley, Yale, Stanford, etc). I mostly read policy args, some basic T/theory, and some Ks/topical K affs (settler colonialism, fem IR, etc). I also coached for the past three years and currently coach for Harker, so I have some topic familiarity.
Everything in this paradigm (minus the hard and fast rules) is just a preference - my strongest belief about debate is that it should be a forum for ideological flexibility, creative thinking, and argumentative experimentation. I realized this paradigm was way too long so I tried to bold stuff for pre-round skimming.
Hard and Fast Rules--
If you are going too fast for me to tell if you are reading all the words in your cards, I will assume you're not. I will call clear and slow, please listen or we will all be sad.
Won't vote on any arg that makes debate unsafe. This includes any arg that denies the badness of racism/sexism/etc, or says death good (args like spark/wipeout = ok, cuz it doesn't deny the value of life, it's just fancy util maths that says extinction better preserves the value of life). If your opponent wins your argument is repugnant (absent any larger framing or judge instruction), I'll drop the argument, unless you presented your argument with the agreement that it was repugnant (ie, if you admit your position is racist, but attempt to say that doesn't matter), in which case I will consider your repugnance purposeful and drop you.
Ev ethics - stake the round on it (ie W30 to the person who is right and an L with the lowest possible speaks to the other) if evidence is misrepresented (an omitted section contradicts or meaningfully alters the meaning of the card). I think a good litmus test for misrepresentation is: does the article agree with the claims presented in the card? If it's missing a sentence or two at the beginning/end of a paragraph but it doesn't change the meaning of the card, you're better off reading it as theory. To make everyone's life easier, just cut ev well (this means full citations, full paragraphs, in alignment with the author's intent).
Clipping = an L with the lowest speaks I can give.
Speaks are my choice, not yours (put away 30 speaks theory).
For online debate, I expect that you record all your speeches in case you, your opponent, or I drops out.
Argument TLDRs--
Defaults: reasonability on theory, competing interps on t, drop the debater on t/theory, no RVIs, T>theory>everything else, comparative worlds, fairness + education are voters, policy presumption, epistemic confidence
^All those can be easily changed with a sentence.
K debate - Line by line >> long overviews. Winning overarching claims about the world is helpful, but you need to apply those claims to the specifics of your opponents arguments or else I will not do those interactions for you. Framework is important (honestly most of the times in policy v K debates, the person who wins fw wins the round). Links to the plan are preferred, but not necessary - the less specific your links, the more fw matters, and the more persuasive the permutation is. I also tend to think debate should be about arguments, not people, which means I'll likely be unpersuaded by personal attacks or "vote for me" arguments. I'm more persuaded by skills impacts on T Framework than fairness, and more persuaded by non topical affs that impact turn things than try to find a middle ground.
Policy - Yay! Zero risk not a thing but arguments still must be complete to be evaluated. Underdeveloping off in the 1nc = they get less weight in the 2nr. Rebuttal ev explanation > initial ev quality, but if your opponent's ev sucks and you point that out, that falls under the first category. Read your best evidence in the 1NC - I'll be persuaded by arguments that the 2NR doesn't get new evidence unless it's directly responsive to the 1AR. Big fan of creative and topic specific counterplans <3(consult __ is usually not creative).
Theory - PICs and condo are probably good. Other CPs (international fiat, agent, process etc) are a bit more suspicious. All of this is up for debate. Descriptions of side bias are not standards. The more frivolous the shell = the truer reasonability and DTA are, and the lower the bar for answers. On that note, reasonability and DTA are under-utilized.
Philosophy - Not the area i'm the most comfortable in, but I'll try my best. I'd love to see a well explained phil debate, but I will not enjoy a blippy phil round that borders closer to tricks debate. I'd rather you leverage your syllogism to exclude consequences rather than relying on calc indicts. Debaters should take advantage of nonsensical contention args.
Tricks - I don't think a model of debate predicated on the avoidance of clash (ie relying on concessions) is an educational model. My test for whether an argument falls under this model of debate is: ask yourself if you would be willing to go for an argument if it was responded to competently. The same idea also extends to the formatting of your argument (ie you should delineate + thoroughly explain all your arguments with clear implications). I won't purposefully insert my personal beliefs about the value of tricks debates into the round, but it does mean that I'll probably be more receptive to arguments that indict tricks debate as a model. Some arguments are truer than others, and it's easier to win true arguments in front of me than false ones. I also default comparative worlds, and have given more than one RFD that boils down to "X trick was won but there's no truth testing ROB under which it matters." Up-layering tricky affs with Ks or strategic theory is smart, and when leveraged correctly make claims of new 2NR responses more persuasive.
Lay - I have respect for good lay debaters since I know I could never be one. That said, I will definitely evaluate the debate on a technical level regardless of the style. Good lay debaters can beat circuit debaters by strategically isolating key arguments. Circuit debaters vs lay debaters don't need to modify their style of debate, but should do everything they can to be accessible (explain stuff in CX, send docs, etc) (same applies to debates where there is a large skill gap).
Misc - My threshold for independent voters is high. Emphasizing this after a couple rounds where it's been relevant.
Rant Section--
Tech > truth, but separating the two is silly. The more counter-intuitive an argument, the higher the bar for winning it, and the lower the threshold for responses. Saying "nuclear war bad" probably requires less warranting than "nuclear war good" cuz the second one has the burden of proof to overcome the intuitive logical barrier to its truth value.
I'll deal with irresolvability using the "needs test" - the burden of proof falls on the side that "needs" to win the argument (ie the burden of proof is on the neg in the perm debate because the neg needs to beat the perm, but the aff doesn't need to win the perm).
I won't vote on arguments telling me to "evaluate the entire debate after X speech" that are introduced in X speech - it generates a contradiction. Also, the 2AR is after all the speeches before it - interpret this as you choose.
Likes/Dislikes--
Likes: plans bad 2NR on semantics if you understand the grammar behind it and are not reading someone else's blocks, creative and non-offensive policy impact turns, creative process CPs (no this is not the ICJ CP or consult the WTO), plan affs (yes I realize this contradicts with my first like), multiple shells bad, Ks with links to the plan, presumption/case presses vs non T affs, topical K affs, reasonability/DTA on frivolous theory, collapsing, flashing analytics
Dislikes: the grammar DA, RVIs, plans bad 2NR on semantics when you don't understand the grammar behind it, plans bad 2NR that's just reading off someone else's doc with no topic specific analysis, standard spec, buffet 2NRs, hidden args, non T affs that are an FYI not an advocacy, combo shells that don't solve their offense, "strat skew", "this argument is bad" [then doesn't explain why the argument is bad], "that's an independent voting issue" [doesn't explain why it's a voting issue past just the label] (this also applies to 1AR arguments not labelled as voting issues that magically become voting issues in the 2AR), "what's a floating PIK" "what's an a priori", being rude or interrupting your opponent (especially if you're more experienced or in a position of power) (at best it adds nothing at worse it's unkind)
Overall (Speech):Speech is a game of engagement with the audience, and your efforts should be towards engaging the audience with the message of your piece. My ranks are always based primarily on this. Of course, there are many tools to engage an audience, and your choice to use them and your effectiveness with them will vary.
Oral Interpretation: In interpretation events (HI, DI, DA, DUO, POI, PR, PO), I am looking for a performance that creates a significant personal or social meaning from the literature chosen. I am also looking for a performance that shows emotional and tonal complexity and a range that is both suitable for the piece and is demonstrative of the skills of the interper.
There should also be intentionality in the decisions made in the interpretation of the piece. For example, all the blocking employed in the piece should have a purpose and should not seem haphazardly included in the performance. This also goes for what is included in the cutting of the piece, for the words spoken, the emotions, sound effects, etc. conveyed should all contribute to the message you are trying to convey in your interpretation.
Public Address: In Public Address or Platform events (IX/FX, USX/DX, OO, INFO), I am looking for speeches that add novelty and insight to the topic of the speech. Making the topic relevant and understandable to a general audience is necessary for success in these speeches.
Speeches in these categories are more effective and engaging when they employ a variety of pacing and tone that convey to the audience the significance and emotional stakes of the points you make. On top of clear speaking and style, one needs to create the engagement for the audience with their voice through these tools. In general a conversation
Speeches should be well organized and easy to follow for the audience. They should have clear but original signposting to help the audience keep track of where they are in the speech.
Lincoln-Douglas:
I'm a speech coach, and this is not my preferred event. That being said, I am rather traditional when it comes to judging LD with heavy emphasis on the battle of values and achievement of the value criterion through your use of your evidence.
I have some debate experience through high school, but consider me more of a lay/UIL circuit judge.
Speed is okay if you are understandable, but I should not have to read along to understand you, if I can't flow it, it didn't happen. Elements of progressive debate such as theory and K are fine but have to be well justified within the context of the debate, otherwise, I'm not sure it'll make it to my flow.
Speaks are awarded on quality of debate based on speaking and presentation with 28 being the average debate performance, lower being, well, lower, and being among the best I've seen will be awarded a 29-29.5. If you are somewhere in between you will be awarded somewhere in between.
My email is navarretecjavier@gmail.com
2024 Update: I haven't judged since UT 2023 and the last time I actively judged a lot of tournaments was 2021. I like debate best when debaters feel the most confident about their debating. The one thing that will detract from that right now is that given my absences these last couple of years, you need to be more mindful of telling me where to look, where to flow, and why to care.
Debate how you want to. Explain arguments, give overviews, tell me what to vote on and why. If the debate ends with an unclear voting issue, I will take the path of least resistance to a completed ballot. Conceded offense does not automatically mean winning offense when you do not explain how it interacts in a debate. My RFD should just be repeating back the judge instruction the 2AR/2NR told me.
I expect you to respect pronouns and social boundaries, and not make the space unsafe for anyone involved. It's okay if debaters are afraid to speak up during rounds; as a judge, I have a role to be attentive to unacceptable behavior and I can reflect that in speaker points, RFDs, decisions, or conversations with Tab and coaches.
Good advice from Tyler Gamble's paradigm: "My flow is poor. The faster you go the more arguments I will miss. I am truth over tech. I will most likely not vote for a technical interaction that hasn't been heavily explained in the round. If you are grossly misrepresenting technical arguments to another debater, I reserve the right to not vote on those arguments."
The only debate advice I ever stood by is that crystallization always goes a long way in any round and you should zero in on arguments you expect me to talk about in the RFD. You want me to spend most of my time looking at the arguments you expect me to care about, or else I will default to the highest impact and potentially evaluate an unclear debate.
Here are some specifics that might give you an idea about my defaults, but they're always subject to change depending on the round:
LD:
Relevant against novices/less-experienced debaters: Don't try to overly surprise your opponent with something intentionally complex unless you're ready to explain it to them. The same goes for any other kind of tricks you'll try to read. As a spectator, I still love tricks, but as a judge I'm more than happy we're past the need for unnecessary apriori's hidden in the 1AC.
Misc: I mostly went for the K/phil in high school, and feel pretty caught up with most literature bases that have translated well from policy. I think NCs with good phil frameworks are underutilized.
Policy:
My threshold for good evidence is a bit higher for this event. I will more than likely reward you in speaker points if a team impresses me with really good/cool evidence that make the debate cut and dry by the end of it. That requires impact weighing and good weighing analyses, tell me why your evidence is better, and I'm sure that will get you further with quality over quantity of evidence.
Non-T/K's positions are cool, and at the same time, go for framework if you want but always be persuasive about what debate means as an activity and what the threshold for arguments should be.
Public Forum:
I need you to weigh, give me good impact analysis, and make sure to boil down the debate with a clear winning strategy by the end. The best teams have always prioritized when to read evidence and when to avoid it. I think defense is really important in PF, and can oftentimes help you get ahead against overtly extensive line-by-line that might not be as substantial or clarifying for the round. I end up being more technical about these debates than I am about policy/LD.
PF keeps changing and I love that so I'm more than happy to judge policy positions, and theory, and have teams spread; that said, please be aware that ostracizing your opponents isn't always the best strategy and you should proceed with caution against less experienced debaters.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
I am currently the Director of Forensics for Bruins@NPDA, UCLA's student-tun NPDA debate team. I competed in college parli for two years and last year got 3rd at the National Round Robbin. I competed in CX debate and Congress in high school and made it to state for both events. I have experience judging CX, LD, Parli, Extemp, and Congress.
Email: nikanik@g.ucla.edu
Judging philosophy for CX, LD, and Parli:
-I am a flow judge and will vote on any argument that is conceded in a round if it has: Clear framing, warrant, and impact weighing.
-I think conditionality is good but will vote on Condo bad if it has won the theory debate
-Feel free to read a topical aff or a Kritikal affirmative( I have experience with both and would prefer you do the style of debate that you are most comfortable in)
-I will assign speaker points based on technical skills. I will lower your speaker points if you are rude to your opponent and drop you if you are racists, ableist, etc.
