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GGSA Debate and IE State Quals

2021 — Online, CA/US

Policy Paradigm List

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Matthew Beyer Lowell High School

Vishwanatha Bhat Dougherty Valley High School

Chance Boreczky James Logan High School

Last changed on Sat February 10, 2024 at 12:21 AM PDT

C_boreczky75413@berkeley.edu

Brief update for Stanford LD competitors - I primarily judge circuit and CA-circuit policy debate, but much of the below should apply. I'm not primed for any category of LD arguments over another, and don't have an inherent preference for circuit arguments and styles, but I'm very open to them.

Four years of policy competition, at a solid mix of circuit and regional tournaments. I generally do enough judging these days to be pretty up-to-date on circuit args.

Generally comfortable with speed but I tend to have issues comprehending overly breathy spreading. And please, for everyone's sake, make sure your tags are clear and don't try to give theory analytics at full speed. You can do whatever feels right, of course, but I can only decide based on what I catch.

Broadly, I default to an offense-defense paradigm and a strict technical focus. It's not exactly hard to get me to depart from those defaults, however. I'll vote for anything, and it doesn't take any 'extra' work to get me to endorse performance advocacies, critical affirmative advocacies, etc - just win your offense, and framework if applicable.

I'd love to be a truth over tech judge, but I just don't believe that's an acceptable default orientation for my ballot. That said, engaging with that preference and doing it well is a pretty convincing approach with me. This most often comes across in impact calc.

Evidence quality is extremely important to me. I tend to grant much more weight to card texts and warrants than to tags, and I'm perfectly happy to drop ev that doesn't have warrants matching the tag, if you articulate why I should do so. That said, I don't discount evidence just because I perceive it to be low-quality, and if it gets conceded, well, it might as well be true.

My bar for framework and T/theory tends to depend on what you're asking me to do. Convincing me to drop a states CP on multiple actor fiat bad requires fairly little offense. Convincing me to drop a team on A-Spec is going to be an uphill battle, usually.

Manoj Channa Dougherty Valley High School

Gitika Chhabra Dougherty Valley High School

Becky Choi Lowell High School

Last changed on Sat March 10, 2018 at 8:02 AM PDT

Lowell High School '18

Email: beckycarechoi@gmail.com

Background:

I debated 4 years of policy at Lowell High School and do a little coaching for our teams.

If there's anything y'all have qualms on that isn't covered in my paradigm, feel free to email me; I'm more than happy to answer questions.

tl;dr:

1. Tech>Truth: I don't care what you run as long as its not offensive - just win the LBL and you'll get my ballot.

2. Flashing=/=Prep but don’t abuse it. Yes, I want to be on the email chain or in the speech doc room or whatever kids are using nowadays.

3. I default to a policymaking framework unless I am presented with a different framework in the round. Then, it is the other team's job to prove why the opposing team's framework is bad.

4. One thing that I find lacking in high school debate nowadays is the lack of substantial explanation behind specific arguments - I am guilty of not doing enough analysis myself during my debate career which is why I want to stress the importance of this to y'all. I'd rather y'all choose a few of the most important arguments to explain to me in depth rather than spew as many lines as you can at me. I want to be able to fully comprehend your arguments and know why you think you should win the debate by the end of the rebuttals.

5. If there is no clash, I will be extremely bored and my facial expressions will reflect that. I am very expressive; anyone who knows me will tell you so. Exploit my expressive personality and know when you or the other team is saying something that's complete BS.

6. I will vote on presumption, but explain to me why I should. Simply saying "vote neg on presumption" without any explanation of why will not convince me.

7. I'd prefer not to call for cards after the round - I will be doing my best to keep up with reading the cards in speech docs during prep and whatnot. If you think the opposing team's cards are sketchy for one reason or another, say so during your speech. I will not point it out for you.

8. Be nice. If you are a shitty person your speaks will reflect that, even if you win the ballot.

9. Speed is fine. I'd prefer if you don't go your full speed, but as long as you are clear and are organized I will be able to flow you. If I can't, I'll say clear three times max and then stop flowing and do my own homework.

10. You do you. Do your best and go for what you think you're ahead on and what will win the round, not what you think I like.

Complete paradigm:

Nontraditional: I strongly believe that the affirmative must defend the hypothetical implementation of a an action done by the United States federal government. It is difficult but not impossible to convince me otherwise. I will try my best not to let my personal biases interfere with what's happening in the round. That being said, it is the neg's burden to prove why reading a nontraditional aff is bad. A competent extension of framework all throughout the debate usually does this for me, but I think having a TVA and education/fairness impacts are key. Prove why their interpretation is bad for debate and you'll win my ballot.

Topicality: T is great. Run T. Personally I think limits is the most persuasive and easiest standard to win on, but do whatever floats your boat. I default to reasonability and competing interpretations. 2A/2Ns should really focus on explaining to me the impact debate and why you should win your education/limits claims in the rebuttals.

Theory: As the 1N who usually took theory for 5 minutes in the block I usually lean neg on theory, unless it's condo. 2 condo is fine, read more at your own risk. That’s just a default though and can be easily reversed. Usually "reject the argument, not the team" is pretty convincing.

Kritiks: PLEASE EXPLAIN. Unless your K is security, neolib/cap, or Orientalism, I probably will not have read much literature on it. Don't let that discourage you from running high theory Ks, I'll still vote on them if those debates are done well. I have a high threshold for K's; if you run one, you gotta explain how it links to the aff, how the alt solves/is a priori issue, and for the love of coffee please explain the jargon. Using big fancy words does not win you the debate. I know what epistemology and reps are, but you need to show me that you do. The more specific the K is the to aff, the better. Reading framework against K's is always a good idea - especially if you have no idea what the K is and feel that you can't win the K proper debate. However, I will not simply vote on "if we win FW then we don't have to win that the alt fails/solves". If the other team drops this, I will probably vote for you but I will not be happy about it. It is usually pretty easy to win that extinction is a prior issue than eliminating cap from society (Bostrom) in front of me, but I will not assume this if you don't read a card on it.

Framework: I'll be honest - I run framework a lot, way more than I would like to. The biggest problem with traditional framework v. a K aff is that it falls prey to the exclusion DA. K affs should be closer to the topic than not, but it is up to you to explain to me how your aff relates to the topic. I will vote neg on framework debates if the neg convinces me that K aff is just unrelated to the topic. We have a resolution for a reason. There are great K affs that engage with the topic, and even if your aff doesn't convince me that it does. Neg teams need to explain how their model of debate interacts with the aff.

Disadvantages: Love them. Disad/Case debates are my favorite types of debates to watch. Prioritize your impact work!! Make your links specific, especially if you are reading something generic like politics. The more specific the DA the better. Even though I love these debates, it's pretty easy for the aff to convince me that most DA's are stupid by using author indicts/smart analytics. Be smart and it'll save you loads of time.

Counter plans: I love watching good CP+DA/Case debates. Please have a net benefit/solvency advocate, or else you're probably going to lose the CP. I don't have a favorite type of counterplan, but I ran a lot of really specific PICs in high school and think they're cool.

Case: Too many teams disregard case as the debates go on. I like to see clash between the off case and the aff both from the aff and neg teams. I do believe in zero risk even within an offense defense paradigm. If the aff team doesn't extend any impacts through the end of the debate, there is very little chance that I will be voting for you. Also, simply saying "extend the nuclear meltdown impact/Kagan card, that's our impact" is not an extension. Explanations are key.

Cross-X is underrated. It is binding and it’s a speech. I like aggressive cross-xers and I doubt I’ll think you’re mean unless you cuss them out or if you are blatantly rude. The only caveat to this rule is if you are conclusively winning/debating novices who should not be in varsity you should be as nice as possible.

Speaker Points: I usually give between a 27-29 depending on the general skill and choices made in the round. < 25 is reserved for people who are blatantly racist, sexist, or mean. Or if you read wipeout. If you catch the other team clipping, record it and show me. Clippers get a 0.

How to get better speaker points in front of me:

Make me laugh! Jokes/puns are appreciated as long as they are not offensive. Snarkiness and sass are welcome, but never at the expense of the opposing team.

DO NOT:
-be racist

-be sexist

-be homophobic

-read wipeout (willing to give leeway on this if it's justified, but it rarely is)

Sabonn Dammarell Branson School

Lani Frazer Sonoma Academy 8 rounds

Last changed on Mon January 8, 2024 at 7:04 AM PDT

Email chain/contact: lanikfrazer@gmail.com

About me - I was the director of speech & debate at sonoma academy for 4 years, and coach for 3 years prior. I debated at SVDP and at Cal and have taught at the CNDI. I no longer do anything debate related.

General - My judging philosophy is pretty simple - you should ultimately do what you do best. I prioritize specificity, contextualization, and evidence quality over your style of debate. Really, I can't stress this enough. I don't judge many policy v. policy debates, but I am able to adjudicate them. I do, however, primarily judge K v. K/clash rounds.

Organization is very important. I flow on paper. I am not a fan of huge overviews and card dumps- please do the work for me and tell me where I should flow things. Explaining warrants is crucial. Empirics and examples are great. Impact analysis is critical. Tech should be truth.

Topicality - I will vote on topicality. The negative must win that their interpretation is good, predictable, and resolves their voters. You should be explaining why, as a whole, your vision of the topic is good, and have tangible impacts. Potential abuse isn't super compelling to me, but I'll vote on it if you tell me why I should. Ks of T are often pretty trifling and need to be explained in depth. "Community consensus" on T doesn't mean much to me and should not be taken for granted.

Theory - I have a high threshold for theory debates and find them to be blippy and frivolous most of the time. I default to rejecting the argument and not the team, but if there is a voting issue it must be thoroughly articulated and should have a very strong presence in the 2nr/2ar. Slow down, be clear, and do more than read the shell.

Framework - I mostly judge debates wherein affirmatives do not read a traditional plan text. I am fine with this. Should affirmatives at least be in the direction of the topic? Probably, but not necessarily. Framework read against a K/performance aff that does something concrete is typically not a good argument to read in front of me. You should be engaging in what they do and you should do more than say that they shouldn't be allowed to do it. Provide a creative topical version, and explain why fairness or education or whatever comes first (and why this means the aff can't access their own pedagogy). Do more than provide a case list, but explain why those cases are good for debate. I tend to think that fairness is more of an internal link and not a terminal impact, but if you're winning that I will vote for you.

The K - love it. I spend a lot of time reading critical theory and am probably familiar with your lit, but I will not do extra work for you, so the less jargon/more explanation, the better. Be specific and have contextualized links (the link should be to the aff and not the world). You should also answer all of the aff's impacts through turns, defense, etc. Framing is super important. The permutation is underutilized. Impact turns on the aff are cool, but not when it's something you shouldn't say pedagogically.

Disadvantages - Fine. Win your link, turn/outweigh the case, impact calc. Intrinsicness is silly and I'll probably not evaluate it much unless it's seriously mishandled (though it can be compelling against things like riders DAs, which are, in my opinion, a misinterpretation of fiat).

Counterplans - Great. I love a creative advantage CP. You should have a solvency advocate. I definitely lean neg on most theory arguments here, but that doesn't mean I won't vote on them.

Let me know if you have any questions. Shoot me an email before the round if you want me to be aware of access needs, pronouns, etc.

Barkha Gill James Logan High School None

Gibran Hassan Sonoma Academy

Last changed on Tue February 13, 2024 at 5:33 AM PDT

Judges for: Sonoma Academy (2019-present)

Previously judged for: Peninsula, MBA, Meadows

UCLA '23

Add me to the email chain: gibran.fridi@gmail.com

Email Chain Format: [Tournament Name Round # : Aff Name vs Neg Name]

Speed is fine, but clarity over speed. I will yell clear, but after the second time if I don't understand what you're saying, I won't flow it. Also please disclose on the wiki.

