I'm a parent judge in my third year of judging debate. Please do not spread or use excessive debate jargon. Speak slowly, focusing on clarity and quality of argument over quantity. Keep your delivery organized and oriented toward a first-time listener of the topic.

Support assertions with evidence, providing context or relevance as necessary. Beyond making your case, please respond directly to your opponent's arguments. Highlight areas of contrast and points you believe to be particularly favorable to your cause. Passionate engagement is fine, but please take care to be civil and respectful.

Present a clear summation of key points made (and not made by your opponents), and why your side should prevail.

Finally, I'm not interested in Theory arguments.

I look forward to hearing you.

hi everyone! i'm pearl berzin and i'm one of the captains of the pf debate team at newton south and i've been debating for four years!

pronouns: she/her

email: pearlesd23@gmail.com

facebook: pearlberzin

before i give preferences i just want to remind y'all that debate is all about having fun and learning, so remember that during the round! also don't feel any pressure to tailor your speaking to me; do what you feel comfortable with!

preferences:

speed is ok, but if you plan on spreading, send me a speech doc and ask your opponents if they're ok with it.

i’m not flowing your card names, so saying something like “flow through Smith 22” and not explaining the argument is not a good strategy if you want me to understand your arg.

i will pay attention to cross, so please don't be rude! however, i won't evaluate it in my decision.

i expect all turns to be frontlined in 2nd rebuttal.

PLEASE COLLAPSE! my flow and your narrative get way too confusing if you don't.

nothing new in either final focus.

WEIGH! please don't make me try to weigh the arguments in my head.

if you are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc, i will give you the LOWEST speaks possible.

try not to stress! y'all are going to do great and i'm excited to see what you can do :)

if you have any questions about my paradigm or rfd, pls reach out!

p.s. if you bring me snacks or reference taylor swift in a speech, i will give you +1 speaker point

Hi, I'm Alisha!! (she/her)

Email me before the round: abhattsmith23@concordcarlisle.org for any questions or concerns on my paradigm or anything I can do to make the round more comfortable/safe.

Overall (everyone must do this)

• Be nice to your partner and opponents. (no racism homophobia etc)

• You will be dropped if I see this happening.

• Ask your opponents before running progressive arguments (theory, k’s, etc) (unless it's trigger/content warnings then go for it)

• If you think there should be a content warning, there should be one with an anonymous opt-out form for everybody in the round.

If you are a novice:

• You rock!

• Debate can seem daunting at first. Just remember we are all here to learn from one another so please don’t be stressed and try to have some fun :)))

• If at any point during the round you are confused about speech times, cross times, or prep time, ask me.

• Weighing the easiest way you can win my ballot. Make sure, however, you are doing this comparatively.

• I don’t vote off of your crossfires. That doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention. If you have something to say about a crossfire, make sure you are bringing it up in a later speech so it goes on my flow.

• Collapse! I (and many other judges) do not evaluate rounds by counting how many things you bring up about the round. It simply is not a good use of your time. Pick your strongest arguments and extend the warrant and impact.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATE

As a Congressional debate judge, I am listening for fervor, passion, and rhetorical integrity. Students who begin or lapse into reading their speeches will not receive high marks from me - extemporaneous speaking is key here with ideas presented in flavorful tones without the monotone elements that derive from reading a series of sentences. The proficient asking and answering of questions is key to receiving a high score from me. I listewnt to your words and expect clear pronunciation, medium pace, and enlivened debater from you and your peers. Once the session has ended, please accept my 'virtual high five' as a response to your gestures of 'thank you for judging' mantra.

DEBATE

I am primarily a tabula rasa judge, adjudicating arguments as presented in the round. Theoretical arguments are fine as long as they contain the necessary standards and voting issue components. I am not a huge fan of the kritik in PF and tend to reside in that camp that believes such discussions violate the legitimacy of tournament competitions; that being said, I will entertain the argument as well as theoretical counter arguments that speak to its legitimacy, but be forewarned that shifting the discussion to another topic and away from the tournament-listed resolution presents serious questions in my mind as to the respect owed to teams that have done the resolutional research deemed appropriate by the NSDA.