-The theory is always fun! I am cool with the 2AC theory but will not vote on 2NR or 2AR theory. Make sure it has a clear interpretation, violation, standards, and voters for me to vote on
-I do not accept shadow extensions; if you want to collapse to an argument in the 1AR/2AR, it must be in the 2AC. No new arguments in the rebuttals, please.
-Make sure you have warrants and impact weighting in the rebuttals!
Judging philosophy for speech/congress:
-I highly value sources and warrant analysis
-A clear opening with an organization is always helpful
-I would rather see a small speech with much detail and sources, than a long speech with little to no sources
PREP TIME ENDS WHEN THE DOC IS SENT. PLEASE INCORPORATE DOC SENDING INTO YOUR PRACTICE AND DRILLS. YOU HAVE 10 SECONDS AFTER STOPPING PREP TO START THE SPEECH OR ELSE I'M STARTING YOUR PREP RIGHT BACK UP. IF YOU'RE OUT OF PREP THEN I'M STARTING YOUR SPEECH TIME.
I EXPECT ROUNDS TO START EXACTLY AT (MAYBE EVEN EARLIER THAN) THE DESIGNATED START TIME. IF YOU START THE CHAIN AND SEND THE 1AC ~2 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE START TIME WE'LL BE GOOD.
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR FLIGHT 2 DEBATES STARTING LATE BECAUSE OF DEBATERS. YOU HAD AN HOUR EXTRA TO PREPARE/START THE EMAIL CHAIN/PRE-FLOW.
IF A TIMER IS NOT RUNNING (speech, cx, prep time) YOU SHOULD NOT BE PREPPING (looking at docs, typing, writing) THAT IS STEALING PREP
Okay enough yelling. Sorry I'm getting grumpy.
Email: okunlolanelson@gmail.com [Add me to the chain]
About me: I debated in Texas mostly in LD and did a little Policy. Had a short stint for Northwestern debate (GO CATS). If you're reading quickly before a round, read the bold.
General/Short version:
- Tech > Truth
- Line by line > Overviews but the best debaters will/should combine contextual overviews with intricate line by line
- Judge instruction is axiomatic. The best rebuttals start and end with judge instruction.
- Assume I know very little about the topic, your author, the norms, the meta e.t.c. This means (for the most part) you do you, extend and explain your position and I'll do my best to objectively evaluate it
- If its a Policy throwdown, please slow down a bit in those final speeches. Remember I'm probably not familiar with the topic. This is mostly for LD since shorter speeches/rounds means less time to explain those [internal] links.
- I'm not flowing of the doc - I believe that judges flowing off the doc incentivizes ATROCIOUS clarity and rhetorical practices. Won't even glance at the document unless absolutely needed (1/10 debates). It is YOUR job to extend and explain your evidence, not my job to read it and explain it for you. Clarity is axiomatic.
- PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SLOW DOWN on analytics, tags, interpretations, plan/cp text, theory. You can go as fast as you want on the card body. Remember speed can be a gift or a curse.
- Debate whatever and however you want. Go all out and do your thing, just DO NOT be violent or make the space unsafe.
- Frame your impacts and weigh your impacts. No one wins their framework anymore. Its a shame. It would make debates atleast 37% easier to decide.
- Errr on the side of explanation and slow down a bit for dense [analytic] philosophical debates. I do not have a PhD in philosophy.
- Bad theory debates get more annoying as I get older. I promise you no one is thrilled to decide on a debate on "evaluate the debate after the 1AC" be forreal. You still have to respond to bad theory arguments though (shouldn't be terribly hard)
- You will auto-lose if you clip cards or falsely accuse. You will auto-lose for evidence ethics violations
- A good speech consists of judge instruction, overview, line by line, and crystallization (and obviously strategy). Good speeches = good speaks. Rhetoric and Persuasion is important.
- I don't care how far away or how close to the topic you are but you must justify your practice. This is your activity not mine. I'm simply here to give feedback, decide a winner, and enjoy the free food from the judges lounge. If you think fairness is an impact, defend it. If you think skills matter, defend it. If you think defending USFG action causes psychological violence, defend it.
- One thing to note for "non-T" affs vs T, I need you to account for/interact with your opponents impact. If I am simply left with a fairness/skills impact vs the impact turns and no interaction between the 2 and no Top Level framing issues, I will be forced to intervene. (This is bad for affirmatives because I think that fairness is *probably* *somewhat* good )
- If there's an important CX concession, please flag it and/or get my attention in case I have zoned out.
- If i'm judging Policy debate, just don't assume I know some jargon, norm, or innovative strategy and err on the side of explanation.
- I won't kick the CP for you unless you tell me to *AND justify* why I should.
- No you cannot "Insert re-highlighting." Are you serious? Why is this even a thing? If its not read, its not on my flow.
- Don't get too **graphic** on descriptions of antiblack violence (or any violence for that matter). Trigger warnings are welcomed and encouraged.
- Referencing college teams or other teams doesn't really get you anywhere, "our models allows for Michigan vs Berkeley debates" I simply do not know or care about these teams
- If you need to know something specifically ask before the round.
- Good luck, do your thing, and have fun!
Email: spencer.orlowski@gmail.com
please add me to the email chain
New Paradigm 4/26/24
Top level thoughts
I have voted on pretty much everything. I prefer depth and clash to running from debate. Engaging will be rewarded.
Don’t be a jerk to your opponent or me. We are all giving up lots of free time to be here. I won't vote on oppressive arguments.
I think preparation is the cornerstone of the value this activity offers. You shouldn’t rely on theory to avoid reading.
I don't think it’s possible to be tab, but I try not to intervene. Arguments must have a warrant or they aren’t an argument. This applies to all debate styles. (Ex. "6-7-4-6-3" is not a full argument)
I shouldn’t have to have background on your argument to understand it. I have read and seen a lot, but that will be irrelevant to my decision. I won’t fill in gaps for you.
I think most debates are way closer and more subjective than people give them credit for.
Collapsing is a good idea generally.
I will not flow off the doc. That is cheating.
Don’t let my preferences determine your strategy. I’m here for you! Don't over adapt to me.
General thoughts on arguments
Ks: My favorite literature. I have a fair bit of experience with most lit bases commonly read and I really enjoy clash and k v ks debates. I wish I saw more K v K debates. I dislike long overviews and super generic links. I think critical literature is great, but I think you should at least attempt to tie it to the topic if possible. Spec advantage links are great. I will vote on non-T affs and I will vote on T.
Policy Args: I have the most experience evaluating these arguments (I debated them for 8 years). I think comparing evidence and links is more important than generic impact weighing. Turns are OP, and I will vote on smart analytics. I only really read evidence if debaters don’t give me a good mechanism to avoid it. I tend to default to offense/defense paradigm, but I’m open to whatever framing you want to read.
Frameworks: I find phil frameworks interesting and fun. I wish these debates were a bit deeper and used actual phil warrants instead of just extending tricky drops. I think LD is a really great opportunity to get into normative ethics.
Theory – I find frivolous theory a bit annoying (despite what my pf teams might have you believe), but I flow these debates pretty thoroughly and evaluate them pretty objectively. I will accept intuitive responses even if they are light on proper terminology. (i.e not explicitly saying the word counter-interp)
Tricks – Lots of different tricks that I view differently. Things like determinism and skep are better than mis-defining words or 15 spikes. I find good apriories interesting. I have a fairly low bar for intuitive responses. I will probably not vote on “evaluate after x speech”. If I cant flow it I wont vote on it. Hiding one-line paradoxes in tiny text after cards is obviously a waste of everyone's time
For PF
2nd rebuttal should collapse and frontline
If it takes you longer than a min to produce evidence, it doesn't exist. I think you should just send all cards before you read them.
If I think you inappropriately paraphrased, I will ignore evidence. Read cards to avoid me thinking your paraphrasing is bad.
Use email chains. Send cases and cards before you start your speech. Stop wasting everyone's time with outdated norms
Immaculate Heart '21, Berkeley '25
I am an assistant coach at Immaculate Heart
Do not clip or cheat in general ie; scrolling ahead in the doc, stealing prep, etc.
Please read the arguments you feel most comfortable with - I will listen to and vote on arguments with both claims and warrants regardless of my argumentative preferences.
I will not vote on arguments that I do not have on my flow - I don’t flow off of the doc and expect you to be clear.
As a debater, my favorite affirmatives were ones with plans and big-stick advantages. Being knowledgeable about your affirmative is invaluable perceptually and strategically.
I enjoy NCs that include counterplans and DAs. I think that case debate is important and should be utilized far more.
Smart impact calculus and turns case arguments win debates - don’t rely on your prewritten overview.
Arguments in debate are probabilistic. I rarely vote on presumption because I think there’s almost always a risk.
CP:
I will kick the counterplan if you tell me to. Condo is good but more than 2 is not great.
I like smart competition arguments and permutations.
K:
I think that K link walls must be read in the NC; 2NR is too late
K framework arguments are usually under-warranted and too reliant on winning the K's theory. You should have to win offense for why your model is better.
I lean heavily neg on T-FW debates. I think that the aff should defend a plan and I find fairness impacts the most compelling.
Theory:
Generally I am sympathetic to reasonability and not a fan of silly theory arguments.
If a debater makes a good-faith effort to open source, I am unlikely to vote on an arbitrary disclosure shell.
I am not a fan of Nebel T. I find most shells to be 'plans bad' in disguise, which is a hard sell for me. I think the Aff’s PICs argument is true and very compelling.
I don’t like tricks and believe that you must win truth testing for them to be a reason you win the debate.
Philosophy:
I like well-constructed NCs and framework arguments. I think framework should be a reason why your impacts matter, not a preclusive impact filter.
Misc:
Inserting rehighlighting is fine.
Hi, I'm Breigh!
Legacy Christian '21; UT Austin '25
I qualified to the TOC twice with 6 bids. I mostly read postmodern Ks, theory, and topicality; but I'd strongly prefer if you debated your best layer, the way you'd like to (and will be disappointed if you read something just because you think I'll like it).
UPDATE (9/3/24):
I haven't judged in the last year. Slow down, especially for tags. I am less equipped to evaluate the intricacies of tricks, triggers, etc than I was when I was 18 (not to say don't read them, but to say that you should err on the side of over-explaining if you collapse to them). Nowadays, I spend most of my time thinking about Deleuze and psychoanalysis. None of these things should determine your strategy but just give you some context on where I'm coming from.
Prefs Shortcut
1 – pomo/high theory, theory, T
2 - id pol Ks, phil
3 – cp/da/pics, security/IR Ks
Ks
I think the most important part is the framing — ROB/J need to defend your theory with the same rigor as a dense phil framing.
I feel comfortable adjudicating: Baudrillard, Deleuze, Bataille, Glissant, Yancy, Weheliye, Hardt + Negri, Muñoz, and Ahmed. I have sufficient knowledge about: Foucault, set col, Virilio. I have the least knowledge about: ableism lit, security, anthro, and IR Ks.
K Affs (non T/performance) + T-FWK
Reading K Affs: These affs need an explanation of why the topic is bad, why debate is the space for the aff, and why I should vote aff. Make sure when answering framework to have both a counter interp and impact turns, not just the latter.
Answering K affs: T-FWK is fine but I find it kinda unimpressive. I’ll strongly reward a good case press!
Theory
I like it as a time suck, as an integral part of your strat — whatever you want it to be. I tend to think most shells aren't frivolous, so take that as you will. The only shells I don't like are those that comment on a debater personally (e.g. formal clothes).
I think disclosure debates are a little annoying but I'll vote on them.
I’m think most evidence ethics challenges should be debated out in round; however, if the accuser wants to stake the round on it, I’ll stop the round, read the ev, and decide w the correct debater getting a W30 and the opponent an L20.
Phil:
I’m most familiar w most conventional phil frameworks (Kant, Hegel, existentialism, Levinas etc.) and feel fine adjudicating more nuanced frameworks. Triggering skep is fine + so are calc indicts.
Tricks
I prefer theory tricks (winning one layer to affirm, one uncondo route, etc.) to substantive tricks (trivialism, condo logic, etc.), but I’ll vote on either.
I won't vote on arguments that don't warrant their conclusion (e.g. "the sky is blue so vote aff"). However, even if tricks are silly, that just means it is your job to call them out.
Policy Arguments
I know the least about policy arguments but responded to them more often than virtually any other style of debate. I'm not a fan of doc bots and strongly think smart analytics can often beat cards.
Other -
Robby Gillespie coached me so naturally, I did a lot of thinking about debate with him/he informed 90% of my debate opinions.
Content warnings are not only good, but necessary. I have a zero-tolerance policy on this — ask before round and/or choose your words carefully in round.
If you're debating someone significantly worse than you — you can read basically anything you want as long as [1] you go slowly and explain your positions clearly and kindly in cx [2] you make a genuine effort to make the round educational.