Some Clarifications for this year because these things keep happening in round:

-cross-ex is not prep

-sending marked docs if it takes more than a minute is prep.

-marked docs don't need to have cards that weren't read taken out, that is your job to flow. The only time u should be sending out marked docs is if you actually mark a card.

- if we are having tech or wifi issues, try to resolve it best before the round starts. I would rather start late but everything working than stop after every speech due to wifi issues.

TLDR

Do what you do best. Trying to adapt to me as a judge is a waste of time. Although I am more familiar with policy arguments, I will vote for any argument you run as long as you do it well. K v K, Policy v K, K v FW, Policy v Policy.... i will vote for anything.

Arguments are claims, warrants, and impacts -- means that "dropped" arguments are true only if you explain why they matter and the reasons they're true. I need more explanation than just "they dropped the DA- we win!"

Tech>Truth

Topicality

I'm down to see a good T debate. I think T is vastly underused by 2Ns. If your 1N is a killer T debater, use it to your advantage. Most affs to some extent are untopical, so make them stop cheating. Have a good interp/counter interp and give me some good clash on the standards debate. I don't defer to reasonability or competing interps, so I will be convinced by both.

Theory

If condo is a legit strat for you it should be a big part of the 1AR and all of the 2AR. I will vote on condo, but there has to be in round abuse. If they read states and neolib, I will not be very convinced to vote on condo. And I definitely believe that neg should definitely have condo to test the aff. Other theory args aren't as convincing to me unless the other team completely drops it.

Probably my favorite debate argument. I love a good CP/DA neg start.

A good advantage CP with a sick DA can be a killer neg strat. But have some good evidence on how and why the CP solves. Usually, 1AC evidence can be used as solvency advocates for ADV CPs. Also, the CP better be competitive, cause then I have no reason to vote for it.

Yes, most K's are cool and I will definitely still vote on the K even though I'm most familiar with policy arguments. I think Ks are very interesting and probably produce the most real-world change. But if you don't understand your K and can't explain it to your opponents, I will have a hard time voting for it. Have some good links that you can explain. Also, the alt better solve or at least do something. If you can't explain what the alt does and what voting neg does, then please don't read that K. There's nothing more embarrassing than watching a K team not know what they are talking about in cross-ex. What K lit I know well (Cap, Set Col, Gnoseology, Security, Orientalism, Foucault). Bad K debates are worse than bad policy debates.ngl if ur a POMO team, don't pref me lol. I really don't want to listen to Bifo, Baudrillard, D&G etc debates.

Policy Affs

Do what you do best. Have solvency advocates, win the case solves something.

K Affs

Used to err neg on these debates, but as I judge more and more rounds, I feel differently now lol. I don't really have a preference anymore and yes I will vote for K affs. I am more experienced with policy but recently I have really enjoyed K aff rounds. Same rules apply as the K above.

Case

Destroy them on case. Nothing makes the 1AR harder than amazing case debate in the block.

Speaks

Don't steal prep. Flashing/emailing isn't prep unless it becomes an issue in the round. If you're very unclear, I will dock your speaks. Please don't clip. That's the last thing I want to deal with. You will lose the round, get a 0 and I will have to have a conversation with your coach. Also please don't make sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic etc. comments. You will lose the round and get a 0. Don't be mean to the other team. Friendly banter is always welcome.

Brian Hui James Logan High School

Emily Ibanez Arroyo Sonoma Academy

Last changed on Sat March 5, 2022 at 4:45 AM PDT

About me: (she/her/hers/ella) Sonoma Academy'19 & Dickinson College '23

I debated all throughout high school on the local and national circuit level. I went to CNDI camp and was a 1A/2N. I did four years of policy and one year of parli. GGSA #1 will be the first tournament I judge this year and exposure to the topic (no camp experience) keep this in mind.

I want to be on the email chain: ibanezae@dickinson.edu

Please feel free to ask me questions before and after the round or just say hello and introduce yourself if you'd like. I want to do what I can to make you feel that the round is an assessable and comfortable space.

Zoom: This format of debate is new to us all that being said it's not an excuse to steal prep or contact others outside the round. Please adhere to the honor code of former debate rounds. Time yourselves please. I will be doing so as well so I will know if you're running over time intentionally for prep.

Speed/Speaks: I am fine with spreading but with the added variable of zoom please go 80% your normal speed. If I can't understand you I won't flow it. I won't interrupt you to say clear, if you see me staring at you or clearly not flowing, adapt. I flow the speech not the doc. Good way to get good speaks from me is to give me clear instructions in the beginning:order, placement, and extension of arguments throughout the speech not just titles and authors. Etiquette to all in the round will also reflect in your speaks. Debate is meant to be a fun and educational space not one to be ungraceful or rude.

Affirmative: You should know your aff like the back of your hand. 1AC I expect you to shine in the CX.

CX: One of my favorite parts of debate itself. I think it is sadly underutilized but it's a key place for speaks to me. I want to see you shine in CX. I'm impartial to tag team just get consent from the other team. Be respectful and try to not talk over one other (no one enjoys seeing a repeat of the 2020 Presidential debate) I believe CX is binding, so be specific and careful.

Case: Case debate is very important. I love seeing it well played out.

Kritiks: I am fine with Ks and K affs. In high school, I leaned towards policy debate. However, I've studied critical theory and am familiar with some lit but again not everything so be very clear. I believe in round solvency and that a key point in the round should be the roll of the ballot and the a well explained alt. I would rather have a mediocre policy round than a bad K debate. Please only read Ks that you are comfortable and knowledgeable in.

CP: I love effective and specific CP/DA combos. Please do an effective block split each should have one speaker dedicated to either or one speaker to both. The first thing I should hear about DAs in any speech is that they outweigh and turn the case. Generic CP/DA combos are fine but you need to really focus on the link to the aff.

Rinku Kapoor Dougherty Valley High School

Vandana Konda James Logan High School

Siddharth Kotapati Dougherty Valley High School None

Connor Lauer Branson School 8 rounds

Last changed on Sat March 16, 2024 at 9:46 PM EDT

3.5 years policy debate | George Mason University
3 years mock trial | First Colonial High School

(1) THE OVERVIEW:

I think debate is a game with tangential benefits that vary from debater to debater. Do what you do best and what you enjoy, and I will do my best to offer a thoughtful, cogent, and minimally biased decision that is based on the arguments and evidence presented.

(2) PARADIGMS BY DEBATE TYPE:

(2.a) Policy/CX

(2.a.1) How I Evaluate Rounds:
- I will begin with framework. Usually this will merely be me determining if the aff gets to weigh reasonable theoretical implementation of a plan vs. a competitive alternative. At this stage, I will look to role of the ballot, aff/neg interps, theory, procedurals, and other voting issues (including presumption).
- I will then try to list each team's offense based on harms caused or solved. This could be constituted by advantages the aff solves, case turns, internal link turns, straight turns, and all of that good stuff.
- Lastly I weigh each team's offense against the round's framework and do the maths.
- This usually produces a winning team. After I have a preliminary vote, I will go through all of the arguments made by the 'losing' team to see if any of them complicate the initial decision that I have written.

(2.a.2) Some technical disclaimers:
- If the affirmative reads a few advantages, and the neg never substantively contests them (possibly because it is a K that attempts to exclude fiat), I will tolerate minimal extension of the affirmative including even if the internal link scenario is not explained up through the 1ar. This is true about the core advantages of the aff, not random cards the 1ac reads. If you read Zanotti in your framing contention, you do not get to wait until the 2ar to explain the aff as a heuristic.
- I default to an offense/defense paradigm unless specified to do otherwise.
- I will kick the CP/alt if condo is never mentioned or is won by the neg AND I think the DA/K outweighs.
- I will not vote on IVIs tied to the identity of individual debaters/the school where you are from/etc. unless there is a substantial link tied to something that happened in that specific round. I believe each round is a fresh start, and debate should be a place for testing of ideas and competitive engagement with respectful and respected opponents. Feel free to call your opponents out if you think they did something crappy, and my expressions will probably tell you where I stand on their behavior.

(2.a.3) Personal prefs/reasons to strike me:
- I generally like K’s. In summary, if you read a K aff or a K on the neg that you understand and are passionate about, I will be happy, and if it is one that is well-executed with contextual and specific links and a crystallized alternative or advocacy, I will be very happy.
- However, this does not mean that I am going to conspire against your policy aff or planked advantage CP. I often went for framework, I'll boogie with a good clash of civs debate or a scrappy plan-plan solvency deficit debate, and I will vote on your heg/cap good turns.
- Don’t read a K you do not know in front of me if you want to win the round. I will appreciate the effort, but I will give you average speaks and drop you.
- I am very partial to a good cross-x and will reward such with more speaker points. If you obviate, lie, or do other sneaky stuff during cross-x, your speaker points will suffer.
- I will give you +.5 speaker points if you draw a graph or write a function, and correctly utilize it to make an argument.

(2.a.4) You can have my flow:
- Just ask, but do not expect me to retain documents for long after the decision is given. No givesies backsies.

(2.a.5) Long Version with all the juicy details:

(2.a.5.i) Kritiks
-They should have a consistent thesis, contextual links, and an alternative that resolves said links.
-I am probably familiar with your lit base. But the burden is on you to explain it.
-“ontology turns the aff” is not an argument. I am willing to vote on ontology or theories of power but I need historical or empirical contextualization (read: examples) connected to a metaphysical claim about the world.
-Aff vs. K: you have an affirmative, with (hopefully) tight link chains and solvency advocates, try not to forget that. While they are spewing out scraps of whatever shite the French took after May 1968, it turns out that they often forget to say why the aff is uniquely bad. I am very convinced by contextualization out of the generic K goo and world comparisons vs. the alternative.
-Also, and this is true for both sides, do not underestimate the framework debate.

(2.a.5.ii) Kritikal Affs
-Your aff need not be a government policy nor have a plan text but should be some combination of a) an instrumental action by an actor, b) why its education/focus/reorientation is important, and c) why it is inaccessible through resolution debate (in sum: do a meaningful thing and topic links).
-Being in the direction of the topic is qualifiably better than just "productivity bad" and will grant you appreciably more wiggle room on T. If you color/watch naruto/play video games I will probably have fun and give you decent speaks but you probably won’t get the ballot.
-"A Ha!" 2ARs/Tricks are less and less impressive to me than a thoughtful 1AC thesis tested in the fires.
-If you care about it, I will too. If you're reading a K aff just for strategy, you're reading it for the wrong reasons.

(2.a.5.iii) Topicality/FW
-I default to competing interps.
-Topicality needs an impact.
-Fairness seems like an impact. Explain why.
-Vs. the K: I find myself increasingly persuaded by arguments like the TVA. Policy focus is boring but skills are cool. Creative topic education DAs are also cool.
-Novices should read a plan text in the first half of their respective competitive year.

(2.a.5.iv) Disads
-Read them, win on them. I am very pleased with case specific disads that interact with the aff’s internal links and turn the aff on a deeper level than "econ collapse turns warming".

(2.a.5.v) Counterplans
-Delay CPs, PICs, and “The president should sign the bill with a blue pen instead of black pen” CPs are generally abusive but I will vote in the absence of aff theory.

(2.a.5.vi) Theory
-I tend to lean aff at more than 3 conditional worlds + squo (see my policy on judge kick in the technical disclaimer).
-Bidirectionality is usually bad because clash is usually good.
-I am probably more likely than most to vote on perf con or double turn arguments so long as they are impacted.

(2.a.5.vii) Evidence vs Arguments
-I believe that evidence exists for the purpose of making an argument. I skim the doc during speeches and rarely read evidence after the round. This is subject to the exceptions of if one or two pieces of ev. were flagged as important to the nexus question(s) of the debate or if I want to steal your cites.
-It logically proceeds that since I am leaning less on directly reading the ev. I am relying more on your characterization of it, so evidence comparison is still welcome and often influences close decisions at the LBL level.