I am adept at flowing but cannot keep up with exceptionally fast-paced speaking and see this practice as minimizing the value of authentic communication. I will do my best but may not render everything on the flow to its fullest potential. Please remember that debate is both an exercise in argumentation as well as a communication enterprise. Recognizing the rationale behind the creation of public forum debate by the NSDA underscores this statement. As a result, I am an advocate for debate as an event that involves the cogent, persuasive communication of ideas. Debaters who can balance argumentation with persuasive appeal will earn high marks from me. Signposting, numbering of arguments, crystallization, and synthesis of important issues are critical practices toward winning my ballot, as are diction, clarity, and succinct argumentation. The rationale that supports an argument or a clear link chain will factor into my decision making paradigm.

RFD is usually based on a weighing calculus - I will look at a priori arguments first before considering other relevant voters in the round. On a side note: I am not fond of debaters engaging with me as I explain a decision; that being said, I am happy to entertain further discussion via email, should a situation warrant. Also, Standing for speeches is my preference.

Regis

I'll flow the round, but you should make sure to tell me some signature voting points near the end of the round.

hi, im jasper! i debated in high school and read every argument you could think of when debating! add me to the email chain: jaspervdatta@gmail.com, and contact me on facebook if you have questions :)

my only unwavering bias in the round is that debate is good. that is not to say our current model of debate is good or your method of debate is good, but just that debating, in general, is a good thing, and more people debating is a good thing. to that end, please read content warnings with opt-outs, be respectful to everyone, and try to be as ethical as possible. i do not care what arguments you read or how you present yourself, just that you make well-warranted arguments and compare them to the other arguments in the round.

preferences:

second rebuttal needs to answer everything from first rebuttal that you plan on collapsing on. defense isn't sticky.

30 speaks if you open-source disclose with highlights.

debate is a communication activity (especially pf), so i can handle speed but im not flowing off a doc.

i presume neg.

dont read anything -ist, read arguments without a warrant, be overly technical on novices/debaters who are out of their depth, or read identity positions against debaters who share that identity.

ask any other questions if you have them :)

I want to work best with the technology so please speak as clearly as possible.

Hello!

I am a college freshman, but I have competed in Public Forum debate for the last 3 years of high school.

Tech over Truth.

Please mention in your speeches if anything important happens in cross, I don't really care about cross and definitely don't use it to contribute to an RFD.

Please make sure to signpost!

I pay a lot of attention to the back half of the round (summary and final focus) and what each team collapses on/goes for, and what responses to the opposing team they extend. Please make sure to have clear extensions!

!!!***When I make my decision I go back to the flow, make sure new things aren'tBrough up in summary and final focus (that final focus mirrors the summary in terms of arguments and extensions) and then I make sure to see what key pieces of evidence were extended to summary,and then how the final focus builds off of the summary. The final focus should magnify the things that were extended in summary, mirroring summary and really bringing home thearguments as to why I should vote for you***!!!

WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

- Like actual weighing for real please with weighing mechanisms and everything

Please keep track of your own time and of opponents time. If a speech is going over time feel free to hold up the timer to show me and I will stop flowing. I won't flow anything after time if I know it's after time.

Goodluck to everyone and if you have any questions feel free to ask me before the round.

I am a Debate Team Advisor, that does not mean I am the Coach. I have never participated in a Debate. I organize our team and I have judged a few times. I expect that students speak slow enough for me to understand you. Sometimes the urgency in students' voices is not necessary, spoken calmly will end in the same result and it will be easier to understand.

I am looking for you to address the opponent's contentions and prove to me, your impact is more important than the opponents.

Hey all, I am a graduated Varsity Public Forum debater so I have a solid amount of experience with all sorts of cases and debating styles so you won't have to worry too much about complex language or speed. That being said, I still am a public forum debater meaning that I do not have much experience with spreading in public forum. However, if you do have me in another form of debate, I can handle spreading and Ks as long as you break it down, please do not assume I know about the K you are running.

Flows: I'm not a huge fan of repeating yourself and over-explaining, so no need to get caught up or over do it. On top of that, I really appreciate good signposting and roadmapping so I can make as much of a lovely and organized flow possible. Also, I can identify when stuff is dropped usually, but, I still want you to show and explain why it is important that they dropped.

