Updated 3-7-24

Congrats on attending Nationals. Being at a university with the resources to send you cross-country to represent them is an immense privilege Thank those responsble including partners, teammates, coaches, parents & especially your opponents. People matter. Celebrate, respect and appreciate them while you can.

(NEW) TLDR: K Affs, FW, DA/CP strats, K strats, Procedurals - Fine. You do you. Condo- Ok w Limits (read CP stuff below) Base points - 28.7 If you care about pts a) look at who got 29.4+ from me to see what I like. b) 2NRs that don't spend time on case do so at their own risk. When I'm online, a) get verbal/visual confirmation before you speak b) slow down 10%. Won't litigate past debates, social media beefs etc on my ballot. PRE-EMPT- Read no further at your own risk.

General Approach: Add me to the chain if you have my email already. Start the rd when your opponent has the doc up once you confirm all parties are ready. I don't follow along with your speech docs. Flowing on paper. Pen time good. Be organized, Be considerate. Be ready. Recuts of opponents' ev need to be read in round not just inserted into the doc to be assessed on my flow. Good debaters work extremely hard so I will make every effort to be very thoughtful and conscientious as your judge. Whatever decision allows me to inject myself the least into the interpretations of issues in the round is the one I will attempt to make. Compare positions, ev and tell a story in your last rebuttal that frames the round the way you wish me to decide it. I’ll vote where you tell me if it's coherent. If you have multiple stories, prioritize them. Don't rely on my post-round reconstruction. If you only spend 10 seconds on a key point in your last rebuttal, don't expect me to spend much more than that evaluating it. Most rounds come down to impact assessment and warrant comparisons. An author’s name is not an argument. Provide warrants for why your ev is better than theirs.

Tech vs. TruthTech over truth is an inflection point not a value system. My voting record reflects a tech leaning apparently but that's more reflective of how truth is framed in the 2AR vs. my role to protect the neg. My ballot really comes down to the skills and execution of the particular debaters.

The Aff: Do what you want in terms of policy, K or performance. Explain advantages to your model over theirs. Tell me how to evaluate your affirmation prior to the 2AR if you are performing. Make sure that the role of the ballot is articulated and extended and not a 2AR surprise. My evaluation will come down to offense on the FWK flow based on impacts identified by the debaters unless it's one of those rare rounds where the neg has a viable, specific strat.

The Neg: Well-developed, evidence-based strategies are awesome and will be rewarded. 90% of affs, both kritikal and policy have lit that goes the other way. Cut cards and forward options along with T/FW. If you want to defend your right to a Deterrence DA link or a certain interp, go for it. Presumption matters and is underutilized.

TOPICALITY/FWK: I’ll vote either way on T/FW if you win the relevant impacts to your model of debate e.g. EXTERNAL (why is it or is it not productive?) or INTERNAL (what does it communicate or provide you with in the debate space of importance?). You're more likely to have faith in the credibility of your definition and implicit approaches to the topic than I am so be prepared to defend them. Not a fan of: violations that morph in the block unprovoked, crummy counter-interps or generic TVAs that disregard this 1AC. T against policy affs is underutilized. Elevate your answers from the crap you read in HS. It's disingenuous for experienced debaters to say K-affs about AB, Set Col. or Trans Life were unpredictable or that FW is the ultimate form of violence in the world.

DISADS Fine obviously. Providing reasons why the DA turns case is always a good idea. CAVEAT - Including this since it's come up 2x this year. If there is an Existence question relating your DA or aff story (e.g. a rumored "secret" weapon system, Aliens are coming, etc), try or die only kicks in if you win the Existence question as a precursor.

CPs Smart CPs with solvency advocates improve your strat. If you regularly read CPs with conditional planks leading to 10 different versions or more than 3 conditional advocacies in a rd, I'm not the right judge for you. New or undisclosed 1ACs lend credence to more condo options. Feel free to take advantage of teams that read & react without studying your CP text carefully. Sympathetic to "1AR gets new answers" vs CPs with no 1NC solvency ev. or process CPs with no relqtion to how the US government works. I welcome solvency deficits if the AFF is correct on function indicts. I don't judge kick without specific instruction.

K: For teams that generate links from messed-up, in-round behaviors or focus on the debate space-all good. If teams defend external claims and impacts, winning anti-blackness is a superstructure or capitalist gov't solutions have failed on-balance is necessary but not sufficient. Quality examples are essential and readily available whether you're discussing micro-political movements, capitalism, racial injustice, colonialism, sabotage, disability and/or militarism. Your arsenal needs solid answers to scalability, empirical solvency, and why gov't action will not inevitably be needed. Include good reasons why the K turns case. 3 page long cards don't equal explanations.