(2.a.5.iv) Speaker Points
-"Well, okay. 15 is the minimum, okay? Now it's up to you whether or not you want to just do the bare minimum. Well, like Brian, for example, has 30 points. And a terrific smile . . . Look: people can get clash anywhere, okay? They come to debate for the atmosphere and the attitude. That's what the speaker points are about. It's about fun . . . Look, we want you to express yourself, okay? If you think the bare minimum is enough, then okay. But some people choose to wear more and we encourage that, okay? You do want to express yourself, don't you?"

(2.b) Lincoln-Douglas

(2.b.1) How to win the round:

-Make arguments. At the most fundamental level, a reasonable argument is:
(i) a claim (a conclusory assertion),
(ii) a warrant (an interpretation of facts), and
(iii) evidence (data or mere facts).

-Clash with the opposing side. An unanswered reasonable argument is assumed true.

-Identify voting issues and collapse the debate down to those. Explain the purpose(s) of the round and why I should vote for a given argument over others. Value/criterion debates often feel like an exercise circulus in probando, so clash, reasons to prefer, and world comparisons are welcome.

(2.b.2) How to auto-lose the round:

-Wanton disrespect of persons. This includes racism, sexism, homophobia. In the interest of mercy, I have a fairly high threshold for reaching such determinations. Thus, this does not include actions such as misidentifying your opponents' gender or saying their arguments are dumb. I have never auto-dropped someone for these reasons and hopefully will never have to.

-With all this said, be comfortable and confident. I presume good faith and you have the benefit of the doubt. I hate intervening in rounds, so please don't make me :).

-As an alternative measure, I reserve the right to decimate your speaker points/give a no-point win, chastise you after the round, and/or inform your coaches or tournament staff of your behavior. I can count on one hand how many times I have done this, and I have judged many (read: hundreds of) rounds.

(2.b.3) Other relevant information:

-I'm fine with spreading, I did college policy debate for 4 years. However, LD is not CX. If objected to by the opposing team and it bars their comprehension, I will ask for no more than 200 WPM (quick conversational).

-Kritiks and Topicality: Kritiks of the resolution are fine. I am likely familiar with your lit base, but the burden is on you to explain it. However, in LD I am typically more sympathetic toward negative claims that Pro should be bound by the resolution.

(2.c) Public Forum

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Chris Leung Monte Vista

April Ma College Prep

Last changed on Thu March 28, 2024 at 2:04 AM PDT

*wear a mask if you are any degree of ill*

neutral or they/them pronouns // aprilmayma@gmail.com

me: 4 yrs TOC circuit policy @ Blue Valley West ('19: surveillance, china, education, immigration) // BA Political Science @ UC Berkeley ('22) // [Current] PhD student, Political Science @ Johns Hopkins. did not debate in college.

conflicts: college prep (2019-present), georgetown day (2023-present), calvert hall (2023-present)

judging stats: 264 sum, aff: 126(46.8%) - neg: 143(53.2%) // panels: 63, sat: 6x, split: 19 // decisions regretted: like 2, maybe 3

non-policy: dabbled but will evaluate like a policy judge.

___

juj preferences

[me] my debate opinions are influenced primarily by KU-affiliated/Kansas debate diaspora (ian beier, allie chase, matt munday, jyleesa hampton, box, hegna, Q, countless others, peers I had the privilege to debate against). i read heg affs as a 2A. I went for the K, impact turn & adv cp, and T as a 2N. Great for policy/T, policy/policy & policy/K, OK for K/policy, mid for K/K & theory. I think i'm good for a fast/technical debate for someone having been out of debate for 5 years. LOL. have mercy on me.

[norms] CX is a speech except when using extra prep. I do not care about respectability/politeness/"professionalism", but ego posturing/nastiness is distinct from assertiveness/confidence/good faith. respect diverse skill levels and debating styles. non-debate (interpersonal) disputes go straight to tab, NOT me. I am a mandated reporter.

[rfd] I will take the easiest way out. I try to write an aff and neg ballot and resolve one of them with as little intervention as possible - read: judge instructions necessary. I only read cards if they're extended into rebuttals w authors & warrants. Ev work, like Mac dre said, is not my job. framing the round through offensive/defense framing, presumption, models, etc. also helpful (if consistent). i flow on paper so slow down where it matters.

[online] do not start if my camera is off. SLOW DOWN, like slower than an in-person tournament, or else your cpu mic/my speaker will eat all your words; I will type "clear" in the round chat box once per speech.

[IRL] I'll clear u once per speech & stop flowing if i don't understand. my facial expressions reveal a lot about what I do/dont understand. track your own prep, but if you're bad at stealing prep (aka, I can tell), you will not like your speaks. cut my rfd short if you need to prep another round immediately.

[gen] debate is not debaters adjusting to the judge. do the type debate you are good at, not what you think I will like. I will meet you where you are, as long as you can explain your args. I like efficiency & will not punish a shortened speech unless its prematurely concluded. i do not read "inserts", a recut card is still a card - read it. I will not evaluate what I cannot flow & I do not flow analytics off the doc. #lets #signpost. clarity > speed, tech > truth. content warnings/disability accommodations/etc should be made verbally before disclosure/round.

** TLDR: I like good debate; as in, the more rounds I judge, the less strong feelings I have about specific arguments. I can be persuaded by most arguments (if you are good at being persuasive). do the work and you will win me over. good luck and have fun! :)

___

argument notes

[ETHICS VIOLATIONS] Teams must call an ethics violation to stop the round. if verified, the violating team drops with lowest speaks. otherwise, the accusing team drops with lowest speaks. [clipping] usually necessitates recording, contingent on debaters consent & tournament rules. clipping includes being unclear to the point of being incomprehensible & not marking.**I am following at least the 1AC and 1NC - read every word. seriously READ ALL THE WORDS!!!! if I notice clipping and no one else calls it out, I will not stop the round, but your speaks will reflect what I hear.

[case] yes. plan texts are my preference, but not a requirement. #1 fan of case debate. case turns too. does anyone go for dedev anymore?

[K-aff] okay, but not my neck of the woods. being germane to the resolution is good, or affs must resolve something or have offense. don't miss the forest for the trees- ex: 2NR responds LBL to the 1AR but fails to contextualize to the rest of the debate. I find myself often w a lot of info but unclear reasons to vote. judge instruction prevents judge intervention (esp. re: kvk debate).

[K-neg] sure. tell me what ur words mean. I'm familiar with most neolib/security/ontology-relevant K's, but never never never assume I know your theory of power. idk your white people (heidegger, bataille, schlag, baudrillard, wtv). K tricks r dope, if you can explain them.

[disads] yes. impact turns/turns case are awesome. idk anything about finance, spare me the jargon or at least explain it in baby words.

[cp] okay. slow down/signpost on deficits & impact out. "sufficiency framing" "perm do ____" are meaningless w/o explanation. abolish perm vomit! adv cp's r awesome!! risk of net ben before CP solvency (unless told otherwise... judge instruction is your friend). remember to actually "[insert aff]" in your cp text.

[T] good (but I'm waiting for it to be great...). default to competing interps/framing through models unless told otherwise. caselists are good. SIGNPOST. slow down, i need to hear every word. + speaks for T debate off the flow. Impress me, & your speaks will reflect it! [re: T vs. K-aff]: I admittedly lean neg for limits being good & personal familiarity of args. i find K-aff v. fw rounds are increasingly uncreative/unadaptive... TVA's are persuasive (aff teams are not good at debating against them). judge instruction is your friend!

[theory] rule of thumb: equal input, equal-ish output. aka, blipped theory warrants blipped answers. do not expect a good rfd if you are speeding through theory blocks like you are reading the Cheesecake Factory menu. I will not vote on theory if you are simply asserting a violation - it is procedural argument, treat it like one.

[speaker points] i am anti speaks inflation. everyone starts at 28. I drop speaks for aforementioned reasons + disorganization + offensive/bad faith behavior. speaks are earned via efficient/effective speech construction, cx usage, succinctness, and strategy. 29.2+ reserved for exemplary speeches. below 28 indicates more pre-tournament prep is needed.

Sridevi Madaraju Dougherty Valley High School

Biplabi Mishra Dougherty Valley High School

Kumaran Narayanan Dougherty Valley High School

Nishad Neelakandan James Logan High School

Last changed on Thu January 28, 2021 at 1:56 PM EDT

I go by Nish, I'm a current senior at UC Berkeley and I debated for McDonogh School in high school. Competed in hundreds of rounds at all levels of debate, TOC Champ 2017, First Round Bid team to NDT sophomore year of college, Copeland Panel team junior year, ive seen it all ill listen to it all

email chain: nishneel@berkeley.edu

technical prowess is important

debate is most certainly a game, and like any game there will be competitive incentives to maximize your winning chance and I am totally on board with the idea debate is most fundamentally a game. however, like any other game, there are still epistemological consequences for how we play those games that can call into question a matter of procedure; it is undeniable what we do in this activity shapes even our smallest most meaningless political engagements in a meaningful way

k aff v fw debates:

when i vote for the k team my rfd usually sounds like this: aff has a strong impact turn to framework and policy debate, 2nr is behind on the impact turn and has likely spent too much time on the internal link story and has neglected substantive impact debating, there's just enough of a counterinterp extended that the aff doesnt totally break the game, but the risk that playing the game as-is is whack outweighs.

when i vote for the fw team my rfd usually sounds like this: aff needs a stronger substantive impact turn to framework or the activity, the strategy of internal link turning all the fw offense and going for the counterinterp isn't totally enough to convince me that the game as-is is not valuable and that clash minimization is warranted, if there's a significant risk the game produces well intending advocates then it should certainly be played in a way that maximizes advocacy skills and is fair

takeaway: to me these debates are just impact turn debates and if the game isn't being played in a whack way then it should aim to maximize clash (implication: i dont think framework is whack unless it's substantiated well). but if the game does produce uncritical thinkers or whatever, then i see little reason to maximize advocacy skills gained through a broken game nor do i think its procedures must be set in stone.

other things:

- cameras only need to be on during prep time, i dont care if cameras are off during speeches

- if a team requests a debate to be a slow debate, I do not think the opponents have to accede, and I think both parties are allowed to spread as slow or as fast as they'd like in front of me. but certainly if you make an argument about your opponent's decision to spread being a voting issue, i'll evaluate it. and likewise if you make an argument about why debate has to be technical and why that outweighs, ill evaluate it

Amanda Neubarth Lowell High School

Penny Neuhaus James Logan High School

Nimil Patel Lowell High School

Last changed on Sat March 6, 2021 at 3:22 AM CDT

Currently, I am a full-time employee in the Madison, WI area. I debated at Glenbrook South High School for four years and am currently tangentially connected with them. I am somewhat familiar with the topic, but you have to be clear because I may not be sure about the context.

Debate is a fun activity, but also a competitive one, so have fun, but also have good sportsmanship. Needless to say, be nice to your opponents and get to know them if you can because you might see them later in the year and if you know your opponents, then it makes the debate more interesting, more fun, and more competitive. Arguments have three parts to them: claim, warrant, and impact. In order to win an argument, it needs to be sufficiently extended, you need to answer their answers, and make sure you have evidence or it is backed up with logic.

I debated as both speaker positons in high school, so I normally do not have any bias and understand the difficulties of all speaker positions.

In general, I am ok with all arguments as long as it is clearly explained.

T - I used to go for this a lot in high school, but there is a high burden for the negative.

K - I am not the biggest fan of the argument, but you need to be very clear about the argument since I am probably not very familiar with the neg lit base. I struggle with judging this argument the most, but that does not mean I won't vote for it. If you have questions about specific K's, then pull me aside and ask.

CP - I am ok with all types of counterplans and think they can be effective, but that does not mean the aff can convince me otherwise on theory (especially after debating GBN). Make sure you have sufficient solvency of the aff and a clear net benefit.