Speaking: Again, I've watched and participated in lots of debates, so no need to break things down too much. However--especially in the online world--spreading is usually lost on me, don't speak too fast and try to focus on diction. Coherency makes me a happy camper.

One additional nitpicky thing, I'm not super serious about strict debate formalities but I have one pet peeve regarding respectfulness. I, the judge am your audience so please do not address your opponents as "you", it can come off as hostile, please refer to them as "they" or "my opponents".

If you have me in Policy or LD, I have experience judging these types of debate so I do have a general knowledge of them but still, assume I am lay.

Thanks for reading and happy debating,

Aidan

Hi! My name is Lily Smith and this is my third year debating at Newton South High School. My pronouns are she/her/hers.

How I judge:

I will flow everything you say in a speech, and I can handle speed. I don't flow cross, but I will be listening. I will time your speeches, but please time them yourself too. Don't be mean or condescending in cross, it's really not going to get you anywhere.

Sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. gets you dropped.

What I want to see from you:

-Weigh in summary and final focus! Compare your argument to your opponents and tell me why I should vote for you.

-Use logic and evidence to back up your points. Don't just read a card name with no explanation or warranting. Logic alone is okay if you warrant it out.

-Collapse on your arguments!!! In summary and final focus, extend one (or two) links/subpoints, re-explain them, and clarify any clash surrounding the argument.

-Don't bring up new arguments in final focus. It's a huge pet peeve!

-Frontline! Directly respond to your opponent's rebuttal in second rebuttal or first summary.

-Signpost and number your responses. Tell me which argument you're talking about so that I can follow along.

Good luck! Feel free to reach out to me with any questions before or after round! My email is lilyjsmith05@gmail.com.

Hey guys! I'm Solai Solaiyappan and I'm a Senior at Lexington High school and I've debated PF for 4 years.

I have a few things that i'm picky about.

1) Don't Spread (Speed reading) during any speech and speak CLEARLY.

2) No K's and theory and anything that is not PF.

3) Pls weigh. Weighing is very important and if you don't weigh I won't really know what your impacts are at the end of the round.

4) Try and go down the flow. This is a pretty hard thing to do but it is very rewarding because every judge can follow you and comprehend your points.

5) Do not be mean in cross. If you see that your opponent is struggling please do not bombard them with questions. Let them have time and let them try and respond. If I feel like you are being mean I will dock speaker points. The max I'll deduct is 3 points.

6) If your opponent dropped a contention or point that is important in the round don't just say it. Explain why it is important that they dropped it.

7) Same with extending points. Don't say "extend the johnson 18 card". Extend it and explain what the card is briefly.

Also, I'm fine with complex language as long as it doesn't go overboard. If it does I will ask you to explain after your speech. I really want to express my concern about spreading because when you spread I won't be able to catch all your points. I want you guys to focus on diction. Try and have fun y'all.

P.S. I'm a pretty chill person and I will be giving y'all good speaks as long as y'all don't say anything racist or mean.

Hi, I am currently a senior at Westborough High School and have competed on national and local circuits for the past 3 years. I am experienced in tech debate, but I am a little out of practice, so I'm probably more of a flay.

Email chain/evidence doc (don't have a preference): vaikunthesh23@student.westboroughk12.org

TLDR:

If you extend(If you don't do this in a speech, you're a lost cause), win, and weigh your argument, you will win my ballot. Also, please signpost well if I don't know where you are on the flow, I can't keep track of your arguments.

Warrants

I love warrants, and imo it separates good and great debaters. Make sure every claim made is backed up by reasoning. Even if you have a piece of evidence, you still need a reason for why it is true; Good warrants > bad evidence with no warrants unless the debate revolves around a fact (ie, how many people live in the United States).

As debate rounds get more advanced, both teams will give competing warrants; in that case, it is your job to compare the opposing warrants and explain why your warrant(s) is true/better.

Weighing

This is crucial in debate, and make sure at the latest you start your weighing in summary. Weighing should be comparative and not just buzzwords. "We outweigh on scope" is not weighing; explain how you outweigh on the scope and why that even matters.

Evidence

I am pretty lenient when it comes to evidence, as long as you can pull up the evidence quickly(within a minute) and not misrepresent it. I do not mind if you paraphrase or read cut cards. Do not be abusive; by that, I mean citing 7 paragraphs of bolded text and saying you paraphrased that into 3 sentences.