I'll boost your speaks +.3 if you send a nice/encouraging message to someone else in the community and lmk before round — debate is super toxic and we should do everything to make it a kinder space.
Likes!:
- Nebel!!!! good semantics 2ns!!!!
- theory underviews with creative 1ar implications
- making k fwks like analytic phil fwks
- judge instruction, especially in the following areas: fiat/circumvention, 2nr/2ar weighing
Dislikes:
- arguments that disparage the legitimacy of another style (“bad tricks,” “dumb policy args,” "Ks are cheating")
- conceding the aff
- "gut check"
- reading "let us weigh case" in the 1ar v a K when the 1NC didn't preclude you from weighing case
I am an LD debater from Strake Jesuit.
As a senior I got 3 bids to the TOC. I also cleared and made it to octos.
Add me on email chains: porterjoshua2002@gmail.com
I want to objectively evaluate arguments to determine who wins the round. For this reason, I give you a list of round scenarios and give you my comfortability in evaluating them.
1 = best (as in fairest evaluation on BOTH sides)
K vs K = 1
LARP vs K = 1
Phil = 1
LARP = 2
K affs = 1
Friv theory = 2
I don't have a preference for how you debate or which arguments you choose to read. Be clear, both in delivery and argument function/interaction, weigh and develop a ballot story.
Theory: I default to competing interps, no rvi's and drop the debater on shells read against advocacies/entire positions and drop the argument against all other types. I'm ok with using theory as a strategic tool but the sillier the shell the lower the threshold I have for responsiveness. Please weigh and slow down for interps and short analytic arguments.
Non-T affs: These are fine just have a clear ballot story.
Delivery: You can go as fast as you want but be clear and slow down for advocacy texts, interps, taglines and author names. Don't blitz through 1 sentence analytics and expect me to get everything down. I will say "clear" and "slow".
Speaks: Speaks are a reflection of your strategy, argument quality, efficiency, how well you use cx, and clarity (clarity being the least important).
Prep: 1. I prefer that you don't use cx as prep time. 2. It is ok to ask questions during cx. 3. Compiling a document counts as prep time. 4. Please write down how much time you have left.
Things not to do: 1. Don't make arguments that are racist/offensive (this is a good general life rule too). 2. I won't vote on arguments I don't understand or arguments that are blatantly false. 3. Don't be mean to less experienced debaters. 4. Don't steal prep. 5. Don't manipulate evidence or clip.
I judge multiple formats of debate, so I will try to provide a baseline for each of events. You can always reach out with questions at glennprince3@gmail.com.
LD:
I think LD's continual move to a poor version of 1 on 1 policy debate is probably not for the best, but we are where we are. If you want a traditional V/C framework, great. If you want to have a plan, that's fine too. My background is policy debate, so it's not that I'm unable to evaluate these arguments, it is that I find that there are too many tricks, RVIs, and barely warranted theory arguments that debaters want me to vote for. I will not vote for those arguments unless they have a clearly articulated interpretation, violation, standards, and a voting issue.
Really, I love debate, but I don't like blippy, unwarranted, "crafty" arguments. If your strategy is dependent on tricks or badly formulated theory arguments, strike me. Also, I won't vote on disclosure theory.
I do believe the affirmative should affirm the resolution, but when you are negative you can do whatever you want that negates in whatever way that means to you.
Most importantly, have fun, say smart things, and I'll do the best to evaluate the debate you present to me.
PF:
Most important note: If it doesn't appear in summary, it won't be evaluated in final focus.
2nd important note: I prefer FULLY cut cards over paraphrasing. I find that too many cases are a series of citations without warrants. I'm a great judge for you if you cut cards that have warrants. I'm a less than great judge for you if you think stringing together 10-15 word "cards" makes a fully developed argument. Also, tag lines are your friend. All of your evidence should have a tagline.
Having said that, I think the rate of speaking should be moderate to moderately fast. I'm not sure what you are accomplishing in PF with anything faster. If your opponent asks you to slow down, you should make reasonable accommodations to that request. You can look to me to see whether or not I think the team making the request is being ridiculous.
The pro should feel free to affirm the resolution in whatever way you'd like as long as you are actively talking about the resolution.
If you only have defense in the debate, it will be difficult to win my ballot. For example, on the Medicare for All topic, the negative has to prove that the affirmative makes the world worse in a world where it were to become law.
Other than that, be sure to start narrowing the debate in summary. I prefer more line by line until the Final Focus, but I understand that many people will start weighing in summary. That's fine, but your summary should NOT just be weighing.
POLICY: I'm fairly old school when it comes to this event. I think the affirmative should probably be an example of the actual resolution, although kritikal affs are welcome. I was more of a DA/CP debater, so take that for what it is worth. On the negative, feel free to do whatever you want because I think that's the freedom you get being negative. On specific arguments:
Topicality: I don't think you have to prove abuse to win. You can just prove that they aren't topical. Whoever wins the interpretation controls the direction of this debate.
CP: I think everything is conditional, but I can be persuaded otherwise. You can run multiple Cps if you'd like. Have fun.
K: I think if you are running on the aff that it should still be a discussion of the topic. On the neg, I think you should indicate and make as many links to the affirmative as possible and make those known in the most meaningful way possible.
Besides the affirmative being topical even when kritikal, I'm not quite the dinosaur I may appear. You should have fun and make arguments and I'll do my best to evaluate them.
Hey I’m Jack! I went to and now coach at Northland in Houston, TX. Feel free to ask questions before or after the round. Add me to email chains at jbq2233@gmail.com
TLDR: I will vote on anything that has a claim, warrant, and impact. I most enjoy judging policy arguments.
Defaults
- Tech > Truth
- Fairness > Education
- 1NC Theory/T > 1AR Theory
- T/Theory > K
- Comparative Worlds
- No RVIs, Competing Interps, DTD
- Presumption flips neg unless they go for an alternative advocacy
- No judge kick
Preferences
- I'm cool with anything as long as it has a claim, warrant, and impact. None of my personal opinions or interests in arguments will factor into my decision.
- I want you to debate the way you debate best. I want debaters to read what they know and are invested in.
- No buffet 2nrs please
- Be nice to one another and don't take yourself too seriously
Hot Ls
- If you are sexist/racist/homophobic/transphobic/ableist or something similar
- Clipping/losing an ethics challenge OR a false accusation
- Stealing prep
Things I'm not voting on
- Any argument concerning out of round practices (except disclosure)
- Any argument concerning the appearance/clothes/etc. of another debater
- Any auto affirm/negate X identity argument
- "Evaluate the entire debate after X speech". However, I will evaluate "evaluate ___ layer after X speech".
- IVIs not flagged as IVIs in the 1NC/1AR (possibly a 2NR exception)
Policy Arguments
- My favorite type of debate to think about and judge
- Evidence comparison and impact calc are the most important things
- Great for heavy case pushes. Impact turn heavy strategies are good and solid execution will be rewarded with solid speaks
Kritiks
- I don’t have a strong preference for or against certain literature bases
- I won’t fill any substantive gaps in your explanation (this goes with anything, but it seems most relevant to what I’ve seen in K debates)
- It really helps when the 2NR includes lots of examples, especially with more uncommon literature bases.
K Aff/T Framework
- The affirmative needs to provide a model of debate with a role for the negative
- Neg teams should have an answer to case
- It is vital that aff teams provide an explanation of solvency that I can easily explain back (maybe slow down a bit here)
Phil
- Not good for dense phil v dense phil (good for util vs other phil)
- I’ve noticed that lots of phil aff contentions are pretty weak, I’d like to see more neg teams go for turns on the contention
- Neg teams should read more CPs with phil offense
Tricks
- Fine if there is an actual warrant and implication.
- Not voting on something that I don’t understand/can’t explain back
- I would recommend going MUCH SLOWER in rebuttal speeches. The current standard for an extension of a paradox or some kind of logic based trick is functionally re-spreading through the exact same block of text or contrived piece of evidence. In these debates I have found that I err heavily on the side of the other team simply because I do not understand the argument in the rebuttal.
Theory
- Great for theory
- The frivolous nature of some shells does not factor into my evaluation. Although, reasonability tends to become easier to justify and the answer becomes easier
- I’ve never voted for a team that violates in a debate where they don’t disclose (this means they didn’t disclose anything in any way) the exception is obviously new affs
T
- Caselists are necessary
- The negative needs definitions. Debate over T definitions are great. Slow down when doing comparison
- Recent explanations for bare plural arguments by negative teams have been nothing short of atrocious – please understand the semantics before you read Nebel
Misc.
- Prep ends when the email is sent
- CX is binding
- Email should be sent at the start time - I'll dock .1 speaks for every minute it's not sent (unless I'm not in the room)
Speaks
- Less prep and sitting down early will be rewarded with higher speaks.
- Clarity is VERY IMPORTANT. If you are unclear and I miss a “game changing” argument – that’s a you problem.
- Speaks will be awarded for good debating (strategy, technical ability, good CX, etc).
I am comfortable with all frameworks/evaluation criteria as long as you're not making me do the work for you (otherwise I'll just default to v/vc). I can be persuaded to vote for anything, and am a fan of creative and unique positions. I don't love theory being run just for the sake of running it, but I do appreciate intentional, well-thought-out uses of theory.
Spreading is fine, but I'll say clear if you're unintelligible (so please take heed both to me and your opponent if you do decide to spread very quickly), and make sure to signpost for the sake of everyone involved. Always be respectful and kind to your opponents, and remember we are here to (1) learn, and (2) have fun. :)
Feel free to ask if you have any further questions.
In an LD debate I will not flow more than 3 off case arguments!
Debate for me first and foremost is an educational tool for the epistemological, social, and political growth of students. With that said, I believe to quote someone very close to me I believe that it is "educational malpractice" for adults and students connected to this activity to not read.
Argument specifics
T/ and framework are the same thing for me I will listen AND CAN BE PERSUADED TO VOTE FOR IT I believe that affirmative teams should be at the very least tangentially connected to the topic and should be able to rigorously show that connection.
Also, very very important! Affirmatives have to do something to change the squo in the world in debate etc. If by the end of the debate the affirmative cannot demonstrate what it does and what the offense of the aff is T/Framework becomes even more persuasive. Framework with a TVA that actually gets to the impacts of the aff and leverages reasons why state actions can better resolve the issues highlighted in the affirmative is very winnable in front of me.
DA'S- Have a clear uniqueness story and flesh out the impact clearly
CP's- Must be clearly competitive with the aff and must have a clear solvency story, for the aff the permutation is your friend but you must be able to isolate a net-benefit
K- I am familiar with most of the k literature
CP'S, AND K'S- I am willing to listen and vote on all of these arguments feel free to run any of them do what you are good at
In the spirit of Shannon Sharpe on the sports show "Undisputed" and in the spirit of Director of Debate at both Stanford and Edgemont Brian Manuel theory of the TKO I want to say there are a few ways with me that can ensure that you get a hot dub (win), or a hot l (a loss).
First let me explain how to get a Hot L:
So first of all saying anything blatantly racist things ex. (none of these are exaggerations and have occurred in real life) "black people should go to jail, black death/racism has no impact, etc" anything like this will get you a HOT L
THE SAME IS TRUE FOR QUESTIONS RELATED TO GENDER, LGBTQ ISSUES ETC. ALSO WHITE PEOPLE AND WHITENESS IS NOT THE SAME THING
Next way to get a HOT L is if your argumentation dies early in the debate like during the cx following your first speech ex. I judged an LD debate this year where following the 1nc the cx from the affirmative went as follows " AFF: you have read just two off NEG: YES AFF: OK onto your Disad your own evidence seems to indicate multiple other polices that should have triggered your impact so your disad seems to then have zero uniqueness do you agree with this assessment? Neg: yes Aff: OK onto your cp ALL of the procedures that the cp would put into place are happening in the squo so your cp is the squo NEG RESPONDS: YES In a case like this or something similar this would seem to be a HOT L I have isolated an extreme case in order to illustrate what I mean
Last way to the HOT L is if you have no knowledge of a key concept to your argument let me give a few examples
I judged a debate where a team read an aff about food stamps and you have no idea what an EBT card this can equal a HOT L, in a debate about the intersection between Islamaphobia and Anti-Blackness not knowing who Louis Farrakhan is, etc etc
I believe this gives a good clear idea of who I am as judge happy debating
Last updated - 9/13/24
Garland HS - '20
The University of Texas at Austin - '24
Put me on the email chain: imrereddy@gmail.com
Conflicts: Garland (TX), McNeil (TX), Westwood (TX), Isidore Newman (LA)
Pref shortcut:
LARP - 1
T/Theory - 2
K - 2-3
Phil - 2-3
Tricks - hurts me physically (pls strike)
TLDR: Please at least read the bolded stuff, speaks at bottom
Background: Hey I'm Ishan (pronounced E-shawn). My pronouns are he/him and I'll use they/them if I don't know yours. I debated for Garland High School for 4 years in LD and competed on the national circuit for almost 2. I broke at several nat circuit tournaments, got a bid round, but never bid - do with that what you will - also broke at NSDA nats and was in octos and trips of TFA State for my last 2 years. Debate focuses/expertise include: LARP, T/Theory, and generic Ks and phil (Cap, Security, word PIKS, Kant, etc.)