DA - I like 1NR's that are 5 mins of the DA and 2NR's that are DA and case. Both sides need to put in work where necessary on the flow to win their argument and impact calculus is important.

Impact turns - they are fun and a good source of offense for both the Aff and Neg.

Theory - I don't really lean one way or the other here, but there needs to be in round abuse.

K Affs - They need to be close to the topic... I am not afraid to vote for them. I think framework is an important argument.

Lastly, make sure to have fun and be optimistic.

If you have any questions, email me nimilpatel25@gmail.com.

Cindy Phan Branson School 8 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 19, 2024 at 4:20 PM MDT

TL;DR I am comfortable with any and all arguments as long as they are well-articulated, impacted out, and clearly framed in the context of the round; run your disads, your CPs, your kritiks, your theory, etc. I have no specific topic knowledge this year. I do my best to vote off the flow and limit judge intervention. I am sensitive to how marginalized identities are treated within the debate space.

In general:

- I will try to keep my camera on as often as possible.

- I flow on my laptop, and while I'm comfortable with speed, I appreciate slowing down on tags and increased attention to clarity in analytics, especially those not included in the doc.

- It is especially important to me that an inclusive environment is fostered. Your speaks and the outcome of the round can, and will, be affected by intolerant or violent language and/or behaviors. Understand that debate is a space that was inherently not made for POC, femmes, and other marginalized identities, and as a judge I believe it my responsibility to intervene if a round re-entrenches any trend of exclusion.

- In terms of speaks, I reward clarity, organization, efficiency of language, and quality of explanation.

- I'm not a fan of excessive neg strats. I do not think it is ever necessary to run eight off with four disads and three counterplans and a theory shell, and I'm going to be pretty pissy if your off-case positions hit the double digits. You can go ahead, but I probably won't love it.

- Adapt to your opponent. If a team/an opponent is clearly new to the event or traditional, I don't want to see high theory run. There's no way to have a good debate if half of the round fundamentally does not understand the arguments being made. You can have clash by engaging with your opponent in the manner they're debating. If you choose to disregard this, I'll vote off the flow, but your speaks will suffer for it.

- In general, I am comfortable with any and all forms of argument as long as they are well-articulated and contextualized in the context of the round, including but not limited to DAs/CPs, kritiks, theory, performance args. Debate however you think will allow you to make it the best round you can while also respecting your opponents.

- I have no specific topic knowledge this year.

- Please include me on the email chain: cindyphan@college.harvard.edu

More general things:

- I appreciate it when debaters time themselves.

- Love signposting and off-time roadmaps.

- Tech > Truth (as much as is reasonable— I will absolutely not be convinced by impact turns like "racism good" even if it is completely dropped throughout the entire round. Likewise, an outdated PTX disad can flow uncontested, but I won't be voting on evidence that was specific to the 2016 election. But I try my best to limit judge intervention, I will not be doing work for you or your opponents, and I will be voting off the flow.)

- Rebuttals are not just an opportunity to restate and regurgitate. IMO, rebuttals make or break the round.

- I did policy/CX three years of high school on both the local and national circuits, except for one year where I took a hiatus to try out local circuit, traditional-leaning LD (but my policy background makes me very amenable to progressive LD, so don't let that stop you). I am a fourth year out (graduated high school in '20, currently Harvard '24).

- You need offense.

Topicality:

Topicality can be pretty compelling for me, and again I will vote on the flow, but I don't like voting for a poorly chosen T interp, or one that was obviously thrown in to be a time skew and then just chosen in the 2NR because the aff had the least amount of offense/defense on that flow. I often do buy reasonability.

Theory:

Go for it, but it's uniquely important to be both clear and organized in theory debate, because very quickly it can devolve into something messy unless you do clear line-by-line and impact your claims out. What is your model of debate and why is it superior? Why is your opponent's inferior? It's also important that you can demonstrate tangible harms to me — if you can't prove that to me, I won't vote on it.

Framework/Kritiks:

If done well, I literally adore framework debate. I have no issues if in the rebuttals the round ends up becoming mostly framework debate — but make sure to either handle case or explain to me why you don't need to handle case (e.g. framing that if you win this framework debate, you win the round point blank). As long as there is a basic rundown of standards in the constructives I'm good; I'm not too picky on the technicalities of extending every single one through.

In terms of kritikal theory, run what you want to run, but I do prefer kritiks that link specifically into the aff and/or topic as opposed to a generic one. I have a decent amount of experience in K debate, so don't hold yourself back on my account. Accessibility of literature is important to me. Even if your opponent has never heard of your author before, you should give them enough to go off of that they can adequately respond.

Disads:

I love disads, but they better be airtight — especially PTX disads, for which evidence can become outdated alarmingly fast. Still, do it well, and make sure your uniqueness is up-to-date, and these are very compelling arguments. A few well-articulated, well-linked, and well-developed disads >>> a bunch of shallow, generic disads thrown out as a time skew.

Counterplans:

I have experience with those counterplans that crop up time and time again in different topics (delay, conditions, multi-actor, consult), but I'm not super familiar with the topic this year, so if you're using a pretty specific agency/mechanism, I want you to be explicit in what it is and how it works. Clear articulation of net benefits is very important here. Make sure your solvency advocate is clear. Just like how it is the burden of the aff to prove that their plan/advocacy is net better than the squo, it is the burden of the negative (if they have a non-status quo advocacy) to prove that their advocacy is net better than the aff one. If fiat is involved, you're going to have to do a little bit of work before I vote on it. On the aff, if you think their CP hurts aff ground (i.e. plan-inclusive counterplans are popular here), then don't be afraid to make theory arguments on the CP flow.

Case:

The case flow is very important and in a lot of cases (heh) is the center of the debate. As aff, you should be making it a priority to defend your case and be on the case flow, because this is usually what you can leverage against your opponent's off-case positions. As neg, you should be tying your disads, CPs, etc. back to the case (as said before, I find arguments like "link turns the case" or "disad outweighs and turns the case" compelling), and you should also not be underestimating the power of on-case arguments like internal link turns, solvency deficits, etc.

(LD) Tricks:

I'll vote for them but I won't like doing it.

Amrutha Potnuru Dougherty Valley High School None

Maria Rachmat Miramonte High School

Rahul Ramesh James Logan High School

Last changed on Mon April 8, 2024 at 6:44 AM EDT

UC Berkeley '21

I used to debate at Berkeley.

Tech > Truth.

Be clear.

I don't care what arguments you read.

I will read evidence at the end of the round, but that is not an excuse for lazy debating. No, I will not do work for you - no matter what your arg is.

I have never done LD.

Put me on the email chain: rahulramesh0907@gmail.com

Edit for 2021 TOC: I tend to be placed in clash debates, so here are some thoughts: I think the best iterations of FW are ones that deploy skills/testing impacts as solvency turns to the affirmative. The best way to approach debating a K aff is to make smart, technical arguments about the internal link level of the affirmative, paired with a robust turns case argument and some external impact that only your interpretation can solve. This will often shield you from the 2AR using the impact turn as a battering ram against all of your offense.

Conversely...dear K 2As...even if the 2NR doesn't make the above arguments remember that the aff exists outside of the impact turn. You are telling a meaningful story that happens to disagree with the pedagogical model that the other team has forwarded NOT the other way around. This means that you must be answering the following questions during the debate with absolute clarity.

What does the aff do? Why is it key in debate? What does your ideal form of debate look like? Why is that form the only acceptable one to deal with the issues you've brought to attention? Why is your offense against FW intrinsically tethered to their model of debate? etc etc etc

Topicality- Things that will help you out:

1) explaining which affs we should be debating and why

2) which affs they allow that would be bad to have to debate

3) which arguments we should be debating and why your interpretation best facilitates that discussion, etc.

I think T debates aren't as great when offense is deployed generically. Contextualize, contextualize, contextualize!

If you are going for FW -

a) have a robust defense of your interp (clear internal link explanations)

b) if fairness is your jam take heed! I think fairness is important, but it's likely not enough outweigh whatever impact turn they're about to go for.

c) perhaps more importantly, impact calc. I think it's generally strategic for FW args to have external impacts outside of fairness, but if that's your thing just comparatively explain why it matters.

DAs/CPs- love them.

Counterplans are awesome. Treat them well and all will be well. However, treat them poorly (not clearly establishing a sufficiency framing, not doing ev comparison, etc etc etc) and... you will likely not win the round.

I'll only kick the counterplans if you tell me to. The neg gets condo. Any other theory stuff is up to debate.

Don’t take counterplan competition for granted, take clever perms seriously. Politics debates- affs, several plan popular cards does not a link turn make - uniqueness is a thing.

Impact calc. Please. Maybe even pretty please. This will win you close debates, because it's all about the spin.

Ks- love them

Long ranty overviews and generic link walls are generally a waste of everyone's time. K debate reveals its intellectual potential when the debaters are committed to the literature and when a team has a unique angle against the aff. If you're doing this, it'll be pretty clear.

Affs will do well by reading as much specific evidence about the neg’s author/-ism as possible.

K affs are great too. Yes, I am more than willing to vote against you on framework. Everything about debate is how well thought through your argument is. Just because you aren't defending the resolution in a traditional sense, that doesn't mean you don't have to defend the consequences of your model of debate. I value narrative cohesion in debates - that's especially true in FW debates. Judge instruction in the 2NR or 2AR will make my life easier and probably win you the debate.

Cross-x- It’s where a lot of evidence comparison happens now. Being smart here can win or lose you the debate. It's also a great speaker point booster.

You are all smart. Be confident and have fun.

Dave Roach Miramonte High School None

Zoe Rosenberg Lowell High School

Last changed on Fri February 16, 2024 at 9:43 AM PDT

Lowell '20 l UCLA '24

Yes, email chain: zoerosenberg [at] gmail [dot] com, please format the subject as: "Tournament Name -- Round # -- Aff School AF vs Neg School NG"

Background: I was a 2N for four years at Lowell, I qualified to the TOC my senior year and was in late elims of NSDA. I don't debate in college due to a lack of policy infrastructure. I judge somewhat frequently on the west coast so I have a good sense of arguments being read on the circuit.

GGSA/State Qualifier: I will still judge rounds technically, as one does for circuit debate. However, I believe adaptation is one of the most important skills one can get out of debate so I encourage you to speak slowly, especially with parents on the panel.

Tech before truth. It's human nature to have preferences toward certain arguments but I try my best to listen and judge objectively. All of the below can be changed by out-debating the other team through judge instruction and ballot writing. Unresolved debates are bad debates.

Speed is great, but clarity is even better. If I'm judging you online please go slightly slower, especially if you don't have a good mic. I find it increasingly hard to hear analytics in the online format.

Be smart. I rather hear great analytical arguments than terrible cards. I generally think in-round explanation is more important than evidence quality.

I'm very expressive, look at me if you want to know if I'm digging your argument!

Call me by my name, not "judge".

Debnil Sur taught me everything I know about debate so check: https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?search_first=debnil&search_last= for a better explanation of anything I have to say here.

Longer Stuff

What arguments does she prefer? I went for mostly policy arguments and feel more in my comfort zone judging these debates. That being said, I moved more to the left as my years in high school came to a close and am down to judge a well-defended kritikal affirmative. I think debate is a game but it's a game that can certainly can influence subjectivity development. Note: I would still prefer to judge a bad policy debate, over a bad kritikal debate.

Online Debate Adaptions

Here are some things you can do to make the terribleness of online tournaments a little less terrible.

1 - I really would like your camera to be on, wifi permitting. Debate is a communicative activity and your persuasion increases by tenfold if you are communicating with me face to face.

2 - Please use some form of microphone or slow down by 20%. It is really hard to catch analytics with poor audio quality.

3 - The benefits of sending analytics vastly outweigh the cons of someone having your blocks to a random argument.