Summary/Final Focus

Make sure you have parallelism between speeches. Extend + win your argument, weigh your argument, and extend your defense ( if you cover these 3 areas, your speeches will be good).

Cross

Be a respectful speaker and listener in cross. Allow your opponents to speak, and obviously, if they are ranting or talking about unrelated things, you can redirect them in a respectful manner. I can't stand people that are condescending or rude and at the end of the day, cross is not a part of my decision. If something is important in cross bring it up in your next speech.

I will disclose at the end of the round and give feedback.

If most of this makes little sense, then just follow these tips:

-Convey a narrative and be consistent with it

-Address your opponent's arguments and respond accordingly

-explain why your arguments are more important than your opponent's arguments

-keep the debate civil it's really not that serious

bring me food for a 30

Westborough '23 | Emory ‘27

Email: sujithyeruva@gmail.com

Hi, I'm a freshman at Emory University and I was involved in public forum debate all 4 years of high school. I qualified to Gold TOC in 2022.

I'm a tech/flow judge(tech > truth), but be sure to read my whole paradigm(especially the bottom). Feel free to ask any questions about my paradigm or how I vote before the round starts.

Evidence:

I'm not particularly picky about how you read evidence(you can paraphrase or read cut cards), but make sure to bring it up quickly. If you paraphrase, make sure to have the section of the article that you paraphrased from ready. If you misrepresent evidence I'll drop it from my flow and lower your speaks.

Crossfire:

I don't flow cross and won't evaluate it in my decision. If something important happens, bring it up in the next speech. Be respectful and try to answer questions as directly as possible.

Rebuttal:

I don't require you to frontline defense(your opponent's responses on your case) in 2nd rebuttal but 2nd rebuttal should respond to all offense presented by the 1st speaking team by that point in the round(case, disads, turns). If 2nd rebuttal doesn't respond to defense, 1st summary doesn't need to extend defense and you can just bring it up in 1st final focus.

In general I appreciate it when teams think creatively with analytical arguments. If you card dump make sure to implicate well.

Back Half:

Make sure to collapse in summary and/or final focus(choose just 1 or 2 arguments that should cause me to vote for your team). Summary should mirror final focus. The earlier the weigh you the better and I won't evaluate any new weighing in 2nd final focus. Weighing should be comparative.

Progressive Arguments:

I didn't debate progressive arguments much in high school and don't have that much experience with it. If you do decide to run theory or Ks, I will be open to it and will do my best to follow along, but don't expect me to understand any jargon you use. You will need to explain the nuances of your argument.

Miscellaneous:

- I only flow what I hear; I won’t be reading any speech docs or email chains unless someone asks me to look at evidence. If you speak faster than 225 wpm I might miss some things.

-I'll default to the 1st speaking team if there's no offense left at the end of the round

-Please signpost(tell me what argument you're on in your speech; if I'm confused where I should write something down on my flow that's probably not a good thing)

-If you genuinely don't understand how I made my decision, feel free to ask as many questions as you would like about how I made it. I'm essentially ok with post-rounding if done in a respectful manner.

I am a new parent-judge for Chelmsford High School.

When speaking in round:

- Please don't spread! (In other words, please speak slowly and clearly)

- Keep acronyms to a minimum

- Signpost

- Explain your warrants clearly

In final focus, I would appreciate if you would weigh your arguments in comparison to your opponents' to help me better compare your cases side by side.

Other than that please work your best and I look forward to judging your rounds!

I have debated in some capacity at some point in my life, current PF coach for Boston Latin School/APDA debater. Tl;dr normal tech judge. (My paradigm used to say flay judge but Ive come to realize I’m a lot more tech>truth than most judges. Read anything as long as it’s not racist or bad.)

my email is lemuelyu@bu.edu, please add it to the doc/email chain/carrier pigeon

At the end of the round, I will look down at my flow and do a few things, in the following order.

1. I will look at any framing, characterization, burdens, overviews etc. and evaluate the clash (or lack thereof) there. The winning arguments will serve as a filter for arguments in the round or as a way to determine the top layer of the round.