People I agree with/have been coached by who I may or may not have modeled this paradigm after: Khoa Pham, Alan George, Bob Overing, Devin Hernandez, Vinay Maruri, Patrick Fox
Defaults:
debate is a game
Tech>Truth with the caveat that burden of proof>burden of rejoinder - I'm not going to vote on a conceded argument if I can't explain the warrant/impact - the bare minimum is saying this argument is bad because of XYZ.
CX is binding
DTA>DTD (except for T/condo)
No RVIS
CI>R
1AR theory is cool
Theory>K
Text>Spirit
Condo good
CW>TT
Epistemic confidence>modesty
Presumption goes neg (absent an alternate 2NR advocacy)
(Tbh these don't matter as long as you make the argument for the other scenario)
Ev Ethics: (PLS READ)
- I didn't enjoy rounds that were staked on this a debater so I obviously won't as a judge. However, this doesn't mean you should not call out your opponent for a violation.
- If/when an accusation is made, I will stop the debate and determine if the accusation is true/false. Whoever is right about the accusation gets a W30, and whoever is wrong gets an L0.
- Reading an ev ethics shell is not the same as an accusation and I will evaluate it like a theory debate, so you might as well go for the accusation. That said, winning "miscutting ev good" is a hella uphill battle and probably the wrong decision.
- PLEASE have complete citations - if you don't and it is pointed out by your opponent, I will not evaluate the argument/card and your speaks will drop. Make it a voting issue! It's your responsibility as a debater to cut good ev.
- Don't intentionally clip cards - I will follow along in the doc to prevent this as much as I can. If I notice this in prelims, it's an L0, if I notice this in elims, it's an auto-L. Seriously, don't do it. >:(
- Don't miscut your ev (cutting out counter-arguments/modifiers, breaking paragraphs, etc.) - If I notice this in round, it's an auto-L.
General notes I think are important:
- BE NICE, bigotry of any kind will result in an L0 and me reporting you to tab.
- I will not vote on morally repugnant arguments (racism, sexism, homophobia, death good, etc.) - I will vote you down.
- Debate is fundamentally a game, but it is also a very competitive game that can get very messy. If at any point in the round you feel uncomfortable/unsafe, let me know verbally or by some sort of message and I will stop the round to help you in any way I can.
- If you are hitting a novice or someone who is clearly behind in the debate, don't be mean. Go for simple strats (2 or less off, no theory, 50% speed, etc.) and err on the side of good explanations. Doing so will result in me bumping your speaks.
- I'll call clear/slow as many times as a need to be able to flow. If you don't listen after 5+ times, that's your fault and your speaks will suffer.
- Please do NOT start off your speech at max speed, just work your way there.
- If the tournament is online, I understand tech issues will happen, so I'll be pretty lenient.
- Get the email chain set up ASAP. Sending docs in between speeches shouldn't take that long. Don't steal prep, I'll know and drop your speaks.
- Speech times and speaker order are non-negotiable.
- I'd really prefer you don't interrupt another person's speech, even if it's a performance. CX is obviously an exception.
- Performances that justify voting for anything outside of the debate realm (e.g. dance-off, videogames, etc.) are not persuasive to me. If you're conceding the round (exception), however, just let me know ahead of time.
- I know my paradigm is not short and you might not have time to read it, so ask questions if needed - I won't be an ass about start time unless tab forces me to - I think debaters should always read their judges' paradigms and take them to heart since it often results in better debates/speaks. That having been said, I'd rather see you debate well with a strategy you know than a strategy you're bad at just because you're trying to model what I did as a debater.
Policy/LARP:
- My favorite style of debate and the one I'm most familiar with
- Link/impact turns require winning uniqueness!
- I think doing your impact calculus/weighing in the 2NR/2AR is fine - idk how the alternatives are feasible - making your weighing comparative/contextual is a must. I think debates about impact calc are really interesting and carded meta-weighing will get you far.
- If your extensions don't have a warrant, you didn't extend it - I won't do your work for you. (Ex: The aff does X and solves Y by doing Z)
- I'm perfectly fine with reading evidence after round, especially if was a key contestation point. Also, call out your opponents on having bad evidence. Debate fundamentally requires well-researched positions.
- Having clever analytic CPs, especially when the aff is new, can be really strategic - negs should always exploit aff vagueness, especially on questions of solvency.
T/Theory:
- I really liked going for theory as a debater, but often felt discouraged by judges who hated frivolous theory. That's not me though so feel free to go for it - with the exception of egregious arguments like policing people's clothes - also keep in mind that intuitive responses to friv theory are pretty effective. Reading bad/underdeveloped shells does not equate to reading friv theory and will make me sad.
- Please slow down on theory interpretations and analytics and number/label your arguments - especially in underviews - I don't type very fast - seriously tho stop blitzing theory analytics
- I think paragraph theory is cool and prefer it most of the time. I don't think you need paradigm issues, but if you know your opponent is going to contest it, you might as well include them.
- I think going for reasonability is under-utilized and strategic, so doing it well with up your speaks. However, you need to have a counter-interp that you meet, even when you go for reasonability. I don't think a brite-line is always necessary, especially if the shell was terrible and you have sufficient defense.
- I'll resort to defaults absent any paradigm issues, but they are all soft defaults and I'd rather not, so literally just make the argument for the side you are going for.
- Winning the RVI isn't a super uphill battle with me, but I find that it often is a poor time investment.
- Having CIs with multiple planks (provided you actually construct offense with them) is cool/strategic.
- Weighing between standards, voters, and shells is just as important here as it is in LARP!
- I ran and debated Nebel T a lot as a debater, so I'm quite familiar with the nuances. If I can tell you don't know what this argument actually says e.g. you don't know what semantics being a floor/ceiling means, your speaks will suffer.
- I'm quite fond of topicality arguments and think they are a good strat, especially against new affs. That being said, if your shell is underdeveloped or you can't properly explain an offensive/defensive case list, the threshold for responses drops.
- Having carded interps and counter-interps is key.
- I don't care about your independent voters unless you can actually explain why they're a voter.
T-FW:
- T-fw/framework (whatever you wanna call it): I read this argument a lot as a debater and this was often my strat against k affs.
- Procedural fairness is definitely an impact, but I will gladly listen to others e.g. topic ed, skills, clash, research, etc. and I often find these debates to be very interesting.
- Contextualized TVAs are a must-have.
- Contextualized overviews in the 2NR are a must-have as well. If I wanted to hear your pre-written 2NR on framework, I'd go read my own.
Disclosure:
- I think disclosure is good for debate, but I'm open to whatever norm is presented in round. I think reading disclosure theory, even at locals (provided you also meet your interp) is fine. I was a small-school debater and I disclosed all my stuff with full cites and round reports. I think the first 3/last 3 is a minimum, but you do you. Open-source, full text, round reports, new affs bad, etc. are all shells I feel comfortable evaluating like any other theory debate.
- This is the only theory argument about out-of-round abuse I will vote on.
- Don't run disclosure on novices/people who literally don't know about the norms - maybe inform them before round and just have a good debate?
K:
- I have a good understanding of Marxist cap, security, afropess, and humanism. I have a very basic understanding of Deleuzian cap, Baudrillard, and Saldanha. That being said, I can't vote for you unless you properly explain your theory to me and you should always err on the side of over-explanation when it comes to the links, alternative, turns case arguments, and kritiks your judge doesn't know front and back.
- For afropess specifically (cause apparently this needs to be on my paradigm) - if you are making ontological claims about blackness as a non-black debater, I will vote you down.
- The K needs to actually disagree with some or all of the affirmative. In other words, it needs to disprove, turn, or outweigh the case. Actual impact framing>>> bad ROB claims.
- Please don't spend 6 min reading an overview - if I can tell someone else wrote it for you, I will be very sad and drop your speaks - if your overview is contextualized to the 1ARs mistakes, however, I will be very happy and bump your speaks up.
- I think CX against the aff and CX against the K are very important and I make an effort to listen. Pointing out links in the aff and using links from CX itself is cool. I also find that sketchiness in CX is acceptable to some extent (ex: it's a floating PIK), but I'd prefer you not be an ass to your opponent. If you make an effort to actually explain your theory, links to the aff, and alternative sufficiently, I will make an effort to up your speaks. Absent a sufficient explanation, the threshold for responses to K plummets.
- I think K tricks/impact calc args (alt solves case, K turns case, root cause, floating PIK, value to life, ethics/D-rule) are under-utilized.
- Please have a good link wall with contextualized links from the case!
- The words pre/post-fiat are inconsequential to me. Just do proper impact framing.
K affs:
- I think these strategies can be very interesting and these debates tend to be very fun to listen to. However, I'm not the best person to evaluate dense KvK rounds (not that I won't).
- If your K aff has no ties to the topic whatsoever, don't read it in front of me, it won't be a fun time for either of us.
- Your aff should be explained with, at the bare minimum, a comprehensible, good idea. If I can't explain what I think your affirmative/advocacy does, the threshold for responses along with your speaks drops.
- The 1AR vs T-FW/T-USFG should have a robust counter-interpretation that articulates a vision for the topic. Having counter-definitions is a good thing to do. "Your interp plus my aff" is not convincing.
- I'm more lenient to 1ARs with case arguments that apply to T, but I'm very hesitant to vote on new cross-apps in the 2AR unless they're justified.
Phil:
- I'm most familiar with Kant since it was one of my generic strats, although I know some basic Hobbes/Testimony/Rawls.
- Please slow down on phil analytics/overviews as well.
- Be able to explain the difference between confidence and modesty and go for one in a rebuttal.
- If you can't explain your NCs syllogism in a way that I can explain it back, I'm not gonna feel comfortable voting on it.
- I think using examples to prove how a philosophy allows for some morally repugnant action is strategic.
- Please do proper weighing between framework justifications (if both sides keep repeating my fw precludes/hijacks yours without comparison, I will be sad and dock speaks)
Tricks:
- This is likely the type of debate like/want to see/feel comfortable evaluating the least. However, if this is your bread and butter, don't let that discourage you. That being said, if even I can tell you don't know how the trick you read interacts with the debate, your speaks will suffer.
- I'm from Texas and never debated in the Southeast or Northeast, so if you're from those states, err on the side of over-explanation.
- I'm probably going to be more lenient to you if you're not reading 30 hidden a prioris and skep triggers, so just keep that in mind.
- If you aren't winning truth testing, I'm probably not going to evaluate any of the tricks.
- I view presumption as a reason the judge should vote aff/neg in the absence of offense. I view permissibility as whether the aff/neg actions are permissible under some ethical theory/ in a world without morals. Winning skep will rely on you winning either 1- moral facts don't exist, 2- moral facts are unknowable, or 3- all moral statements are false.
Speaks:
- I'm generally pretty nice with speaks so long as you're clear and debate well - I prefer strategy over clarity but hey why not have both - I'll start from a 28.5 and go up or down depending on the round.
I'll up speaks for doing the following:
- ending a speech/prep early (<2 min) - up to +0.5 depending on strategy (I would prefer a shorter/concise and conversational speech to a repetitive long one, especially when debating a novice)
- if you make an arg with a funny analogy - up to +0.3 depending on quality
- keeping me interested in the debate (interesting affs, bold NCs, good/funny CX, etc.) - +0.1
- including funny/relevant/topical memes in the doc +0.1 if it's funny
- playing good music during cx - up to +0.3 depending on song choice
Thomas.Rivera.2001@gmail.com
Debated for four years in high school, TFA State qualled twice, downed in double-octos twice.
Speed: 6/10 (I'm a little rusty, please add me to the email chain)
Theory and T: 4/10 (I've never been great at theory/T but I'll definitely evaluate it. I do not prefer either spirit of the interp nor text. I don't prefer fairness or education. The 4/10 doesn't mean I don't like theory/T, just that you might need to spell it out for me more-so than others)
Ks: 8/10 (I study philosophy. I ran Ks in high school. I completely understand that lots of K interpretations are bs and not real philosophy. That being said, a lot of them are. Whether it is or not, I don't care, argue well and I will vote for you.)
Alts: Mind-shift alts and revolution alts are fine, but I need to see how the K, in this round or via winning this round, will be a step toward that stuff. Otherwise, I just do regular fiat impact analysis and if your opponent asks what your alt looks like and you don't know, it's hard for me to fiat such an abstraction.