Topic Specifics Spent 4 years working with Rev Vernon Nichols at the UU-UNO when he chaired the NGO Committee on Disarmament learning about prolif, movements and miscalc. As far as the 2023-24 topic, I read lots of topic lit from both traditional and nontraditional sources and have judged too much.

Pet Peeves that lower points: 1-STEALING PREP TIME -It's a nasty habit. You are taking time from my life that I will never get back. 2-POOR TECH PREP- I have sympathy for unexpected tech issues not poor preparation that delays the tournament. If you're debating online: a) Check your tech between rds for charge etc. b) Have a back-up (phone, tablet, etc.) in case of lmid-speech malfunctions c) Get verbal/visual confirmation everyone is back before starting speeches d) don't record people without permission e) slow down 10-20% because it's hard to hear/decipher stuff online 3--OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE in your speeches. Don't have a bright line but if you need to ask, you're probably excessive. 4--SLOPPY SOURCING. You say “Read the Jones 10 ev after the rd!” I read it and it sucks. In the post-round, it becomes “I meant to say Roberts, not Jones,” or “There were 3 pieces of Jones ev I meant the 1AR card.” That's a "you" problem. Effective communication good.

Updated 3/5/2021 - Email chain mbarlow15@gmail.com

**If for any reason you ever don't wanna debate and both teams agree, we can flip a coin to determine the winner. Losing side speaks will be 29.1 and 29. Winning side speaks will be 28.7 and 28.8

SHORT - I debated 4 years in college and was a NDT Octa-Finalist. I read afro-pessimism and framework arguments, so I am familiar with the mechanics of both worlds. Im willing to vote on a wide range of arguments. I'm very flow centric; Tech determines truth unless contested. In terms of worldview arguments, the aff doesn't necessarily need to defend the USFG (you can make the arg) but should at a minimum have some relationship to the resolution. That relationship should be made apparent (saying no to the resolution is a relationship). Conditionality is probably good, I will judge kick CPs unless told otherwise, 90% of the time framework debates on kritiks are wasteful. More specific rambles found below.

THERE ARE NO RULES IN DEBATE - There are formats are norms that we adhere to but can be challenged with logical arguments. I believe my job as a judge is to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Whether those ideas are connected to a policy option or a performance is entirely up to the debaters. Personally, my debate strategies have ranged from Wilderson to Consult CP/Politics to Zizek. I am more than willing to hear whatever it is you're comfortable with. See the issue specific stuff below.

Topicality--I think it should be a bigger deal on most topics. Too many neg teams are afraid to invest in it. A good T strat will make the violation apparent, along with the standards, AND a topical version of the aff. Anything less is probably not a winning strategy. I think competing interpretations is good, winning reasonability is possible but probably an uphill battle.

Framework--Pretty versed in the techniques and strategies. I'll flow it like a disad but truth claims matter. I do not think "education" and "fairness" are winning impacts. Decision making skills and strategy testing are internal links to explain impacts. I often feel that framework debates become very blippy and over-tech. Use your persuasive ability to develop these internal link chains in the same way you would a disad. Be clear, concise, and explain warrants. Neg without a topical version of the aff probably loses. The aff should have a counter-interpretation that has a role for the negative. If the aff has an argument for why the negative shouldn't contest the aff, that's probably another uphill battle, but should be explained thoroughly with impacts that OUTWEIGH the negative's.

Counterplans-- Admittingly I'm probably willing to entertain the more abusive CPs. This isn't to say that you can't win theory against a recommend CP, but I won't just assume you're right. You'll have to win the theory debate like a disad. As far as competition goes, I tend to lean more in favor of the aff when the way in which the CP generates a Net-Benefit is sketchy. I don't think that Politics is a clear net-benefit to an Executive Action CP. This is a debate to be had.

Kritiks--If there is a theory of power or root cause claim, you should make the framework in which I consider the plan versus the alternative AND its implications clear. In combination with this, you should make the alternative's interaction with the advantages clear i.e. does the alt solve the case or does the case just not matter? I think the aff has the same burden - Does the aff resolve the kritik or does it simply outweigh? Usually big K debates resolve around the clash of viewpoints so make your viewpoint clear in comparison to theirs.

Disads-- Nothing super in-depth here. If you're going for DA only in the 2NR, you need a turns case argument. I think far too often the 2AC is completely defensive against DAs. Highly advise embedded link turns in every disad 2ac (or impact turns for the brave and the bold).