2. I will look at each individual contention or piece of offense within the round and determine what is won and how much it has won (i.e., how well it links to its impacts, a function of warranting, INTERNAL LINKS, uniqueness, etc). I will look at defense and evaluate whether it is terminal or mitigatory, and whether defense has been properly frontlined. Importantly, I will only look at offense and responses that are both extended and implicated in the final foci, and pulled directly from summary.

3. I will look at weighing. I often think about this as “layers” for the round, the side that best accesses (via probability, scope etc) the highest amount of the most important impact will win the round. This means weighing impacts over other impacts (i.e. death over poverty), and then weighing access to impacts/link weighing (i.e. more death over less death)

4. I will vote for the argument with the best link into the greatest amount of the best impact (not necessarily the greatest quantity).

some procedural stuff

- tech > truth but there is a threshold of believability for your arguments. if you claim that the sky is neon orange, you better have some EXCELLENT evidence for it. also, if you're argument is straight up racist, sexist, etc. i will not remain tabula rasa.

- I have never learned theory in my life, so I am not receptive to it. However, if you feel like running theory and get your opponent's ok to run it, you're welcome to run it at your own risk. Might make the round more interesting...

- light cussing is fine but full on spewing invective is not fine.

- I can generally flow relatively quickly but if you're gearing up to pull up speechdocs I will stop flowing. I will only flow what I comprehend.

- please don't be disrespectful. If you are disrespectful then I will be disrespectful to you :((. I don't care if you have fun or not, that's up to you. But don't make it unfun for other people.

- Weighing and warrants are important, they're what win rounds. Weigh before final focus and have a clear narrative. If no weighing is done throughout the round I will default to some stupid weighing mechanism like "who weaponizes the gay frogs". No one wants that. Also, I won't vote for an argument I don't understand.

- second rebuttal is required to at least frontline turns, otherwise they are considered dropped.

- Please signpost.

- Be as aggressive or passive as you want in cross, i'm usually not listening unless it starts to become whack. Aggressive =/= disrespectful. If both teams agree you can literally use cross as prep time if you want.

- Don't postround please, the round is over and you should have made it clear during round.

- If a card becomes heavily disputed in round, I will call it.

- If a warrant for an argument is not given, "this is not warranted" is a valid response.

- If the argument is well warranted and not empirical, "this is not carded" is not a valid response.

- if you concede defense to frontline a turn, tell me what piece of defense you concede and how it gets rid of the turn. Being able to wipe offense off my flow simply by saying “we kick out” is dumb.

- speaks start from 27 and go up from there. If I give you a 27 I think you were kinda poopoo. A 28 means you were aight. 29 means you were very nice, and a 30 means you were very very nice. Anything below 27 means that I think you're a terrible person

- Don't go more than 10 seconds overtime. I'll stop listening to what you say after that. Abuse prep and your speaks will tank.

Hi all! I'm Robby, and I've debated for Newton South High School for the past 3 years.

Things I'm looking for in speeches:

Rebuttal: Second rebuttal should be at least frontlining turns, as second summary is too late for opponents to respond.

Summary: This is a time for people to extend their arguments and tell me why they win the ballot. I also highly encourage collapsing as it is cleaner on the flow, and easier to understand the arguments.

Final Focus: Do not bring up new arguments in final focus. Final focus should mirror what is said in summary. This speech should sum up the round and why I should give you my ballot.

Cross X: I don't really pay much attention to the content in Cross X so if there is something that I should know, please bring it up in your speeches. However good cross presentation can get higher speaks.

Speaking of how to get good speaks:

Speed: I'd consider myself a flow judge, but do not spread or read so fast nobody can understand. Make sure you are clear and concise.

Signposting: It just makes the flow easier to follow and to lessen any confusion.

Weighing: do not just tell me an argument to vote off of, but tell me WHY I should prefer your argument over your opponent's.

Time: Just don't go overtime.

Theory/K's: I don't believe in theory or K's, you should be debating the resolution given to you, not why someone didn't put their case on the wiki. If you run either of these, I will instantly drop you.

Last but not least:

Be nice. If you are sexist, racist, xenophobic, transphobic, homophobic, or anything that targets other minorities I will drop you and give you low speaks.