Voters: Value analysis, clear impacts, clear link stories.
Weirdness: I don't care. If you want to run a sandwich K, go for it. Just no racism good type stuff.
Disclosure: I will disclose if you want and if I can. Feel free to ask. If the tournament doesn't allow it, I can't, obviously.
Speaker points: Don't be rude. Enunciate clearly above all.
Timing: I don't keep time; it is on you to check your opponent.
I think debate is supposed to be fun and, like most things, not taken too seriously. That does not mean I will not evaluate stuff as technically as I can, I will, but be nice.
Emails - yes, “at the google messaging service” means @gmail.com
All rounds - esdebate93 at the google messaging service
Policy - dulles.policy.db8 at the google messaging service
LD - dulles.ld.db8 at the google messaging service
About me
I am currently the program director for Speech and Debate at Dulles High School, where I also teach AP Psychology and AP Research.I primarily judge Policy and LD. I've judge at every level from TOC finals to the novice divisions at locals; you are not likely to surprise me. I've worked at a few camps, most recently the University of Houston's Honors Debate Workshop and the Texas Debate Collective. If you are interested in attending a summer debate institute, I'd be happy to talk with you about that aspiration. My academic background is in Curriculum Development and Instruction (MEd), English (BA), and Anthropology (minor).
Top Level - (If pressed for time, read this)
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Be kind and respectful towards yourselves, each other, your judges, coaches, teammates, and the tournament staff.
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I care about this activity to the point where it's literally my job. Acting like you want to be here and care about improving goes a long way with me.
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Fundamental skills are way more important to me than the content of your arguments (barring content that violates point 1). When I say fundamentals, I mean: Clarity, efficiency, flowing, organization, ethically sourcing high quality evidence, knowing what you are talking about, and judge instruction. I will stop flowing if I can't understand you. Answering an argument that was in the doc but wasn't read caps speaks at 26.5.
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I do not enjoy cowardice. Strike me if you plan to dodge clash with tricks and other shifty nonsense.
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Disclosure is probably net good for everyone in most instances. Open to arguments as to why it is not, but absent legitimate safety concerns, this is a hard sell.
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Tech and Truth both matter, with truth determining how technically difficult an argument is to win.
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I would like to see more time devoted to debating the case. I give way too many RFDs where the negative loses because they didn't read case defense and the 2AR gets away with murder.
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Arguments you read in the 1NC should be legitimate 2NR options. Going for everything is a losing move.
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Don’t just answer arguments from the prior speech. Anticipate your opponents' next moves in the next speech and shut them down.
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Ethos (appeals to credibility), Pathos (appeals to emotion), and Kairos (timing/context) are as important as Logos. I am not a computer. I would like to be persuaded.
Policy Arguments
I love them, but I am not a topic expert, so err on the side of over-explanation of topic specific jargon, especially earlier on the topic. Case specific CPs and DA links are better than generics. Presumption almost always negates, unless the 2NR goes for a counterplan, in which case I think it goes to the side defending the more incremental change from the status quo. I am willing to judge kick if you win that it is a logical extension of conditionality and that conditionality is good, but I am not inclined to make your strategic decisions for you. 5 off is probably the sweet spot balancing quality and quantity for me, but feel free to do more or less if that's your thing.
On the aff - I prefer affs with 1-2 advantages that have multiple routes to diverse impacts over affs with 5 advantages that all end with the same impact or 1 advantage with a really long and convoluted link chain.
I am a negation theorist at heart. I think writing better 1ACs, better permutation texts, and better intrinsicness tests are better answers to the “problem” of “being aff is hard” than running to non-resolutional theory like “PICs bad”; however, I am not opposed to voting for those sorts of arguments if that is your preferred way of making the negative team’s job harder and you deploy them strategically. If you must make this sort of argument, I am much more receptive to those that privilege research and clash, like “CPs must have a solvency advocate”, than I am to arguments like “conditionality is bad”.
Please slow down and leave pen time on taglines, plan/CP text, permutation texts, intrinsicness tests, and theory arguments.
Kritikal Arguments
I love them and have probably done some amount of reading relevant to your arguments. It is still best for you to assume I know little to nothing about them though. You absolutely must have read a lot about your thesis, and you need to make your link arguments contextual to the 1AC using quotes. Know that the alt is the weakest part of your argument and be ready to defend it. Have examples for both your link arguments and the alternative. The case page should not be the K 2.0. You should have case specific uniqueness, link, internal link, and impact defense, perhaps some fun impact turns that jibe with your K. Kritik 2NRs often go for too much. Pick a couple of arguments, tell a story, and shut down 2AR spin.
On the aff - I love thinking about and coaching these strategies but am very often disappointed at the lack of thought and preparation against core negative arguments when judging. Don’t be that team. You should not only be ready to debate Framework, Cap, or the Hegemony DA, you should be stoked about it. If I don’t know how the aff solves its impacts at the end of the debate, it will be a presumption ballot.
Performance elements should relate to arguments later in the debate, they're purposeful, not just there for vibes. It should go without saying that offense predicated on some sort of performance should be paired with some performance element in the 1AC/1NC. Reading cards is not enough. I generally think that performance stuff doesn't work in LD due to lack of a 2AC or negative block.
Framework Arguments - (see topicality as well)
I prefer impact arguments about skills, research, and clash over those about fairness in these debates, but it is an impact I am more than willing to vote for. Having an interpretation for each part of the resolution they violate is super strategic and allows for more tailored explanation of your argument later in the debate.
On the aff - I prefer counter-interpretations over impact turns in these debates, but am more than willing to vote for them.
Topicality Arguments
Topicality is fundamentally a question of limits; all other standards can help make the limits push but are secondary. I default to competing interpretations.
On the aff - Reasonability is an argument for the counter-interpretation, not the aff.
Topic specific interpretations are best.
Philosophy Arguments
I love them when deployed substantively. I’ve done some reading here, but don’t assume I know your arguments. Organize and adjust your speed to ensure I get each point in the syllogism. The trickiest you should get is making arguments about various skepticisms. I'm here for non-utilitarian ethics in policy debate so long as they sensibly affirm or negate.
I am an experienced coach and judge. I have competed, coached and judged in all areas of speech & debate.
I am a 'tabula rasa' judge, which for me means that I will listen to any reasonable argument. I am always interested in hearing creative approaches to any resolution. However, I fully support the format, style and philosophy of each debate and speech event.
I am not adverse to rapid speaking, because debate time is limited. BUT I will not condone 'spreading' as a tactic. If you insist you win because the opponent did not address all of your issues, I may or may not accept your premise.
Evidence is primary to any good argument. You should be able to coherently present your evidence with citation in every instance. Referencing 'cards' in a case is ambiguous, since I will not have your case in front of me.
In all Cross Ex portions, LISTEN to your opponent. Address their concerns and their rationale for opposing you. Be civil and understand they have as much a right to be here as you do.
I will not make your case for you. I may be very familiar with the resolution, strategy and line of reasoning you are using, but I will not assume you even know what you are talking about. You have to know your case and be able to defend it.
In Congress, competitors must listen to the line of argument and offer unique and relevant arguments. Repeating points or delivering a prepared speech that does not advance the debate is poor practice and means you do not know the bill. Logic and analysis are fine, but a warrantless argument will not have a very big impact.
I do not rank POs particularly high. A competent PO will score near the middle of a typical Congress round.
In Extemp, I want to learn new things, hear unique ideas and understand my world better.
In LD, I am neither a traditionalist or progressive; I want to hear a values-based argument founded on a good philosophical framework. Values are precursors to behaviors, so there is no solving of problems or plans of action.
Hey, I'm Ibbi (George Ranch '19, UT Austin '23). I debated in high school, qualified for TFA 3x, NSDA Nationals, and earned 3 career ToC bids in LD. I was also a lab leader at UTNIF in 2019. I mostly read Util, Theory/T, and Ks, but I will listen to and vote for anything. Disclosure theory, evidence ethics, etc. is all okay with me. I enjoy listening to new positions I haven't heard yet - whether it be nuanced plan affs or new kritik literature/an author I haven't come across.
Some random things: I default to competing interps, no RVIs, and DTD, .1% risk of offense is fine, weighing is critically important, I don't enjoy tricks very much at all, don't be rude, don't take up the entire speech time if you don't need to, don't spread against novices/read a simple 1NC, make sure the doc is clearly labeled (no big chunks of blips) and please share analytics if you're planning to blaze through pages worth. Otherwise, I am a very straightforward judge with not many stylistic preferences and tend to make the simplest (and quickest) decision possible.
Good luck. Email: ibbisheikh5@gmail.com.
Conflict: Claudia Taylor AP
I debated for 4 years at Clements High School
As a debater I did a bit of everything: framework, topicality/theory, policy, K’s, etc. I’m not deeply familiar with any particular body of literature, but I will likely have enough exposure to understand your argument and it’s implication for the round with clear explanations. So I’ll vote on pretty much anything that doesn’t make me doubt the activity’s value (e.g. racism good).
One caveat, for philosophically dense arguments, I value clarity very highly and don't enjoy digging through cards to make sense of your argument, especially when it comes to your advocacy (what am I voting for).
As a notice, I am no longer actively involved in debate, so be considerate. Speed should not be a problem - I am not afraid to call clear and slow - but I might not catch onto or be receptive to any new strategy antics that debaters love to pull.
I give speaker points based on a) general clarity and ethos, b) how well you understand and use your arguments (smart strategy)
PF
If you read full text (no paraphrasing) you are get 30s (unless rude).
Overviews:
Offensive overviews (overviews that are basically a new contention and aren't a direct turn to your opponent's case) are fine only in 1st rebuttal.
Theory:
I don't care if theory is in shell form or paragraph form but make sure either way to not make a blippy argument without warrants.
Framework/Weighing:
When presenting any alt framework, make sure to give a reason to prefer your framework over util.
Cross:
Cross doesn't impact my decision, anything important needs to be brought up in a speech.
1st Speaking Team/2nd Speaking Team Differences:
2nd rebuttal has to respond to all offense from 1st rebuttal (turns+offensive overviews).
1st summary doesn't need to extend terminal defense unless 2nd rebuttal frontlines those responses.
Extra Info:
Flex prep
You can ask me any question about my paradigm/preference at any time.
Shortcuts
K – 2
LARP – 1
Phil – 1
T/Theory – 3
Trix – Strike
Ideally I would like to be 1 for all styles as I am not ideologically against any of them, this ranking reflects my current confidence/ability to deliver a good decision in a particular style.
Background + General
Hey y'all. I'm Nate. I did LD all throughout high school in Texas and have judged on and off since. Yes I want to be on the email chain, bonus points if you start the chain before the round to speed things up - my email isnathan.smith191710@gmail.com
- I'm fine with speed I'll give two verbal clears and then I'll stop flowing until you change.
- Tech over truth 99.99% of the time. (that .01 being clearly discriminatory/exclusionary arguments)
- Please be civil, why debate if it makes you miserable? If debate makes you miserable but you still want to do it, why take that out on someone else? You and your opponent are both humans and deserve as much kindness as can be mustered. Being competitive and being kind go hand in hand, productively debating good debaters makes you better so why not want everyone to succeed ?
Arguments I will not vote for / will vote you down for
Doing any of these things will provoke a reaction from me that ranges not flowing it to immediately giving you an L-25 depending on the severity/intentionality of the offense.
- Arguments that are explicitly racist/sexist/transphobic/ablest/etc
- Making the argument that the death of your opponent would be good in any way, shape, or form. I do not care what K this may be tied to, if you do this you get an L 25.
- I refuse to vote on anything that happened before the 1AC or after the 2AR. The only exception to this is disclosure. This includes arguments that link to positions your opponent may have run in other rounds.
- I won't evaluate the debate after the 1AC.
Defaults
These can all be changed very easily in round but this is how I evaluate until told to do otherwise.
- Truth testing > Comparative worlds.
- C/I > reasonability.
- Epistemic Confidence > Epistemic modesty.
- DTA > DTD.
- Fairness > Education.
- Presumption and permissibility negate.
Disclosure
Disclosure good. I want screenshots of the violation in the speech doc. Don't make me handle your gross laptop to see them.
LARP: Cool.
I won't kick the CP for you. Please for the love of god weigh things for me. The spark DA may be the funniest thing I've ever heard, if you run it in front of me and execute it perfectly, expect good speaks
- 2 condo is maybe ok? 3+ is probably abusive.
- You don't get to kick planks of a condo CP.
Ks: This is my favorite genre of arguments
I am familiar with most critical theory BUT you should start the round with the presumption that I have no clue who on hell is Baudrillard because it encourages you to give better explanations.You will not win your K if you don’t explain it. I only have jurisdiction to vote on what your articulation of the K is, not what I've read outside of the round. Aff, please impact turn anything that won’t be morally repugnant. The more specific the links are to the aff the happier I will be.