Case Turns--Same as disads. Strong preference that we don't separate each turn on its own page, but ultimately I'll flow it however you'd like.

NSDA 2024 PF UPDATE

If your cards are not properly tagged, cited and cut, I will be tanking speaker points severely.

If an email chain is not set up, I will be tanking speaker points severely.

If I get so much as a whiff of evidentiary dishonesty, I am dropping you, closing my laptop and leaving the round.

Otherwise, congrats on making it to NSDA. Have fun and do you, boo !

About Me

I attended and debated for Rutgers University-Newark (c/o 2021). I’ve ran both policy and K affs.

Coach @ Ridge HS in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Influences In Debate

David Asafu – Adjaye (he actually got me interested in college policy, but don’t tell him this), and of course, the debate coaching staff @ RU-N: Willie Johnson, Carlos Astacio, Devane Murphy, Christopher Kozak and Elijah Smith.

The Basics

Yes, I wish to be on the email chain!

saied.beckford@rutgers.edu

COLLEGE POLICY: I skimmed through the topic paper and ADA/ Wake will be my first time judging this season. Do with this information what you wish.

GENERAL: If you are spreading and it’s not clear, I will yell clear. If I have to do that too many times in a round, it sucks to be you buddy because I will just stop flowing and evaluate the debate based on what I can remember. Zoom through your cards, but when doing analytics and line by line, take it back a bit. After all, I can only evaluate what I catch on my flow. UPDATE FOR ONLINE DEBATES: GO ABOUT 70% OF YOUR NORMAL SPEED. IF YOU ARE NOT CLEAR EVEN AT 70%, DON'T SPREAD.

In general, I like K’s (particularly those surrounding Afro-Pess and Queer Theory). However, I like to see them executed in at least a decent manner. Therefore, if you know these are not your forte, do not read them just because I am judging. One recent pet peeve of mine is people just asserting links without having them contextualized to the aff and well explained. Please don't be that person. You will see me looking at both you and my flow with a confused face trying to figure out what's happening. Additionally, do not tell me that perms cannot happen in a method v. method debate without a warrant.

I live for performance debates.

I like to be entertained, and I like to laugh. Hence, if you can do either, it will be reflected in your speaker points. However, if you can’t do this, fear not. You obviously will get the running average provided you do the work for the running average. While I am a flow centric judge, be it known that debate is just as much about delivery as it is about content.

The bare minimum for a link chain for a DA is insufficient 99% of the time for me. I need a story with a good scenario for how the link causes the impact. Describe to me how everything happens. Please extrapolate! Give your arguments depth! It would behoove you to employ some impact calculus and comparison here.

Save the friv theory, bring on those spicy framework and T debates. Please be well structured on the flow if you are going this route. Additionally, be warned, fairness is not a voter 98% of the times in my book. It is an internal link to something. Note however, though I am all for T and framework debates, I also like to see aff engagement. Obviously these are all on a case by case basis. T USFG is not spicy. I will vote on it, but it is not spicy.

For CPs, if they're abusive, they are. As long as they are competitive and have net benefits, we're good.

On theory, at a certain point in the debate, I get tired of hearing you read your coach's coach's block extensions. Could we please replace that with some impact weighing?

Do not assume I know anything when judging you. I am literally in the room to take notes and tell who I think is the winner based on who gives the better articulation as to why their option is better. Therefore, if you assume I know something, and I don’t … kinda sucks to be you buddy.

I’m all for new things! Debating is all about contesting competing ideas and strategies.

I feel as though it should be needless to say, but: do not run any bigoted arguments. However, I’m well aware that I can’t stop you. Just please be prepared to pick up a zero in your speaking points, and depending on how egregious your bigotry is, I just might drop you. Literally!

Another thing: please do not run anthropocentrism in front of me. It’s something I hated as a debater, and it is definitely something I hate as a judge. Should you choose to be risky, please be prepared for the consequences. (Update: voted on it once - purely a flow decision)

For My LD'ers

It is often times difficult to evaluate between esoteric philosophies. I often find that people don't do enough work to establish any metric of evaluation for these kinds of debates. Consequently, I am weary for pulling the trigger for one side as opposed to the other. If you think you can, then by all means, read it!

Yale Update: Tricks are for kids.You might be one, but I am not.

I'm gonna have to pass on the RVIs too. I've never seen a more annoying line of argumentation.

In general, give me judge instructions.

On average, tech > truth --- however, I throw this principle out when people start doing or saying bigoted things.

Bradley Burns

Bburns6@su.suffolk.edu

College: Suffolk University

Rate of delivery: Clarity over speed. If I can listen to your arguments and take quick notes that would be preferable. The highlighted portions within the documents sent should be complete sentences when read aloud.