4 - If it takes you more than a minute to send out an email chain I will start running prep. I genuinely don't understand how it can take up to five minutes to attach a document to an email chain lmao

K Stuff:

K Affs: I read a kritikal affirmative all of senior year but on the negative went for framework against most K affs. I don't have a definite bias toward either side. However, kritikal affirmatives that defend a direction of the topic and allow the negative to access core topic generics jive with me much more than simply impact turning fairness and skirting the resolution.

Framework: Fairness is an impact. By the 2NR please don't go for more than two impacts. Having a superior explanation why the TVA resolves their offense and doing impact comparison will put you in a good spot. Switch-side debate is a silly argument, but feel free to convince me otherwise.

Neg: I know the lit behind security, neolib, psychoanalysis, and necropolitics. Make of that which you will. I'm not going to be happy listening to your 7 minute overview. Explain the thesis of the kritik and contextualize the link debate to the aff and I will be quite happy. Winning framework means you probably win the ballot. And as Debnil puts it, "I believe I'm more of an educator than policymaker, which means representational critiques or critiques of debate's educational incentive structure will land better for me than most judges."

Competing interps or reasonability? Competing interps. Asserting a standard like limits needs to be warranted out, explain why your impacts matters. Have a clear vision of the topic under your interp, things like case-lists and a solid understanding of arguments being read on the circuit are important. T before theory. Also a good topicality debate is my favorite thing ever.

Is condo good? Yes, most of the time. Things like amending stuff in the block, kicking planks, fiating out of straight turns are sketchy. But in most debates, unless it's dropped or severely mishandled I lean neg. To win condo the affirmative must have a superior explanation why multiple advocacies made that debate unrecoverable. Going for condo only because you're losing on substance is not the move. Hard debate is good debate. Other theory preferences (I-Fiat, Process CPs, etc.) are likely determined by the topic. However, they're almost always reasons to reject the argument not the team.

Policy stuff? I like it. Link centered debate matters the most, so focus on uniqueness and link framing. Do comparative analysis of the warrants in your evidence. I really dislike bad turns case analysis, link turns case arguments will sit better with me. I think most types of counterplans are legitimate if the neg wins they are competitive. I'll judge kick if you tell me to do it.

Nirav Shah Dougherty Valley High School 8 rounds

Shaheenara Shaikh James Logan High School

Sanjay Sharma Dougherty Valley High School

Sarah Shi Sonoma Academy

Jennifer So Lowell High School

Shankar Srinivasan Dougherty Valley High School

Debnil Sur Lowell High School

Last changed on Wed April 10, 2024 at 7:38 AM PDT

he/him/his

Pronounced phonetically as DEB-nil. Not pronounced "judge", "Mister Sur", or "deb-NEIL".

Policy Coach at Lowell High School, San Francisco

Email: lowelldebatedocs [at] gmail.com for email chains. If you have my personal email, don't put it on the email chain. Sensible subject please.

Lay Debate: I care deeply about adaptation and accessibility. I find "medium" debates (splits of lay and circuit judges) incredibly valuable for students' skills. I don't think I'd ever be in a setting where I'm the sole lay judge. In a split setting, please adapt to the most lay judge in your speed and explanation. I won't penalize you for making debate accessible. Some degree of technical evaluation is inevitable, but please don't spread.

Resolving Debates: Above all, tech substantially outweighs truth. The below are preferences, not rules, and will easily be overturned by good debating. But, since nobody's a blank slate, treat the below as heuristics I use in thinking about debate. Incorporating some can explain my decision and help render one in your favor.

I believe debate is a strategy game, in which debaters must communicate research to persuade judges. I'll almost certainly endorse better judge instruction over higher quality yet under-explained evidence. I flow on my laptop, but I only look at the speech doc when online. I will only read a card in deciding if that card was contested by both teams or I was told explicitly to and the evidence was actually explained in debate.

I take an above-average time to decide debates. My decision time has little relationship with the debate's closeness, and more with the time of day and my sleep deprivation. I usually start 5-10 minutes after the 2AR, so I can stretch my legs and let the debate marinate in my head. Debaters work hard, and I reciprocate that effort in making decisions. My decisions themselves are quite short. Most debates come down to 2-4 arguments, and I will identify those and explain my resolution. You're welcome to post-round. It can't change my decision, but I want to learn and improve as a judge and thinker too.

General Background: I work full-time in tech as a software engineer. In my spare time, I have coached policy debate at Lowell in San Francisco since 2018. I am involved in strategy and research and have coached both policy and K debaters to the TOC. I am, quite literally, a "framer", as a member of the national topic wording committee. Before that, I read policy arguments as a 2N at Bellarmine and did youth debate outreach (e.g., SVUDL) as a student at Stanford.

I've judged many excellent debates. Ideologically, I would say I'm 60/40 policy-leaning. I think my voting records don't reflect this, because K debaters tend to see the bigger picture in clash rounds.

Topic Background: I judge and coach regularly and am fully aware of national circuit trends. I'm less in the weeds as many other coaches. I don't cut as many cards as I did in the pandemic years, and I don't work at debate camp.

If you're reading the web3 UBI affirmative, I implemented one of the first CBDC pilots back in 2018/19. If you know what you're talking about, I'm the best possible judge. But if you don't, I'll be much more easily persuaded by the negative, especially on the case debate.

Voting Splits: As of the end of the water topic, I have judged 304 rounds of VCX at invitationals over 9 years. 75 of these were during college; 74 during immigration and arms sales at West Coast invitationals; and 155 on CJR and water, predominantly at octafinals bid tournaments.

Below are my voting splits across the (synthetic) policy-K divide, where the left team represents the affirmative, as best as I could classify debates. Paradigm text can be inaccurate self-psychoanalysis, so I hope the data helps.

I became an aff hack on water. Far too often, the 2AR was the first speech doing comparative analysis instead of reading blocks. I hope this changes as we return to in-person debate.

Water

Policy v. Policy - 18-13: 58% aff over 31 rounds

Policy v. K - 20-18: 56% aff over 38 rounds

K v. Policy - 13-8: 62% aff over 21 rounds

K v. K - 1-1, 50% aff over 2 rounds

Lifetime

Policy v. Policy - 67-56: 55% for the aff over 123 rounds

Policy v. K - 47-52: 47% for the aff over 99 rounds

K v. Policy - 36-34: 51% for the aff over 70 rounds

K v. K - 4-4: 50% for the aff over 8 rounds

Online Debate:

1. I'd prefer your camera on, but won't make a fuss.

2. Please check verbally and/or visually with all judges and debaters before starting your speech.

3. If my camera's off, I'm away, unless I told you otherwise.

Speaker Points: I flow on my computer, but I do not use the speech doc. I want every word said, even in card text and especially in your 2NC topicality blocks, to be clear. I will shout clear twice in a speech. After that, it's your problem.

Note that this assessment is done per-tournament: for calibration, I think a 29.3-29.4 at a finals bid is roughly equivalent to a 28.8-28.9 at an octos bid.

29.5+ — the top speaker at the tournament.

29.3-29.4 — one of the five or ten best speakers at the tournament.

29.1-29.2 — one of the twenty best speakers at the tournament.

28.9-29 — a 75th percentile speaker at the tournament; with a winning record, would barely clear on points.

28.7-28.8 — a 50th percentile speaker at the tournament; with a winning record, would not clear on points.

28.3-28.6 — a 25th percentile speaker at the tournament.

28-28.2 — a 10th percentile speaker at the tournament.

K Affs and Framework:

1. I have coached all sides of this debate.

2. I will vote for the team whose impact comparison most clearly answers the debate's central question. This typically comes down to the affirmative making negative engagement more difficult versus the neg forcing problematic affirmative positions. You are best served developing 1-2 pieces of offense well, playing defense to the other team's, and telling a condensed story in the final rebuttals.

3. Anything can be an impact---do what you do best. My teams typically read a limits/fairness impact and a procedural clash impact. From Dhruv Sudesh: "I don't have a preference for hearing a skills or fairness argument, but I think the latter requires you to win a higher level of defense to aff arguments."

4. Each team should discuss what a year of debate looks like under their models in concrete terms. Arguments like "TVA", "switch-side debate", and "some neg ground exists" are just subsets of this discussion. It is easy to be hyperbolic and discuss the plethora of random affirmatives, but realistic examples are especially persuasive and important. What would your favorite policy demon (MBA, GBN, etc.) do without an agential constraint? How does critiquing specific policy reforms in a debate improve critical education? Why does negative policy ground not center the affirmative's substantive conversation?

5. As the negative, recognize if this is an impact turn debate or one of competing models early on (as in, during the 2AC). When the negative sees where the 2AR will go and adjusts accordingly, I have found that I am very good for the negative. But when they fail to understand the debate's strategic direction, I almost always vote affirmative. This especially happens when impact turning topicality---negatives do not seem to catch on yet.

6. I quite enjoy leveraging normative positions from 1AC cards for substantive disadvantages or impact turns. This requires careful link explanation by the negative but can be incredibly strategic. Critical affirmatives claim to access broad impacts based on shaky normative claims and the broad endorsement of a worldview, rather than a causal method; they should incur the strategic cost.

7. I am a better judge for presumption and case defense than most. It is often unclear to me how affirmatives solve their impacts or access their impact turns on topicality. The negative should leverage this more.

8. I occasionally judge K v K debates. I do not have especially developed opinions on these debates. Debate math often relies on causality, opportunity cost, and similar concepts rooted in policymaking analysis. These do not translate well to K v K debates, and the team that does the clearest link explanation and impact calculus typically wins. While the notion of "opportunity cost" to a method is still mostly nonsensical to me, I can be convinced either way on permutations' legitimacy.

Kritiks:

1. I do not often coach K teams but have familiarity with basically all critical arguments.

2. Framework almost always decides this debate. While I have voted for many middle-ground frameworks, they make very little strategic sense to me. The affirmative saying that I should "weigh the links against the plan" provides no instruction regarding the central question: how does the judge actually compare the educational implications of the 1AC's representations to the consequences of plan implementation? As a result, I am much better for "hard-line" frameworks that exclude the case or the kritik.

3. I will decide the framework debate in favor of one side's interpretation. I will not resolve some arbitrary middle road that neither side presented.

4. If the kritik is causal to the plan, a well-executing affirmative should almost always win my ballot. The permutation double-bind, uniqueness presses on the link and impact, and a solvency deficit to the alternative will be more than sufficient for the affirmative. The neg will have to win significant turns case arguments, an external impact, and amazing case debating if framework is lost. At this point, you are better served going for a proper counterplan and disadvantage.

5. I will not evaluate non-falsifiable statements about events outside the current debate. Such an evaluation of minors grossly misuses the ballot. Strike me if this is a core part of your strategy.

Topicality:

1. This is about the plan text, not other parts of the 1AC. If you think the plan text is contrived to be topical, beat them on the PIC out of the topic and your topic DA of choice.

2. This is a question of which team's vision of the topic maximizes its benefits for debaters. I compare each team's interpretation of the topic through an offense/defense lens.

3. Reasonability is about the affirmative interpretation, not the affirmative case itself. In its most persuasive form, this means that the substance crowdout caused by topicality debates plus the affirmative's offense on topicality outweighs the offense claimed by the negative. This is an especially useful frame in debates that discuss topic education, precision, and similar arguments.

4. Any standards are fine. I used to be a precision stickler. This changed after attending topic meetings and realizing how arbitrarily wording is chosen.

5. From Anirudh Prabhu: "T is a negative burden which means it is the neg’s job to prove that a violation exists. In a T debate where the 2AR extends we meet, every RFD should start by stating clearly what word or phrase in the resolution the aff violated and why. If you don’t give me the language to do that in your 2NR, I will vote aff on we meet." Topicality 101---the violation is a negative burden. If there's some uncertainty, I almost certainly vote aff with a decent "we meet" explanation.