Words/Phrases that bad K debaters have convinced me are meaningless - Subjectivity, "power relations," ontology, "[X] bodies," co-option, neoliberalism, "rendered," pedagogy.
K affs: Very cool and nice.
I prefer these be interesting, unique, and have a clear topic link. You should be able to explain in round why not only the READING but also the DEBATING of the aff is a good idea. If you answer the question "what is the role of the negative" with "to lose" I will be immediately less convinced about the legitimacy of reading the aff in debate. I think there is some value in debate even if that value is to just have fun so I appreciate thoughtful and intelligent consideration about not just why your scholarship is good but why bringing into a discursive sphere like debate is uniquely good.
If you don't like these affs, read framework and engage with it. 5 frivolous shells will make me angry.
Phil: Good and true
Phil debates are cool. I think contextualization of why I care about offense is equally important as the offense itself.
Here are some authors/Lit bases/arguments I feel comfortable evaluating.
- Kant
- Levinas
- Virtue Ethics
- Mackie/error theory/emotivism
- GCB
T/Theory
General - I'm a fan. I think It's ok to use theory as a strategic tool and I find claims that a certain shell is frivolous totally dependent on whether or not an abuse story is being won or not.
T Framewonk - I think Framework is a good model for debate. I think plans and stable offense are probably good for the event. I am unconvinced by lazy arguments that presume I am naturally disposed against framework because of my love for the K. Anyone running a K aff has the burden to provide a justification for why the debating of the aff is good and what the role of the negative should be under their model of debate.
Trix
I have a real job now and dislike these.
Speaks
Things that will make your speaks go up
- Kindness, respect, and general helpfulness
- Unique and well executed strategies
- Good Baudrillard debates
Things that will make your speaks go down.
- Rudeness towards opponents
- Bad Baudrillard debates
Earl Warren '19
UT Austin '23
Email: morgan.tucker02@gmail.com
I primarily competed in Congress primarily but also did LD, DX, and IX.
Overall, I'm cool with just about anything. Do what YOU want, but do it well.
Congress Paradigms
Please engage in clash if you're past the 3rd speaker. i mostly give 4-6 rankings for speeches. i'll normally rank the PO 4-8 if they didn't mess up big time.
LD and PF
- don't be mean.
'Progressive' Argumentation. I am willing to evaluate essentially all arguments and am somewhat comfortable evaluating most args. I am most familiar with framework, meta-weighing, kritiks, plans, cps, disads, and (kinda) theory. trix are bad but I am able to evaluate those args If I must—run them at your own risk. Run what you want to run because that's what I did when I debated. I think that limiting different/"progressive" forms of argumentation in any debate space is bad.
Extensions. Extensions are really really important. I see too many talented teams lose because they don't extend or don't extend fully. All dropped responses are conceded—100%. Extend your link(s), warrant(s), and impact(s) if you want the argument(s) to be evaluated, especially if it's contested. If the argument is not correctly extended entirely through, then, it cannot be evaluated. With that in mind, please extend what you want to win on in every speech. My threshold for extensions on K, theory, etc. is higher than it is for substance, please explain every part of the arg in every speech so I can follow.
Weigh. You should weigh, it will likely help you win. Like most args, conceded weighing is true weighing. Use it to your advantage. If there are two arguments, then I will default to ANY weighing that is present. If there is no weighing, I will be forced to make the decision on my own.
Speed. Speed is fine as long as I can understand/follow, but keep in mind that I have never been the best at flowing. I am very comfortable letting you know if I can't keep up. I will say 'clear' three times before I dock your speaks if you don't slow down.
Team cases are the worst, I prob won't be very happy to hear and judge a case that I have heard before and will likely give lower speaks. Team cases ruin the integrity of debate and make me sad :( -- The purpose of debate isn't to win, it is to develop yourself and your cognitive reasoning. Case writing and research is essential to that.
Read me. If I look confused I'm doing that on purpose; it's because I'm confused. If I am nodding, it means I agree with you. I tend to be pretty expressive and I will when I am judging too.
I am a parent judge and Sunvite 2020 is my first-time judging LD. I am interested in politics, philosophy, and economics, and as such I appreciate substantive debate about the topic. Please debate at a reasonable speed. I will do my best to flow, but if you spread, I cannot guarantee I will get all your arguments down. Please avoid Ks, Theory Shells, CPs, and confusing NCs & Tricks.
sophiewilczynski at gmail dot com for email chains & specific questions.
I debated for UT austin from 2014-17 & have remained tangentially affiliated with the program since. my degree is in rhetoric, and as a debater I read a lot of big structural critiques and weird impact turns.
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tldr: I have been doing this for a while. I don't really care what you say as long as you engage it well. do what you do best, make meaningful distinctions, & don't be rude while you're at it!
clarity matters, esp in the age of virtual debate. as long as I can understand what you are saying I shouldn’t have trouble getting it down - that being said, debaters have an unfortunate tendency to overestimate their own clarity, so just something to keep in mind. slowing down on procedurals, cp/alt texts, & author names is very much appreciated.
topicality - fun if you're willing to do the work to develop them properly. I think evidence comparison is a super under-utilized resource in T debates, and a lot of good teams lose to crappy interps for this reason. as with anything else, you need to establish & justify the evaluatory framework by which you would like me to assess your impacts. have a debate, don't just blast through ur blocks
disads/CPs - fine & cool. i find that huge generic gnw/extinction scenarios often don't hold up to the scrutiny and rigor of more isolated regional scenarios. will vote on terminal defense if I have a good reason to do so. pics are usually good
K debates - make a decision about the level at which your impacts operate and stick to it. and talk about the aff. this applies to both sides. the neg should be critiquing the affirmative, not merely identifying a structure and breaking down the implications without thorough contextualization. the mechanics of the alternative & the context in which it operates have to be clearly articulated and comparatively contextualized to the mechanics of 1AC solvency. i think a lot of murky & convoluted perm debates could be avoided with greater consideration for this - impact heuristics matter a lot when establishing competition (or levels of competition). likewise, blasting through thousands of variants of "perm do x" with no warrants or comparative explanation does not mean you have made a permutation. will vote on links as case turns, but will be unhappy about it if it's done lazily.
framework - i think it's good when the aff engages the resolution, but i don't have any particularly strong feelings about how that should happen
theory - if you must
misc
case matters, use it effectively rather than reading your blocks in response to nothing
i find myself judging a lot of clash debates, which is usually cool
prep ends when doc is saved
be nice & have fun
I used to have a longer paradigm, I deleted it because it'd been a while since I made any substantive changes to it and I think my relationship to debate has changed. People are on here looking for prefs and pre round advice for how to persuasively frame their arguments. I'm not sure what the ideal paradigm for answering those questions is and doubt that this one comes close in many readings.
i just want to see a debate. I want full argumentation relying on complex and nuanced understandings of interesting and innovative evidence sets. I want to see debaters taking research and connecting the dots to develop a complex understanding of the world. I love that strategy is a part of debate and like to see people make bold choices with clear and clever strategic goals, and for those things to be communicated in an effective manner.
I think that arguments should be complete (having a claim, warrant, and impact) on the flow when they are made. I appreciate well organized debaters who engage in a method that creates a clear structure for the flow. I think that there has been a lack of emphasis on argument explication. I guess what I'm trying to say is it seems like debaters are either being held or are holding themselves to a lower threshold when it comes to fleshing out the implications of any particular argument and it's relationship to all the other sub debates and ultimately the ballot. Maybe one thing that causes that is debaters wanting to go for too much in their final speeches. Being confident in being able to narrow the debate down to what you believe to be the key issues is I think what I mean by making bold choices. I think it's good when these things happen earlier (as early as the 1ac/1nc) rather than later(I'll put "condo" here so people can control f that and surmise my opinion about big 1nc's in LD by reading the preceding sentence).
As long as adequate time is spent implicating ur argument and telling me what to do on it then you shouldn't be afraid to say anything in front of me. (Except bad and incomplete arguments).
Speed? I can do it!! I think this is something that should be negotiated between debaters but I'm a pretty alright flow! Pen time between pages and vocal intonations and speed changes for emphasis are good things.
Evidence should be like, words highlighted that when read together approximate at least an attempt at a sentence. If I read the highlighting and come away thinking "what is bro yapping about" I'm gonna lower your speaks.
Conversely will award decent speaks for interesting and good quality research.
Spin is important but so is your ev, but remember when making args I'm probably not looking at it till after the round.
I think I might have a higher threshold for explanation than a lot of judges. I'm at the risk of being repetitive here, making bold, specific, and strategic choices/ sticking to your guns to take them to their logical conclusions is great for you in front of me.
My email (which you should put on the chain) is: debatethek@gmail.com
I currently do policy and competed for four years in NFA ld for the University of North texas. If you're interested in debating in college, and in particular at UNT hit me up, we have scholarships!
Online debate stuff:
I like email chains over other kinds of sharing methods- it lets us get in contact with ppl in case of technical difficulties.
I think Jackie Poapst said this first, but I absolutely hate “is any one not ready” because if someone is having a tech problem then they may not be able to indicate they are not ready. It is the equivalent of “if you aren’t here raise your hand.”
There have been several times when debaters have asked “is everybody ready” and then proceeded to give their speech without a response from me- I missed several seconds of those debaters’ speeches. Please wait for me to respond I’ll usually say that “i’m good” verbally. If I see that the debater about to give a speech can see their camera- i may just give a thumbs up. If I have not done either of those things- I AM NOT READY.
Hi Everyone! I'm Elmer, I debated in Policy in High School, coached Debate through College (first 2 in Policy, last 2 in LD) and just recently graduated with a Business degree from UT-Austin. I currently work at a FinTech firm as a Business Analyst and do part-time independent coaching. I coach, judge, and research a decent amount so I can follow-on substantive topic jargon but don't be overly aggressive with acronyms.
email - elmeryang00@gmail.com
For this season in Lincoln Douglas, I am working in capacity with DebateDrills. The following URL has our roster, MJP conflict policy, code of conduct, relevant team policies, and harassment/bullying complaint form:https://www.debatedrills.com/club-team-policies/lincoln-douglas-team-policy
This paradigm has been changed to reflect the most important aspects of my judging. When I was a younger judge/coach in the community, I used to have pretty heavy predispositions and annoyances. Now, I care most about you performing your best regardless of style. Everyone has spent so much time on this activity and it would be a disservice to not see you at your best due to my dispositions. The only true thing that annoys me when judging is avoidance of clash. If you chose to introduce an argument for me to listen to, I expect that you know it and are prepared to rigorously defend it through an attack from multiple angles. If you introduce an argument that is so obviously put with no thought and meant to just be hidden and dropped (yes this is most but not all of modern day Tricks debate, but also reflective of incomplete DA's, T shells w/o cards or offense, and 3 second Condo Shells), I will be sad and annoyed that you did not care enough to produce your best. Whether you are reading a K-Aff about Clowns, the Arrow's Paradox, or the Politics DA, I just want to see that you care and you've put thought into your craft. Debate is so much easier to judge if you as debaters look and feel like you're enjoying it and I will enjoy judging you.
That said, I do have argument styles I'm more familiar with. I work mostly with K v K, Policy v Policy, Topicality, and K v Policy debates. I occasionally work with light Phil (mostly just Kant and Pragmatism) and almost entirely in Phil v K debates. I very rarely work with or encounter Theory and Tricks debate. I have no predispositions towards arguments, but the less experience I have with them, walk me through your claim, warrant, and ballot or else I will mostly likely evaluate the debate in a way that you would not expect or like like.
Things that increase likelihood of high speaks (and also winning):
1] Clarity - I've judged both fast, clear debaters and slow, clear debaters. I have no issue with speed but I do have issue if you're going faster than I can flow or process.
2] Strategy - showcase that you've come prepared OR make tactical moves on the fly in the middle of the round.
3] Innovation - I've been judging for a while so a lot of debates tend to be reduxes of debates I've judged in the past. Introducing new args or making new spin on args I've heard before often impresses me.
4] Vision - demonstrate that you are able to see the round from a multi-layer and dimension perspective. If you can connect the dots between args on different flows and comparatively weigh them, that will go a long way for speaks and the ballot.
5] Packaging - 90% of the time, the thing that distinguishes a winning arg from a good arg is how you frame and phrase it. Explaining complex args simply is an art and being able to explain why it matters is extremely important in any round.
Lastly:
1] Absent a Perm or Theory, my RFD in a Process CP or CP/DA debate will be "does the risk of a solvency deficit outweigh the risk of a net benefit" - resolve that question.
2] Do Impact COMPARISON not Impact Weighing. I can intuitively understand why your Impact is bad, why is it worse than your opponents. In a debate style with so little time, you need to invest a significant chunk of it on resolving arguments.
3] Topicality arguments need cards to compose of real arguments. I would prefer if they defined the words in the resolution but if you give me a master class on grammar principles, I will be impressed.