Quantity of arguments: I prefer a few well developed arguments rather than a series; however, if your debate strategy includes more arguments in the beginning that is acceptable. I enjoy arguments that include a coalition of different ideas that compliment each other while also showing an awareness of the world.

I am willing to vote on: Topicality, Counterplans, Generic Disadvantages, Conditional Negative positions, Debate Theory Arguments, Critical Arguments. Multiple Counterplans are not preferred because of how messy the debate can become; however, a team will not lose my vote simply because of that. The greater arguments, responses and evidence will ultimately take forefront in deciding.

I dislike rude or disrespectful behaviors or attitudes between teams and towards judges. Debates can be fun, lively and intense, however any conduct should ultimately be respectful please.

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask!

Personal Bio: I am a recent graduate from Suffolk University. I majored in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE) and received a minor in a Law program and debated for Suffolk. I am currently studying for the LSAT and will be attending law school within the near future.

include me on email chain: newschoolbl@gmail.com

they/them/she/her

graduate of The New School, debated all four years, mostly a kritikal/performance debater, it has been said that my partnership's specialty was Marxism, started as a college novice, broke to elims at 2021 & 2022 CEDA Nationals + 2022 NDT qualifier, 1st team from TNS to qualify for the NDT, current first year law student at Rutgers Law (Nwk)

majored in politics & economics with a minor in philosophy, which is to say that i read a lot of books in these areas and understand the basics of most theory. but never assume i know exactly what you're talking about if you haven't explained technical terms you're using. if you're isolating education as an impact, do some educating.

TL;DR

1. do your thing. don't stress too hard about adapting everything to me, this activity is for you so i'll come along on whatever journey you'd like me on.
2. i do not care whether you sit or stand or how you're dressed, please do whatever feels comfortable for you. as long as i can hear you, i'll judge only on the words you say.
3. tech > truth, but only by a little. i'll vote on the flow.
4. i tend to lean K over policy, but that's mostly because i don't automatically default policy/extinction impacts.
5. i don't flow cross-x.
6. give me a roadmap—this should tell me exactly what order my pages should be in for your speech so i'm not flipping back and forth
7. give me all the good impacts in your final speech- write the ballot for me. AFF, how do y'all resolve your impacts and why am i prioritizing them? NEG, where's the link and how should i be comparing your impacts with your opponents? give me an easy decision and spell it out for me, i'll probably take it!
8. prioritize accessibility every round, please take measures to ensure everyone is able to participate in debate. this means sending evidence if you're spreading and respecting the needs of your opponents. check your speed— make sure taglines and analytics are clear enough for me to flow.
9. ONLINE DEBATERS—with the way computer audio works, you cannot spread at top speed/volume without being cut off. i will try to interject with 'clear' if i can't understand, but if you're not adjusting after three 'clear's, i will default to what i understand. if you have audio elements in a performance, it will have to be adapted for online.

i have zero tolerance for racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, or any sort of discriminatory language or action in the debate space. the content of your arguments matter, don't run harmful or discriminatory things because you think it could get the ballot (it definitely will not). what we say in this space matters and the language we use matters. please make an effort to be respectful of your opponents, especially during cross x. i understand debate is stressful and adversarial in nature but do not belittle or be outright rude to one another, it's just not cool. be outright discriminatory or disrespectful to your opponent or partner, then be prepared for your speaks to suffer.

K DEBATERS HERE'S THE SENTENCE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR: i'm probably your guy for weird stuff— i love the kritikal and experimental so bring it on. love some performance in debate! this doesn't mean i can't be convinced by policy args or fw, but i naturally lean on the side that critique and subversiveness good/discourse matters type stuff.

T/FW: not my favorite of all time, but if you fully impact it out and cover the whole flow, i'll vote on it. i'm going to need more than procedural fairness as a voter on T, it's not an impact on its own. i'm also just not a huge fan of voting on T (because of my K debater sensibilities), but if you clearly win it i'll vote on it. + winning framework won't win you the round, it only gives me a lens to view the round through. if you win framework, i'll vote on whatever wins under that interp.

rule of thumb is that i'll vote for whoever is giving me the easiest time doing so. tell me what to do (y'know, nicely) and i will follow those instructions unless the other team gives me a compelling reason not to. pretty simple and i vow to do my best at not intervening as much as possible. above all, i want you to do YOUR thing more than i want you to adapt to me.

honestly, if you have time, just read Vik Keenan's (my former coach's) paradigm. pretty much all of my foundational knowledge about what debate can be came from Vik and this is just starting to sound a lot like her.