Theory:

1. As with other arguments, I will resolve this fully technically. Unlike many judges, my argumentative preferences will not implicate how I vote. I will gladly vote on a dropped theory argument---if it was clearly extended as a reason to reject the team---with no regrets.

2. I'm generally in favor of limitless conditionality. But because I adjudicate these debates fully technically, I think I vote affirmative on "conditionality bad" more than most.

3. From Rafael Pierry: "most theoretical objections to CPs are better expressed through competition. ... Against these and similar interpretations, I find neg appeals to arbitrariness difficult to overcome." For me, this is especially true with counterplans that compete on certainty or immediacy. While I do not love the delay counterplan, I think it is much more easily beaten through competition arguments than theoretical ones.

4. If a counterplan has specific literature to the affirmative plan, I will be extremely receptive to its theoretical legitimacy and want to grant competition. But of course, the counterplan text must be written strategically, and the negative must still win competition.

Counterplans:

1. I'm better for strategies that depend on process and competition than most. These represent one of my favorite aspects of debate---they combine theory and substance in fun and creative ways---and I've found that researching and strategizing against them generates huge educational benefits for debaters, certainly on par with more conventionally popular political process arguments like politics and case.

2. I have no disposition between "textual and functional competition" and "only functional competition". Textual alone is pretty bad. Positional competition is similarly tough, unless the affirmative grants it. Think about how a model of competition justifies certain permutations---drawing these connections intelligently helps resolve the theoretical portion of permutations.

3. Similarly, I am agnostic regarding limited intrinsicness, either functional or textual. While it helps check against the truly artificial CPs, it justifies bad practices that hurt the negative. It's certainly a debate that you should take on. That said, if everyone is just spreading blocks, I usually end up negative on the ink. Block to 2NR is easier to trace than 1AR to 2AR.

4. People need to think about deficits to counterplans. If you can't impact deficits to said counterplans, write better advantages. The negative almost definitely does not have evidence contextualizing their solvency mechanism to your internal links---explain why that matters!

5. Presumption goes to less change---debate what this means in round. Absent this instruction, if there is an advocacy in the 2NR and I do not judge kick it when deciding, I'm probably not voting on presumption.

6. Decide in-round if I should kick the CP. I'll likely kick it if left to my own devices. The affirmative should be better than the status quo. (To be honest, this has never mattered in a debate I've judged, and it amuses me that judge kick is such a common paradigm section.)

Disadvantages:

1. There is not always a risk. A small enough signal is overwhelmed by noise, and we cannot determine its sign or magnitude.

2. I do not think you need evidence to make an argument. Many bad advantages can be reduced to noise through smart analytics. Doing so will improve your speaker points. Better evidence will require your own.

3. Shorten overviews, and make sure turns case arguments actually implicate the aff's internal links.

4. Will vote on any and all theoretical arguments---intrinsicness, politics theory, etc. Again, arguments are arguments, debate them out.

Ethics:

1. Cheating means you will get the lowest possible points.

2. You need a recording to prove the other team is clipping. If I am judging and think you are clipping, I will record it and check the recording before I stop the debate. Any other method deprives you of proof.

3. If you mark a card, say where you’re marking it, actually mark it, and offer a marked copy before CX in constructives or the other's team prep time in a rebuttal. You do not need to remove cards you did not read in the marked copy, unless you skipped a truly ridiculous amount. This practice is inane and justifies debaters doc-flowing.

4. Emailing isn’t prep. If you take too long, I'll tell you I'm starting your prep again.

5. If there is a different alleged ethics violation, I will ask the team alleging the violation if they want to stop the debate. If so, I will ask the accused team to provide written defense; check the tournament's citation rules; and decide. I will then decide the debate based on that violation and the tournament policy---I will not restart the debate---this makes cite-checking a no-risk option as a negative strategy, which seems really bad.

IMPORTANT: I will only vote on an ethics violation about previously-read evidence (missing an author, missing a year, paragraph missing but no distortion, etc) if the team alleging the violation has evidence that they contacted the other team and told them about the issue. Clearly, you had the time to look up the article. As a community, we should assume good faith in citation, and let the other team know. And people should not be punished for cards they did not cut. But if they still are reading faulty evidence, even after being told, that's certainly academic malpractice.

Note that if the ethics violation is made as an argument during the debate and advanced in multiple speeches as a theoretical argument, you cannot just decide it is a separate ethics violation later in the debate. I will NOT vote on it, I will be very annoyed with you, and you will probably lose and get 27s if you are resorting to these tactics.

6. The closer a re-highlighting comes to being a new argument, the more likely you should be reading it instead of inserting. If you are point out blatant mis-highlighting in a card, typically in a defensive fashion on case, then insertion is fine. I will readily scratch excessive insertion with clear instruction.

Miscellaneous:

1. I'll only evaluate highlighted warrants in evidence.

2. Dropped arguments should be flagged clearly. If you say that clearly answered arguments were dropped, you're hurting your own persuasion.

3. Please send cards in a Word doc. Body is fine if it's just 1-3 cards. I don't care if you send analytics, though it can help online.

4. Unless the final rebuttals are strictly theoretical, the negative should compile a card doc post 2NR and have it sent soon after the 2AR. The affirmative should start compiling their document promptly after the 2AR. Card docs should only include evidence referenced in the final rebuttals (and the 1NC shell, for the negative)---certainly NOT the entire 1AC.

5. As a judge, I can stop the debate at any point. The above should make it clear that I am very much an argumentative nihilist---in hundreds of debates, I have not come close to stopping one. So if I do, you really messed up, and you probably know it.

6. I am open to a Technical Knockout. This means that the debate is unwinnable for one team. If you think this is the case, say "TKO" (probably after your opponents' speech, not yours) and explain why it is unwinnable. If I agree, I will give you 30s and a W. If I disagree and think they can still win the debate, you'll get 25s and an L. Examples include: dropped T argument, dropped conditionality, double turn on the only relevant pieces of offense, dropped CP + DA without any theoretical out.

Be mindful of context: calling this against sophomores in presets looks worse than against an older team in a later prelim. But sometimes, debates are just slaughters, nobody is learning anything, and there will be nothing to judge. I am open to giving you some time back, and to adding a carrot to spice up debate.

7. Not about deciding debates, but a general offer to debate folk reading this. As someone who works in tech, I think it is a really enjoyable career path and quite similar to policy debate in many ways. If you would like to learn more about tech careers, please feel free to email me. As a high school student, it was very hard to learn about careers not done by my parents or their friends (part of why I'm in tech now!). I am happy to pass on what knowledge I have.

Above all, be kind to each other, and have fun!

Upendra Tiwary Dougherty Valley High School

hiten trivedi Dougherty Valley High School None

TINA Tsan Lowell High School

Jessica Vapnek Lowell High School

Carlos Vasquez St. Ignatius College Preparatory None

Maura Vaughn Branson School

Zachary Watts Sonoma Academy 8 rounds

Last changed on Fri January 19, 2024 at 11:06 AM CDT

Zachary Watts (call me Zach, please)

Affiliation: Jesuit Dallas

History: Debated at Jesuit Dallas for 3 years in high school and at UT Austin for 4 years, coached at Jesuit Dallas for a year.

Speaker Position: 2A/1N in high school, 2N/1A in college

Email: zeezackattack@gmail.com

Updated 10/19/2023

Note: I haven't been too involved with judging, research, or argument development on this topic (for both college and high school), so I likely won't be super familiar with topic-specific arguments - when you're going for arguments, make sure that you're fully explaining them!

If you need a shorter version because this is right before a debate -

1. be nice to your opponents - debate isn't an activity to make people feel bad.

2. Make sure you're clear - I'm okay with speed, but if I can't understand you I can't flow you.

3. You should feel free to run the arguments that you're used to running and the debate will probably flow better if you do that as opposed to trying to fit my preferences - make sure you're condensing down to the key questions of the debate in the final rebuttals providing impact framing so I can evaluate which impacts I should view first.

Have fun and good luck!

General:

I will try my best to evaluate the debate based upon what I flow, although I am human and have some tendencies/leanings (discussed further below). I will flow the debate to the best of my ability - go as fast as you like, but if I can't understand what you're saying, I can't flow you (if this is the case, I will say clear - if you hear this either slow down or enunciate more (or both)). I will read a piece of evidence at the end of a debate if it is particularly important to my decision and heavily contested or you ask me to read it after the round (and have explained what you think is the problem with the evidence/why it warrants reading it after the round), but I think that the debate should come down to your analysis of the evidence in your speeches and comparative arguments as to why I should prefer your evidence/argument. I don't count flashing as prep - however, if you are obviously prepping after you called to stop, I will start prep and notify you that I'm doing so. If you are cheating (i.e. clipping cards) you will lose the round and get minimal speaker points; if you accuse somebody of cheating and there is not proof that they did so, the same will happen to you (and, in that case, not the team accused of cheating) - debate is supposed to be a fun, educational activity - don't ruin it for other people by trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage.

Speaking:

As stated above, I'm fine with you speaking quickly, just don't sacrifice clarity for speed. Please engage in line-by-line and clash with the other team's arguments (this means doing some comparative analysis between your argument and that of your opponent, not just playing the "they say, we say" game or extending your arguments without referencing those of your opponent). If you could stick to the 1NC order on case and the 2AC order of arguments on off-case, that is very much appreciated. Using CX strategically (i.e. setting up your arguments, fleshing out some of their args to contextualize comparative analysis, pointing out flaws in their evidence, etc, and actually implementing them in your speech (it's okay to take prep to make sure some of the good things from CX make it into your speech)) will definitely earn you points. I will start at 28.5 and add or deduct points from there. Doing the things I said above will earn you more points (more points for executing them well) and not doing them or being rude to the other team will lose you points.

Topicality:

I think that topicality tends to be a bit overused as a time-suck for the 2AC, but don't let that deter you from running it - just an observation. If you're going to run T, you need to clearly articulate what your vision for the topic is, why the aff does not fit in that interpretation, and why the aff not fitting under that interpretation is bad and a reason that your interpretation is good. A lot of this comes down to the standards debate, but really explain why allowing the aff's scholarship being read in the round is bad for debate - why does the aff being outside of your interpretation make debate unfair for the negative team and why is that bad and/or why does the aff's form of scholarship trade off with topic-specific education and why should that come before the aff's form of education? On the aff, you should push back on these questions - you should have a we meet, a counter-interpretation (or at least a counter-interpretation and a reason why their interp is bad for the topic), and a reasonability argument - if I think that the aff fits within a fair interpretation of the topic and doesn't cause the "topic explosion" internal link that the neg is saying you do, I'm very likely to lean aff in that debate (please don't go for only reasonability in the 2AR - at that point, if you don't even have a we meet, it's very difficult for me to determine how you are reasonably topical). Please also be framing the impacts in terms of what the aff justifies (for the neg) or in terms of what it does in the round (for the aff, especially if you're pretty close to the topic) and explain why I should look at the T debate in a specific light (i.e. "in-round abuse" vs. "it's what they justify"). Especially in the rebuttals, please slow down a little bit on T (you don't have to go conversational speed, but please don't sound like you're going as fast as you would reading a piece of evidence) - it's a very technical debate to have and I might not get every warrant if I can't write down the words that you're saying as quickly as you're saying them, which may be frustrating to you if I didn't get something important. There's not a lot of pen time (i.e. times when I can catch up with flowing such as when cards are being read), so slowing down a bit on T would probably be beneficial for you.