4] K debates now are super Framework heavy and there's only been once that I've decided the Neg has won Framework but lost the debate. However, I wish they were heavier on the Link. Ontology is a thing but it usually is not a thing that can be resolved by the Alt or worsened by the Aff. The worse your link, the higher burden it puts on the Alt (and the inverse of that is true). Good link debating is the most important part of any K v Policy or K v K debate.
Email: xanderyoaks@gmail.com
Experience: I have taught at NSD, VBI, TDC. I've been coaching since I graduated in 2015 and I am the former director of debate at the Woodlands High School. My main experience is in LD, but I competed in/coached in NSDA nationals WSD (lonestar district), judge policy and PF somewhat irregularly at locals and TFA State. Across events, the way I understand how things work in LD applies. (WSD Paradigm at end)
Update for series online:
1. I have not judged any circuit-y debate since Grapevine, go slightly slower especially since it is over zoom. I do not like relying on speech docs to catch your arguments, but this is somewhat inevitable in zoom land. If you do go off doc or skip around you need to tell me.
2. Do whatever your heart desires. The paradigm below is merely an explanation of how I resolve debates, not a judgment on what kind of debate you like/have fun with. You can read pretty much whatever you want in front of me (with caveats mentioned below).
LD Paradigm (sorry this is long)
TL;DR: Use TWs, do not be rude, I am truly agnostic about what kind of debate happens in front of me. If you do not want to read through my whole paradigm check pref shortcuts and "things that will get your speaks tanked/I won't vote on."
Pref Shortcuts:
Phil: 1
K: 1-2 (more comfortable with identity Ks like queer theory, critical race theory, etc. I know some post-structuralist like Derrida, some Deleuze, Butler, Foucault, Anthro). Give me a 3 if you read Baudrillard unless you're good at explaining it
A bunch of theory: 2. I have been judging a lot of this lately, so do what you will. More specific theory stuff below.
Tricks: 2-3 I like good tricks but please have the spikes clearly delineated. There have been a couple rounds recently where I started to believe negating was in fact harder due to the affs that were being read. This kind of debate makes my head explode sometimes so collapsing in this form of debate is essential to me.
Policy/LARP: 3 (I guess?) I understand all of the technical stuff when it comes to this style, but I am not the judge for you if you're hoping that I would give you the leg up against things like phil or Ks. I vote on extinction outweighs a lot though (just bc I think LD has made a larger ideological shift towards policy args)
The trick to win my ballot regardless of the style/content: Crystallize!!!! Weigh!!!! Your 2nr/2ar should practically write my ballot.
I know that all of these have me in the 1-3 range, just consider me 'debate style agnostic'
Kritiks:
I am familiar with most kinds of K lit, but do not use that as a crutch in close rounds. Underdeveloped K extensions suck equally as much as blippy theory extensions. Here are some other things I care about:
1. Make sure the K links back to some framing mechanism, whether it is a normative framework or a role of the ballot. You can't win me over on the K debate if you don't clearly impact it back to a framing mechanism. The text of the role of the ballot/role of the judge must be clearly delineated.
2. Point out specific areas on the flow where your opponent links. I'm not going to do the work for you. Contextualize those links!
3. If the round devolves into a huge K debate, you must weigh. Sifting through confusing K debates where there isn't any weighing is almost as bad as a terrible theory debate.
Overview extensions are fine, people forget to interact them with the line by line which makes me sad. If there are unclear implications to specific line by line arguments I tend to err against you
Non-black people should not read afro pess in front of me. You will not get higher than a 27.5 from me if you read it, I am very convinced by arguments saying that you should lose the round for it.
"Non-T" Affs
I vote on these relatively consistently, the only issue that I have seen is an explanation of why the aff needs the ballot -- I rarely vote on presumption arguments (e.g. "the aff does nothing so negate!") but that is usually because the negative makes the worst possible version of these arguments
I am just as likely to vote on Framework as I am a K aff -- to win this debate, I need a decent counter-interp, some weighing, and/or impact turns. Recently, I have seen K Affs forget to defend a robust counter-interp and weigh it which ends up losing them the round. Maybe I have just become too "tech-y" on T/Theory debates
Also, generally, a lot of ppl against Ks have just straight up not responded to their thesis claims -- that is a very quick way to lose in front of me -- I sort of evaluate these thesis claims similar to normative frameworks (e.g. if they win them, it tends to exclude a lot of your offense)
Phil
This is the type of debate I did way back when, so I am probably most comfortable evaluating these kinds of debates (but I only get to rarely). I studied philosophy so I probably know whats happening
Make all FW arguments comparative
Unless otherwise articulated, I probs default truth testing over comparative worlds when it comes to substantive debates
Phil debaters: stop conceding extinction outweighs. It is my least favorite framework argument and it makes me sad every time I vote on it
Theory
If you are reading theory against a K aff/K's then you need to weigh why procedurals come first and vice versa. If the K does not indict models of debate/form then I presume that procedurals come first (e.g. if the neg just reads a cap k about how the plan perpetuates capitalism, then I presume that theory arguments come first if there is no weighing at all)
You should justify paradigm issues, but I default competing interps and no RVIs. Reasonability arguments need a specific/justified brightline or at least a good enough reason to 'gut check' the shell. I think people go for reasonability too little against shells with marginal abuse
I tend not to vote on silly semantic I meets unless you impact them well (e.g. text>spirit) my implicit assumption is that an I meet needs to at least resolve some of the offense of the shell. So, if the I meet does not seem to resolve the abuse, then I likely will not vote on it absent weighing
aff/neg flex standards: need to be specific e.g. you cant just say "negating is harder for xyz therefore let me do this thing" rather, you should explain how aff/neg is harder and then granting you access to that practice helps check back against a structural disadvantage in some specific way
If there are multiple shells, I NEED weighing when you collapse in the 2nr/2ar otherwise the round will be irresolvable and I will be sad
Really, just weighing generally.
Shells I consider frivolous and won't vote on: meme shells, shoe theory, etc
Shells I consider frivolous and will vote on: spec status (and various other spec shells beyond specifying a plan text/implementation), counter solvency advocate, role of the ballot spec (please do not call it 'colt peacemaker')
Combo shells are good but please be sure that your standards support all planks of the interp
Tricky Hobbits
Alright, so you roll up into the room and you got this really tricked out case with 100 different a prioris, so many theory spikes that they are literally jumping off the page to fight for fairness, and the classic incontestable descriptive offense, and you are ready to win. I just have a couple of requests:
1. I want the spikes clearly delineated. None of that hidden theory spikes between substantive offense bs. I won't catch it, your opponent won't catch it, so it probably doesn't exist (like absolute moral truths).
2. Slow down a little for theory spikes. I was and continue to be terrible at flowing, so help me out a little by starting out slower in the underview section.
Sometimes these debates make my brain explode a little bit, so crystallization is key -- obvi it is hard to be super pathosy on 'evaluate the debate after the 1ac' but overviews and ballot instruction is key here
Also, I likely will never vote on evaluate the debate after "x" speech that is not the 2ar. So if that is a core part of your strategy I suggest trying to win a different spike. I probably voted on this once at the NSD camp tournament, which was funny, but not an argument I like voting on. Similarly, I will evaluate the theory debate after the 2ar; you can argue for no 1ar theory or no 2nr paradigm issues however.
Against Ks, I will likely not vote on tricks that justify something abhorrent. I think 'induction fails takes out the K' is also a silly argument (again, I voted on it like once but I just think its a terrible argument)
Policy style
Unsure why I have to say this but DAs are not an advocacy and if I hear the phrase "perm the disad" you immediately drop down to a 28. If you extend "perm the disad" then you will drop to a 27. I'm not kidding.
Perms need a text, explanation of how the advocacies are combined, and how it is net beneficial (or just not mutually exclusive)
I do not really have any theoretical assumptions for policy style arguments, I can be convinced either way re:condo and specific CP theory (PICs, consult, etc)
Extinction outweighs: least favorite argument, usually the most strategic argument to collapse to against phil and K debaters
Unsure what else to say here, do what you want
Speaks
Speaker points are relatively arbitrary anyways, but I tend to give higher speaks to people who make good strategic decisions, who I think should make it to out rounds, who keep me engaged (good humor is a plus) and who aren't mean to other debaters (esp novices/less experienced debaters). Nowadays, I tend to start you off at a 28 and move you up or down based on your performance. The thing I value most highly when giving speaks is overall strategy and arg gen. If I think you win in a clever way or you debate in a way that makes it seem that you read my paradigm before round, then the higher speaks you will get. I think I have only given out perfect 30s a handful of times. At local tournaments, my standards for speaks are a lot lower given that the technical skill involved is usually lower.
Things I like (generally) that ensure better speaks: overviews that clear up messy debates and/or outline the strat in the 1ar/2nr/2ar, effective collapsing, making the debate easy to evaluate (about 7 times out of 10, if I take a long time to make a decision it is due to a really messy round which means you should fear for your speaks; the other 3/10 times it is because it is a close round).
If you are hitting a novice, please don't read like 5 off and make the round less of a learning experience and more of a public beat down. It just is not necessary. I will give you higher speaks if you make the round somewhat more accessible (ie going slower, reading positions that they can attempt to engage in, etc).
Things that will get your speaks tanked and that I will not vote on:
1. Shoe theory, or anything of the like. I won't vote on it, instant 25.
2. Being rude to novices, trying to outspread them and making it a public beatdown. Probs a 27 or under depending on the strength of the violation. What this means is that you should make the round accessible to novices; do not read some really really dense K (unless you are good at explaining it to a novice so that they can at least make some responses), nor should you read several theory shells and sketchy/abusive arguments to win the ballot. Not making the round accessible is a rip, and I think it is important for tournaments to be used as a learning experience, especially if it is one of their first tournaments in VLD.
3. If you are making people physically uncomfortable in the space, and depending on the strength of the violation, you can expect your speaks to be 26 or lower. If you are saying explicitly racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc things then probs an auto-loss 25.
4. Consistently misgendering people. L 25
5. I will not vote on the generic Nietzsche "suffering good" K anymore, I just think that it is a terrible argument and people need to stop going to bad policy back files, listen to some Kelly Clarkson if you want that type of education. L 25
WSD Paradigm
Style: To score high in this category, I not only consider how one speaks but the way arguments are presented and characterized. To some extent, I do think WS is a bit more 'performative' than other debate events and is much more conversational. As such, I think being a bit creative in the way you present arguments wins you some extra points here. This is not to say that your speech should be all flowery and substanceless; style is a supplement to content and not a replacement. Good organization of speeches also helps you score higher (e.g clash points, the speech has a certain flow to it, etc).
Content: The way I evaluate other forms of debate sort of applies here. The main thing I care about is 1. Have you provided an adequate explanation of causes/incentives/links etc? 2. Have you clearly linked this analysis to some kind of impact and explained why I care comparatively more about your impacts relative to your opponents? Most of the time, teams that lose lack one of these characteristics of arguments. The best second speeches add a new sub that puts a somewhat unique spin on the topic - get creative.
Models v. Counter-Models: The prop has the right to specify a reasonable interpretation of a motion to both narrow the debate and make more concrete what the prop defends on more practical/policy oriented motions. To some extent, I think it is almost necessary on these kinds of motions because while focusing on 'big ideas' is good, talking about them in a vacuum is not. Likewise, the opp can specify a reasonable counter-model in response/independent of the prop. I try my best not to view these debates in an LD/Policy way, but if it is unclear to me what the unique net benefit of your model is (and how the counter-model is mutually exclusive), then you are likely behind. On value based motions, I think models are relatively silly in the sense that these motions are not about practical actions, but principles. On regrets/narrative motions, I need a clear illustration of the world of the prop and opp (a counter-factual should be presented e.g. in a world without this narrative/idea, what would society have looked like instead?).
Strategy: Most important thing to me in terms of strategy is collapsing/crystallizing and argument coverage. Like other formats of debate, the side that gives me the most clear and concise ballot story is the one that will win. The less I have to think, the better. Obviously, line by lining every single argument is not practical nor necessary; however, if you are going to concede something, I need to know why it should not factor in my decision as soon as possible. Do not pretend an argument just doesn't exist. I also do not evaluate new arguments in the 3rd speeches and reply. For the 3rd speech, you can offer new examples to build on the analysis of the earlier speech, which I will not consider new.
Also, creative burden structures that help narrow the debate in your favor is something I would categorize as strategic. The best burdens lower your win conditions and subsequently increase the burden on the opposing side. Obviously, needs to be somewhat within reason or a common interp of the motion but I think this area of framing debates is under-utilized.
(sorry if the above is somewhat lengthy, I figured that I should write a more comprehensive paradigm given that I am judging WS more often now)
Updated -Nov. 2023 (mostly changes to LD section)
Currently coaching: Memorial HS.