Counterplans:

I think that counterplans are extremely useful and strategic for the negative and are often blown off by the aff. Counterplans should be competitive (textually as well as functionally - aff, if you point out that a CP is not functionally competitive, I am pretty likely to lean aff and dismiss the CP - be careful with this, though, as process CPs often have an internal net benefit; you should engage that CP on a theoretical level as well. Use CX to determine what the CP actually does before making the arguments about CP competitiveness), and I think process CPs are usually not theoretically justifiable. I am more likely to view these CPs a legitimate, however, if you have a solvency advocate specific to the aff or can use the aff's solvency evidence to justify the CP (especially if you have a reason why whatever process you do the aff through can't just be tacked onto the aff via a perm). Perms should not sever or be intrinsic, and CPs must demonstrate an opportunity cost with the aff.

Note about CP competition - CPs must be both textually and functionally competitive - that means if you're running a PIC, in order to compete, it must not only functionally do less than the plan, the CP text must also be written in such a way that it does not include all of the plan text.

If you're running a process CP, it must have a net benefit that is a DA to the aff and not simply an advantage to the process the CP has chosen. If it is the case that the process must be done in the context of the affirmative in order to achieve that advantage, then you have established an opportunity cost with the plan. If not, you have not established an opportunity cost with the plan.

DAs:

Neg, run specific links, diversify your impacts across DAs and make sure that the 1NC shell isn't just a case turn. Both sides need to do some impact calculus and tell me why your impacts turn the other team's or just outweigh them. Aff, especially in debates with multiple DAs, make sure your strategy is consistent - don't double-turn yourself across flows.

Politics DAs - I'm not a fan of the politics DA - I'm not saying you can't run it, but I'm more likely to reward smart aff analytics that point out inconsistencies in the uniqueness-link-internal link logic chain of the DA even if you read a lot of evidence highlighted to produce a warrant where none actually exists.

Kritiks:

I don't think that Ks should be excluded from debate, and I think that questioning the philosophical and theoretical basis of the arguments that are run is a good educational exercise that can be enjoyable to watch when it is done well. I think that you should read a specific link to the aff (or at the very least be able to explain why something the aff does is indicted by the link evidence you've read), an impact with a clear internal link to the link argument, and an alternative to solve that. While I think that Ks that impact out the implications of the aff's rhetoric in-round might lower the threshold for alt solvency beyond a rejection of the plan, anything (like the cap K) claiming larger and broader impacts will have to do more work to prove that the alternative is capable of solving that and explaining a reason why the permutation cannot function. For both sides, the FW debate needs to be handled like T in terms of competing interpretations for how I should evaluate the debate and explaining how your interpretation accesses your opponents standards and how your standards outweigh or turn the ones you do not solve. On both sides, you should also be explaining by the rebuttals what the implication of your interpretation is - if I, for example, treat the aff as an object of scholarship, what does that mean in terms of how I evaluate whether or not the aff is a good idea/should be endorsed? I think interpretations should be somewhat generalizable to debate as an activity, not your specific K - I think FW interps along the lines of 'ROB is to do whatever the K is' are too easily characterized by the aff as self-serving and arbitrary metrics for how the debate should be evaluated. Make sure to include turns case analysis in the block in addition to the impact in your 1NC (and remember to extend it in the 2NR!). Affs, you should have a reason that your scholarship should be prioritized, and take advantage of the fact that the weakest part of a K is usually the alt - if you can win reasons why the alt can't solve case or the K, it makes it easier for you to outweigh the K using case. Also, if the link is not specific, you should point that out and use your advantages (if possible) to prove a no link argument or a reason why the perm can solve. While I've become more familiar with the form of some Ks of communication, they're not my favorite and, from what I've seen, usually just become a fiat bad argument. My K literacy is less along the lines of post-modern Ks, so it'll probably take a bit more explanation on those for me to vote on them. I'm not the judge for death good arguments.

K aff v. K debates:

In these debates, it is very important for the negative to distinguish themselves from the aff. I know that sounds obvious, but truly, you need to be very specific about the link - what in specific about the aff are you criticizing (the way they construct the world/explain how violence operates, their solvency mechanism, etc.) and why does that matter - this is particularly true when there's not a whole lot of difference between the aff's and neg's impacts. This can be helped by distinguishing the alternative from the aff in order to resolve whatever link you make. For the aff, use the theoretical grounding that's probably already in your 1AC in order to engage the link debate (it's probably going to be a question of proving that your understanding is correct and good) and (if applicable) make perms. Neg, if you're going to make the argument that the aff shouldn't get perms in a method debate, do a bit of explanation about why (I'm not asking for like a minute on perms bad - maybe a 5 second explanation about testing the affirmative's method is good in debate or about why the two methods are mutually exclusive should be good enough).

Non-Traditional Affs/Framework:

After having many of these debates in college, I've come to enjoy thinking about FW debates from both the aff and the neg side. I think that when you're aff, whether you're running a creative take on the topic or have very little relationship to it, you need to come prepared to defend a model of what debate looks like (or why your unlimited approach to debate is good) and why it's better than switch side debate. I phrase it like this because I think that one of my biggest issues with aff approaches to answering FW is that they rely on winning some exclusion offense (that the content of what is being discussed by the aff/1AC is excluded under the neg's interpretation). I feel like that's often not the case - even if you're right that the neg's interpretation precludes you from running this 1AC when you're aff, it doesn't preclude you from running your critique of the topic as a negative strategy. I think that, if you approach the debate with trying to beat switch side debate in mind, you'll have a much better chance of winning that your model of debate is actually key to your offense. On the negative, I think that one of the most important framing arguments you can utilize to neutralize much of the aff's offense is the argument that debate is ultimately a competitive activity - even if it's educational, the ballot and a presumption that either team could get it if they win the debate incentivizes teams to do specific, in-depth research. I think that this allows you to claim that if you're winning a limits DA or another internal link for why the aff's counter-interpretation/model of debate creates an undue procedural burden on the negative, it means that the education impacts the aff claims to solve don't get debated or researched under the aff's model because there's not an incentive to do so.

Theory:

Theory requires a significant time investment for me to vote on it. I think that most theory arguments (i.e. one of the many reasons a process CP is theoretically objectionable) are reasons to reject an argument not the team; of course, conditionality is a reason to reject the team (if you win the theory debate). Theory arguments should have a clear interpretation, violation, and impact when initiated; the answer should have a counter-interpretation and reasons why that's a better vision of debate. I think that smart counter-interpretations can get out of a lot of theory offense because most theory impacts are based on worst-case scenarios. I think that there is definitely a scale for theory (i.e. I'm much more likely to vote on multiple conditional contradictory worlds than just condo) - while I apparently used to prioritize fairness over education in this calculus, that has decidedly changed. I think that in a condo debate, for example, you're much more likely to convince me that debates are worse quality if the negative gets conditional advocacies than that it is unfair for the negative to get conditional advocacies. Like on topicality, slow down on theory. If this is your victory path, it should be the entirety of your final rebuttal (2AR) - you're going to win or lose on this, and none of the rest of the debate matters when theory is a question of whether the debate should be happening in the first place (although if there are other parts of the debate that the neg has gone for that may be considered a prior question to theory, you need to have arguments for why theory comes first).

Benjamin Wolf Sonoma Academy

Last changed on Fri January 5, 2024 at 12:11 PM CDT

Updated January 2024

About me:

I am currently the speech and debate coach at Theodore Roosevelt HS.

I debated policy and LD for four years at Winston Churchill HS and qualified to the TOC senior year.

I have been judging debate (mostly policy and LD) for over 5 years.

My email is benwolf8@gmail.com if you have any questions before or after rounds.

TL;DR version:

I have no preference to any sort of specific types of arguments. Sure, some debates I may find more interesting than others, but honestly the most interesting rounds to judge are ones where teams are good at what they do and they strategically execute a well planned strategy. I think link and perm analysis is good, affs should probably be topical/in the direction of the topic but I'm less convinced of the need for instrumental defense of the USFG. Everything below is insight into how I view/adjudicate debates, its questionably useful but will probably result in higher speaks.

Public Forum: Be polite and courteous during cross fire. Make sure to utilize your evidence and warrant arguments. I am open to whatever arguments you would like to make (obviously avoid racist, sexist, etc. arguments). I am open to all styles and speeds of delivery, but if your opponent is not speed reading, it would help your speaker points if you can avoid speed reading too. Everything else is more relevant to policy and LD debate, but you may find it useful for PF too.

Evidence Standards:

Share your evidence before you deliver the speech. If you ask to see multiple cards from your opponent after they have given their speech, I will start running your prep time.

Speech Drop is great, please use it. https://speechdrop.net/

You should always follow the NSDA evidence rules: https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Debate-Evidence-Guide.pdf

You should do your best to be honest with your evidence and not misconstrue evidence to say something that it clearly does not say.

Theory interpretations and violations, plan texts, and alternative advocacy statements should all be included in the speech document.

If you are reading a card and need to cut it short, you should clearly state that you are cutting the card and put a mark on your document so that you can easily find where you stopped reading that card. If you are skipping cards in the speech document, make sure to mention that and/or sign post where you are going. This should avoid the need to send a marked copy of your document after your speech if you do these things, unless you read cards that were not included in your original speech document.

Prep Time Standards:

Prep time begins after the preceding speech/cross-examination ends.

If you have not transferred your speech document to your opponent, then you are still taking prep time. Prep time ends when the flash drive leaves your computer. Prep time ends when the document is uploaded onto speech drop. Prep time ends when the email has been sent. Once the team taking prep time says they are done with prep, then both teams need to stop typing, writing, talking, etc. The speech document should then be automatically delivered to the opponents and judge as fast as technologically possible.

Speaker points: average = 27.5, I generally adjust relative to the pool when considering how I rank speakers.

-Things that will earn you speaker points: politeness, being organized, confidence, well-placed humor, well executed strategies/arguments, efficiency.

-Things that will lose you speaker points: arrogance, rudeness, humor at the expense of your opponent, stealing prep, pointless cross examination, running things you don’t understand, mumbling insults about myself or other judges who saw the round differently from you.

-Truth v Tech: I more frequently decide close debates based on questions of truth/solid evidence rather than purely technical skills. Super tech-y teams probably should be paying attention to overviews/nebulous arguments when debating teams who like to use a big overview to answer lots of arguments. I still vote on technical concessions/drops but am lenient to 2AR/2NR extrapolation of an argument made elsewhere on the flow answering a 'drop'. This also bleeds into policy v policy debates, I am much more willing to vote on probability/link analysis than magnitude/timeframe; taking claims of "policy discussions good" seriously also means we need to give probability of impacts/solvency more weight.

-Evidence v Spin: Ultimately good evidence trumps good spin. I will accept a debater’s spin until it is contested by the opposing team. I will read evidence if said evidence is contested and/or if compared/contrasted to the oppositions evidence. I will first read it through the lens of the debater’s spin but if it is apparent that the evidence has been mis-characterized spin becomes largely irrelevant. This can be easily rectified by combining good evidence with good spin. I often find this to be the case with politics, internal link, and affirmative permutation evidence for kritiks, pointing this out gets you speaks. That being said, there is always a point in which reading more evidence should take a backseat to detailed analysis, I do not need to listen to you read 10 cards about political capital being low.

-Speed vs Clarity: If I have never judged you or it is an early morning/late evening round you should probably start slower and speed up through the speech so I can get used to you speaking. When in doubt err on the side of clarity over speed. If you think things like theory or topicality will be options in the final rebuttals give me pen time so I am able to flow more than just the 'taglines' of your theory blocks.

-Permutation/Link Analysis: this is an increasingly important issue that I am noticing with kritik debates. I find that permutations that lack any discussion of what the world of the permutation would mean to be incredibly unpersuasive and you will have trouble winning a permutation unless the negative just concedes the perm. This does not mean that the 2AC needs an detailed permutation analysis but you should be able to explain your permutations if asked to in cross-x and there definitely should be analysis for whatever permutations make their way into the 1AR. Reading a slew of permutations with no explanation throughout the debate leaves the door wide open for the negative to justify strategic cross applications and the grouping of permutations since said grouping will still probably contain more analysis than the 1AR/2AR. That being said, well explained/specific permutations will earn you speaker points and often times the ballot. In the same way it benefits affirmatives to obtain alt/CP texts, it would behoove the negative to ask for permutation texts to prevent affirmatives shifting what the permutation means later in the debate.

The same goes for link/link-turn analysis I expect debaters to be able to explain the arguments that they are making beyond the taglines in their blocks. This ultimately means that on questions of permutations/links the team who is better explaining the warrants behind their argument will usually get more leeway than teams who spew multiple arguments but do not explain them.

Argument-by-argument breakdown:

Topicality/Theory: I tend to lean towards a competing interpretations framework for evaluating T, this does not mean I won't vote on reasonability but I DO think you need to have an interpretation of what is 'reasonable' otherwise it just becomes another competing interp debate. Aff teams should try and have some offense on the T flow, but I don't mean you should go for RVIs. I generally believe that affirmatives should try and be about the topic, this also applies to K affs, I think some of the best education in debate comes from learning to apply your favorite literature to the topic. This also means that I generally think that T is more strategic than FW when debating K affs. I've learned that I have a relatively high threshold for theory and that only goes up with "cheapshot" theory violations, especially in LD. Winning theory debates in front of me means picking a few solid arguments in the last rebuttal and doing some comparative analysis with the other teams arguments; a super tech-y condo 2AR where you go for 15 arguments is going to be a harder sell for me. Other default settings include: Topicality before theory, T before Aff impacts, T is probably not genocidal. These can be changed by a team making arguments, but in an effort for transparency, this is where my predispositions sit.

Kritiks: I have no problems with K's. I've read a decent amount of critical literature, there is also LOTS that I haven't read, it would be wise to not make assumptions and take the time to explain your argument; in general you should always err towards better explanation in front of me. I do not enjoy having to sift through unexplained cards after K v K rounds to find out where the actual tension is (you should be doing this work), as such I am more comfortable with not caring that I may not have understood whatever argument you were trying to go for, that lack of understanding is 9/10 times the debater's fault. Feel free to ask before the round how much I know about whatever author you may be reading, I'm generally pretty honest. I generally think that critical debates are more effective when I feel like things are explained clearly and in an academic way, blippy extensions or lack of warrants/explanation often results in me voting affirmative on permutations, framing, etc.

CP: I have no problems with counterplans, run whatever you want. I think that most counterplans are legitimate however I am pre-dispositioned to think that CP's like steal the funding, delay, and other sketchy counterplans are more suspect to theory debates. I have no preference on the textual/functional competition debate. On CP theory make sure to give me some pen time. If you are reading a multi-plank counterplan you need to either slow down or spend time in the block explaining exactly what the cp does.

DA: I dont have much to say here, disads are fine just give me a clear story on what's going on.

Performance/Other: I'm fine with these debates, I think my best advice is probably for those trying to answer these strats since those reading them already generally know whats up. I am very persuaded by two things 1) affs need to be intersectional with the topic (if we're talking about China your aff better be related to the conversation). 2) affirmatives need to be an affirmation of something, "affirming the negation of the resolution" is not what I mean by that either. These are not hard and fast rules but if you meet both of these things I will be less persuaded by framework/T arguments, if you do not meet these suggestions I will be much more persuaded by framework and topicality arguments. If you make a bunch of case arguments based on misreadings of their authors/theories I'm generally not super persuaded by those arguments.

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Public Forum: Be polite and courteous during cross fire. Make sure to utilize your evidence and author qualifications. I am open to whatever arguments you would like to make (obviously avoid racist, sexist, etc. arguments). I am open to all styles and speeds of delivery, but if your opponent is not speed reading, it would help your speaker points if you can avoid speed reading too. Everything else above is more relevant to policy and LD debate, but you may find it useful for PF too.

Denny Wu James Logan High School

Victor Wu College Prep 8 rounds

Jinsong Zhang Monte Vista None

Roy Zheng Dougherty Valley High School

Danlei Zou Lowell High School

Last changed on Sat March 6, 2021 at 12:25 AM PDT

Danlei Zou

Lowell High School '17

University of California, Santa Barbara '21

Email: Yes, I want to be on the email chain. Please send to dazou0112@gmail.com and lowelldebatedocs@gmail.com - I'll be accessing one or the other during the rounds.

NOTE FOR GGSA STATE QUALS 2021:

I haven't judged any rounds on the 2020-2021 topic, so please assume I know nothing about your arguments (in reality I can probably understand most of them, but the burden is on you to show me). Speed is fine, but I won't hold it against you for not spreading. Quality and clariy in the debate is better than speed, and if there is a lay judge on the panel please respect that.

Background:

I debated 4 years of policy at Lowell High School and am currently not involved in college debate. I'm an environmental studies major, so I will be especially critical of anything that is factually incorrect in the realm of anything climate change, ecology, or biodiversity related.

If there's anything y'all have qualms on that isn't covered in my paradigm, feel free to email me; I'm more than happy to answer questions.

*DISCLAIMER*: I know the extent of my ability to judge debates and am very open and honest about it -- I have no problem admitting that my skill as a judge is not up to par with some of the others in the pool but I will do my best to keep up. If you prefer to read something that I say I'm not familiar with in my paradigm or like to pull technical tricks, I likely won't know it and will not be the best judge for you.

tl;dr:

1. Tech>Truth: I don't care what you run as long as its not offensive - just win the LBL and you'll get my ballot.

2. Flashing=/=Prep but don’t abuse it. Yes, I want to be on the email chain or in the speech doc room or whatever kids are using nowadays.

3. I default to a policymaking framework unless I am presented with a different framework in the round. Then, it is the other team's job to prove why the opposing team's framework is bad.

4. Please explain your arguments. Please please please. I was guilty of not doing enough analysis during debates in my high school career, and it's now blatantly obvious to me as a judge why that was important. Please explain and warrant why your evidence and arguments are important and why I should vote on them. I'd rather y'all choose a few of the most important arguments to explain to me in depth rather than spew as many lines as you can at me. I want to be able to fully comprehend your arguments and know why you think you should win the debate by the end of the rebuttals.

6. I will vote on presumption, but explain to me why I should. Simply saying "vote neg on presumption" without any explanation of why will not convince me.

7. IMPORTANT: if you don't know whether or not I'm familiar with your K (or like it), ask me before the round either via email or track me down somehow. I'm pretty easy to spot and am friends with like EVERYONE on Facebook so chances are someone on your team is probably friends with me.

8. I'd prefer not to call for cards after the round - I will be doing my best to keep up with reading the cards in speech docs during prep and whatnot. If you think the opposing team's cards are sketchy for one reason or another, say so during your speech. I will not point it out for you.

9. Be nice. If you are a shitty person your speaks will reflect that, even if you win the ballot.

10. Speed is fine. I'd prefer if you don't go your full speed, but as long as you are clear and are organized I will be able to flow you. If I can't, I'll say clear three times max and then stop flowing and do my own homework.

11. You do you. Do your best and go for what you think you're ahead on and what will win the round, not what you think I like.

Complete paradigm:

Nontraditional: I strongly believe that the affirmative must defend the hypothetical implementation of a an action done by the United States federal government. It is difficult but not impossible to convince me otherwise. I will try my best not to let my personal biases interfere with what's happening in the round. That being said, it is the neg's burden to prove why reading a nontraditional aff is bad. A competent extension of framework all throughout the debate usually does this for me, but I think having a TVA and education/fairness impacts are key. Prove why their interpretation is bad for debate and you'll win my ballot.

Topicality: T is great. Run T. Personally I think limits is the most persuasive and easiest standard to win on, but do whatever floats your boat. I default to reasonability and competing interpretations. 2A/2Ns should really focus on explaining to me the impact debate and why you should win your education/limits claims in the rebuttals.

Theory: As the 1N who usually took theory for 5 minutes in the block I usually lean neg on theory, unless it's condo. 2 condo is fine, read more at your own risk. That’s just a default though and can be easily reversed. Usually "reject the argument, not the team" is pretty convincing.

Kritiks: PLEASE EXPLAIN. Unless your K is security, neolib/cap, or Orientalism, I probably didn't read them in debate very often. I've studied and read quite a bit of literature on process metaphysics in college (Nietzsche especially, but also Baudrillard, Deleuze, Derrida, and Heidegger) so if you don't know and can't explain these figures' philosophies, I will be able to tell and will be less likely to vote on those arguments unless it's for a VERY blatant technical reason. Don't let that discourage you from running high theory Ks, I'll still vote on them if those debates are done well. I have a high threshold for K's; if you run one, you gotta explain how it links to the aff, how the alt solves/is a priori issue, and for the love of coffee please explain the jargon. Using big fancy words does not win you the debate. I know what epistemology and reps are, but you need to show me that you do. The more specific the K is the to aff, the better. Reading framework against K's is always a good idea - especially if you have no idea what the K is and feel that you can't win the K proper debate. However, I will not simply vote on "if we win FW then we don't have to win that the alt fails/solves". If the other team drops this, I will probably vote for you but I will not be happy about it. It is usually pretty easy to win that extinction is a prior issue than eliminating cap from society (Bostrom) in front of me, but I will not assume this if you don't read a card on it. Explanations are key!!!

Framework: I ran framework A LOT, way more than I would like to. The biggest problem with traditional framework v. a K aff is that it falls prey to the exclusion DA. K affs should be closer to the topic than not, but it is up to you to explain to me how your aff relates to the topic. I will vote neg on framework debates if the neg convinces me that K aff is just unrelated to the topic. We have a resolution for a reason. There are great K affs that engage with the topic, and even if your aff doesn't convince me that it does. Neg teams need to explain how their model of debate interacts with the aff.

Disadvantages: Love them. Disad/Case debates are my favorite types of debates to watch. Prioritize your impact work!! Make your links specific, especially if you are reading something generic like politics. The more specific the DA the better. Even though I love these debates, it's pretty easy for the aff to convince me that most DA's are stupid by using author indicts/smart analytics. Be smart and it'll save you loads of time.

Counter plans: I love watching good CP+DA/Case debates. Please have a net benefit/solvency advocate, or else you're probably going to lose the CP. I don't have a favorite type of counterplan, but I ran a lot of really specific PICs in high school and think they're cool.

Case: Too many teams disregard case as the debates go on. I like to see clash between the off case and the aff both from the aff and neg teams. I do believe in zero risk even within an offense defense paradigm. If the aff team doesn't extend any impacts through the end of the debate, there is very little chance that I will be voting for you. Also, simply saying "extend the nuclear meltdown impact/Kagan card, that's our impact" is not an extension. Explanations are key.

Cross-X is underrated. It is binding and it’s a speech. I like aggressive cross-xers and I doubt I’ll think you’re mean unless you cuss them out or if you are blatantly rude. The only caveat to this rule is if you are conclusively winning/debating novices who should not be in varsity you should be as nice as possible.

Speaker Points: I give speaker points based on how well you speak and your style of speaking, not based on technical things in round (there are exceptions). If you're great technically, you'll likely win my ballot and I think that's reward enough for substance in rounds. I want y'all to be encouraged by receiving speaks that aren't as reliant on your technical skill in round -- a great speaker doesn't necessarily win all of their rounds. Cade Cottrell describes this way better than I do and I pretty much agree with how he gives out speaks so check out his paradigm. I range between 27-29 mostly, < 25 is reserved for people who are blatantly racist, sexist, or mean. Or if you read wipeout. If you catch the other team clipping, record it and show me. Clippers get a 0. I've never given me a 30 -- convince me why you should be my first 30 and you'll get it.

How to get better speaker points in front of me:

Make me laugh! Jokes/puns are appreciated as long as they are not offensive. Snarkiness and sass are welcome, but never at the expense of the opposing team. I'll give you 0.2 extra speaks if you can tell me who I poached a small part of my paradigm from (hint: Cal).