Formerly coached: Spring Woods HS, Stratford HS
Email: mhsdebateyu@gmail.com
I was a LD debater in high school (Spring Woods) and a Policy debater in college (Trinity) who mainly debated Ks. My coaching style is focused on narrative building. I think it's important/educational for debate to be about conveying a clear story of what the aff and the neg world looks like at the end of the round. I have a high threshold on Theory arguments and prefer more traditional impact calculus debates. Either way, please signpost as much as you can, the more organized your speeches are the likelihood of good speaks increases. My average speaker point range is 27 - 29.2. I generally do not give out 30 speaks unless the debater is one of the top 5% of debaters I've judged. I believe debate is an art. You are welcome to add me to any email chains: (mhsdebateyu@gmail.com) More in depth explanations provided below.
Interp. Paradigm:
Perform with passion. I would like you tell me why it is significant or relevant. There should be a message or take-away after I see your performance. I think clean performances > quality of content is true most of the time.
PF Paradigm:
I believe that PF is a great synthesis of the technical and presentation side of debate. The event should be distinct from Policy or LD, so please don't spread in PF. While I am a flow judge, I will not flow crossfire, but will rely on crossfire to determine speaker points. Since my background is mostly in LD and CX, I use a similar lens when weighing arguments in PF. I used to think Framework in PF was unnecessary, but I think it can be interesting to explore in some rounds. I usually default on a Util framework. Deontological frameworks are welcomed, but requires some explanation for why it's preferred. I think running kritik-lite arguments in PF is not particularly strategic, so I will be a little hesitant extending those arguments for you if you're not doing the work to explain the internal links or the alternative. Most of the time, it feels lazy, for example, to run a Settler Col K shell, and then assume I will extend the links just because I am familiar with the argument is probably not the play. I dislike excessive time spent on card checking. I will not read cards after the round. I prefer actually cut card and dislike paraphrasing (but I won't hold that against you). First Summary doesn't need to extend defense, but should since it's 3 minutes.
I have a high threshold for theory arguments in general. There is not enough time in PF for theory arguments to mean much to me. If there is something abusive, make the claim, but there is no need to spend 2 minutes on it. I'm not sure if telling me the rules of debate fits with the idea of PF debate. I have noticed more and more theory arguments showing up in PF rounds and I think it's actually more abusive to run theory arguments than exposing potential abuse due to the time constraints.
LD Paradigm: (*updated for Glenbrooks 2023)
Treat me like a policy judge. While I do enjoy phil debates, I don’t always know how to evaluate them if I am unfamiliar with the literature. It’s far easier for me to understand policy arguments. I don’t think tech vs. truth is a good label, because I go back and forth on how I feel about policy arguments and Kritiks. I want to see creativity in debate rounds, but more importantly I want to learn something from every round I judge.
Speed is ok, but I’m usually annoyed when there are stumbles or lack of articulation. Spreading is a choice, and I assume that if you are going to utilize speed, be good at it. If you are unclear or too fast, I won’t tell you (saying “clear” or “slow” is oftentimes ignored), I will just choose to not flow. While I am relatively progressive, I don't like tricks or nibs even though my team have, in the past, used them without me knowing.
I will vote on the Kritik 7/10 times depending on clarity of link and whether the Alt has solvency. I will vote on Theory 2/10 times because judging for many years, I already have preconceived notions about debate norms, If you run multiple theory shells I am likely to vote against you so increasing the # of theory arguments won't increase your chances (sorry, but condo is bad). I tend to vote neg on presumption if there is nothing else to vote on. I enjoy LD debates that are very organized and clean line by lines. If a lot of time is spent on framework/framing, please extend them throughout the round. I need to be reminded of what the role of the ballot should be, since it tends to change round by round.
CX Paradigm:
I'm much more open to different arguments in Policy than any other forms of debate. While I probably prefer standard Policy rounds, I mostly ran Ks in college. I am slowly warming up to the idea of Affirmative Ks, but I'm still adverse to with topical counterplans. I'm more truth than tech when it comes to policy debate. Unlike LD, I think condo is good in policy, but that doesn't mean you should run 3 different kritiks in the 1NC + a Politics DA. Speaking of, Politics DAs are relatively generic and needs very clear links or else I'll be really confused and will forget to flow the rest of your speech trying to figure out how it functions, this is a result of not keeping up with the news as much as I used to. I don't like to vote on Topicality because it's usually used as a time suck more than anything else. If there is a clear violation, then you don't need to debate further, but if there is no violation, nothing happens. If I have to vote on T, I will be very bored.
Congress Paradigm:
I'm looking for analysis that actually engages the legislation, not just the general concepts. I believe that presentation is very important in how persuasive you are. I will note fluency breaks and distracting gestures. However, I am primarily a flow judge, so I might not be looking at you during your speeches. Being able to clearly articulate and weigh impacts (clash) is paramount. I dislike too much rehash, but I want to see a clear narrative. What is the story of your argument.
I'm used to LD and CX, so I prefer some form of Impact Calculus/framework. At least some sense as to why losing lives is more important than systemic violence. etc.
Some requests:
- Please don't say, "Judge, in your paradigm, you said..." in the round and expose me like that.
- Please don't post-round me while I am still in the room, you are welcome to do so when I am not present.
- Please don't try to shake my hand before/after the round.
- I have the same expression all the time, please don't read into it.
- Please time yourself for everything. I don't want to.
- I don’t have a preference for any presentation norms in debate, such as I don’t care if you sit or stand, I don’t care if you want to use “flex prep”, I don’t care which side of the room you sit or where I should sit. If you end up asking me these questions, it will tell me that you did not read my paradigm, which is probably okay, i’ll just be confused starting the round.
I debated LD for Dulles for 4 years. I mostly did national circuit debate (with varying levels of success) but i also dabble in trad debate in my local circuit so if u wanna impress me w/ ur amazing lay debate skills im down for that too.
Email: pandazh13@gmail.com
note for ut: i have like a surface level understanding of the topic so any like topic specific vocab/abbreviations will probably have to be explained. I have also not listened to spreading for a hot minute and i still flow on paper so pls keep that in mind when u talk.
Quick summary:
1. I'm tech> truth but tbh I can't really promise that im like 0 truth. I'll evaluate any argument (problamatic ones notwithstanding) but those arguments have to have warrants (it would also be helpful if those warrants went past 2-word phrases like "chilling effect"). For example, saying eval the debate after the 1ac because time skew isnt a warranted argument, you would have to explain how evaluating the debate after the 1ac is an appropriate measure to make up for the time skew (along w justifying that the time skew exists). Basically conceded does not mean its automatically true. "Args start at 0% truth level and move up/down depending on the warranting done" (credit 2 srey 4 this quote)
2. I did mostly k debate, but dabbled in phil a tiny bit and also the occasional larp round for those policy judges. I also do like local circuit stuff which i guess u can file under larp(?) and most of my other knowledge comes from whatever my teammates do and i just kinda tag along with.
3. I am familiar with most general norms on the circuit (like probably u should disclose) but not rlly the in depth ones (like do round reports is good now?)
4. Please trigger warnings for things like violence especially if you’re going to have graphic descriptions. You can read anything in front of me but pls lets try and make debate a safer space ?•?•?
5. I don't time oops if u don't call out ur opponent when they go overtime thats on you
6. Safety is one of my top priorities. If I ever feel like you have made the round violent for your opponent I will drop the offender with an L20. In my eyes there are independent voting issues that are stop the round issues (like calling ur opponent a slur or misgendering) and "independent voting issues" that can be debated out (ie. t-fw). Not saying the second can't be read (bc i went for these a lot too), but they are just simply on a diff level as compared to the first. Generally the way I handle misgenderin is if you do it once and immediately catch it and apologize, I might dock your speaks but if it's not called out I won't insta drop you for it. Do it more than once and I will be less lenient. I try to be pretty cognizant of misgendering when it occurs, but please call it out when it happens, as I don't want to miss it.
7. I'm not the best flow-er esp if its before 9 in the morning or after 10 in the evening so it's prob in ur best interest to have a doc n send it esp if uve got a lot of analytics that u want me to catch
8. ROB = Theory = t> Fw > substance. subject to change but this is what I default to.
9. The 1nc/1ar should match the speed of the previous speech. That means if your opponent doesnt spread and you spread through 6 off or something, I will dock your speaks, heavily. You can reads ks and stuff just slow down.
Speaks
At the previous tournaments, I've judged at I've accused many times of "egriougosly inflating the speaker point pool" by my teammates even after I've tried to reel myself in. I try to average a 28.8 but also i have no idea how to calculate averages so it probably will end up being higher. Heres the formula i will try to stick to:
29.6 - 30 - will prob reach late outrounds/win
29.1-29.5 - will probably break
28.5-29 - average, prob go even, might break
28.1-28.4 - congrats you debated
27.5 -28 - You did something, not debate though
Note that I will move speaks up/down the formula depending on behavior (ie. being nice to a novice will prob bump your speaks, being a dick, even if you were a good debater will probably lower your speaks, ill also dock your speaks if you did/said something problematic that wasn't a round stopper)
Shortcut
k =1
larp = 2
Theory/trix = 2/3 (j pls don't try to be too sneaky and slow down on important stuff or I might miss them as well :/)
Phil = 2/3
Long cut
Ks/K-affs/Performance
Love these. I would also like some engagement with k affs that aren’t recycled shells pls but if t-fw is ur go to i get it too. Other than that I’m pretty familiar with this style because it’s the style I tend to do most often just give me ur overviews don’t forget the line by line too much.
I’m most familiar with queer theory, wynter, and cap and I know my way around generic Ks but for others err on the side of explaining more (you should have some explanation regardless but just make it a little more elementary if it’s not something I’m familiar with). Especially for high theory/ more not material ks, like Ill probably understand it because i know the worlds kinda screwed up but i prob wont get ur big words w/o explnantion. That being said although I am most familiar with this style of debate doesn't mean I don't like other styles. I would much rather see a larp v larp round than a bad larp v k round
One big pet peeve of mine that I've seen done is debaters who debate about their identity but then forgo any intersectional analysis (ie. white fem debaters that read intersectional authors but purposefully cut out the parts regarding race, ppl reading affs reminiscent of Louisville style debating n then being anti-black in round, white ppl reading puar and then being super rude towards brown queer ppl, etc.). I don't think theres anything wrong with discussions of identity in debate but i think if you want to talk abt that it has to b abt identity in general.
A lil sketch about reading pess if your not part of that identity group but open to args that say the contrary will prob just be an uphill battle (esp if all u kno are generic backfiles and its p obvious u havent engaged w the lit outside of that).
.Larp
Im bad at math so u’re gonna have to do a lot of the weighing for me other than that I think this debate is pretty intuitive. The way I understand it is whoever has biggest internal link to extinction wins like 90% of the time unless u read sturctural violence or smthn so just have good extinction n u should b fine. Didn't read much larp so dont rlly have opinions on whether or not certain args are cheating so p unbaised when it comes to cp theory. Have good evidence do weighing maybe don’t concede T and it shouldn’t be too bad.
Theory/Trix
I was not good at reading theory, but I did know when I’ve lost a round and so maybe I’m better at adjudicating them than I am at reading it? I don't necessarily think tricks are intuitivley bad (annoying to flow yes, but i will evaluate them) esp since a lot of my teammates read tricks n i vibed w them. I will most definitely miss some arguments if u just blitz them out at normal speed so you’ll prob have to slow down. I would also appreciate if u put them in the doc idk why some ppl like to extempt like 17 point underviews but please do not do that. Other than that see my “pls warrant” point above and we’ll be good.
My defaults (open to change):
Competing interps
DTA
RVIs
ROB = Theory unless one is specifically indicting the other in which case it comes first (ie a k on spikes prob will b evaluated b4 the spikes absent any args made otherwise/ rob spec evaluated b4 rob)
Phil
I read a couple phil acs n ncs but tbh I don’t really know how these rounds play out. I know the basics (hijack, ____ collapses to ____, etc) but have no idea how these interact (ie what happens if both of u make hijacks?) so ull have to do that comparative work for me. I just assume I go in knowing nothing (not hard for me ;3) and whichever framework seems the most true based on what was said in the round at the end is the one I go with. Mayb that’s a bad way to judge these if u want me to do it differently ull have to tell me in round.
I'm also not that familiar with EM and how all the nuances with it works (like how a hijack/ collapses to arg affects the probabliity calculus that I have to do) so if you run em you just gotta be super crystal clear or I will just use my probably not very educated opinions and we'll all be sad. also i have no idea how to do basic multiplication outside of the times table we learned in 3rd grade so keep that in mind when you do your weighing
absent justification presumption and permissibility negates unless a cp/alt is read then it flips aff. I also never really understood the difference between the tow, again that can ghange but i figured id give u a heads up