LD

i'm a policy debater so most of my debate sensibilities come from policy debate. however, i'll keep my weird policy expectations out and i'm voting on the flow.

i try to be as common-sense as possible, just explain your args and win them and i'll vote for you. if there's some super technical LD-specific stuff you want to try, it probably goes without saying but i'm definitely not going to appreciate it as much as an LD person would.

i'm used to policy spreading speeds so i'm down to clown as long as the other side is cool with it as well (spreading can become an accessibility problem real quick and real easy). make sure you are CLEAR, i really want to be able to understand you! speed without enunciation is just straight-up impossible to evaluate. if you're looking for a K judge, same as policy, i'm totally your guy. i read books and stuff so if you want to go down a philosophy rabbit hole together, i'm totally down as long as you're still doing the explanation work you need to do throughout the round.

LD theory gets a little out of hand for my tastes. not to say i won't vote on theory or you shouldn't go for it, but try to go for substance first and don't blow up a tiny little theory thing. theory that's well-covered and well-explained throughout the round is cool and good, though.

PF

set up the email chain before the round starts please! yes, i would like to be on it, my email's at the top.

if you're doing evidence comparisons, send me the evidence you're referencing! i know this isn't policy so it's not standard to send all evidence, but i would prefer having the evidence in front of me so i can actually read/compare it. in my opinion, just saying that an author says something doesn't really constitute strong evidence for me. i won't penalize you for not sending evidence à la policy debate, but don't expect me to weigh evidence without any of it in front of me.

i'm okay with speed as long as the other side is (please send a speech doc if you're about to spread). i do not care if you sit or stand or where in the room you want to set up, just do what's comfortable for you and i'll adjust myself if necessary.

just give me some good weighing and framing and i'll vote on the flow. make sure you're extending your impacts throughout the round and doing comparative work between you/your opponents impacts through the whole round, not just the final focus. give me the actual internal link story for your impacts—don't just repeat your statistics and impacts over and over again, tell me HOW your impact stories happen.

final focus should be my RFD—make sure you’re doing the work here to weigh both sides and write my decision for me. make sure there's no new arguments here and you're giving me a summary of what i should focus on in the round and why that means you win. you should be telling me 1. your impacts, 2. why i am prioritizing them over your opponents', 3. links to the case (on the CON), and 4. how you resolve your impacts.

good luck, have fun, make friends :)

First, yes. Please include me on the email chain: angela.cammayo@gmail.com. Thank you.
Experience: NYU Debater 2013 - 2017, Coach / Judge 2017 - Present

Overview

"If you want to achieve enlightenment, you're gonna have to go through me"
I'm just kidding on this one, my friend sent this meme to me and said it'd be great to include on my paradigm

Whatever you do well. I will do my best to listen and evaluate those arguments fairly in the context of the round. Feel free to run whatever you're comfortable with, but remember that you are responsible for your scholarship. I strongly believe that debate offers so many valuable skills -- research and critical thinking being some of the most important.

Remember, debate is game. So have fun.

Details
T- Great if you run it and go for it, but you need to win the topical version of the aff and a violation of your interp to have a shot. I will not vote on it just because the other team drops it. Note: FW is about how you debate. T is about the terms you debate. They're not the same thing. Don't conflate them.

Ks- Have a clear alt, explanation of external impacts and how it solves.

DA/CP- Have fun. But if your CP contradicts other positions in the round, it's fair for the aff to generate offense about your advocacy choices.

Non-traditional---Foregrounding identity to advance scholarship is great, using identity claims just to commodity the ballot is not (you know know who you are).

Ballots
Yes, as with most judges, I want the easiest ballot. However, I believe the Role of the Ballot free to debate. So debate it in round and if you win, I will view the round through that lens. If you go for too much in the 2NR or pick a strategy that takes out your own offense, I will not vote on it just because the aff drops it.

Quanzel Caston, known as "Quanzy"

United States Military Academy c/o 2017

I'm still in the circuit, so I'll probably at most judge novice rounds, but paradigms are honest attempts to explain how you view debate, and I'll take it as such. 

First, a couple of things

+Keep Time. I won't keep time, and I trust your self-interest to lead you to police the other team.

+I know flashing and emailing is a curse, I would rather us all join the revolution and use Pocketbox. If you're not about it and still look forward to the methodical email method, that's fine too.

I'm Quanzy, I've debated policy at West Point for two years. Before that, especially in high school, I was deep in the upper echelons of high school debate in Extemp and Congress (yeah, you can laugh). This is my first year judging. Although I haven't had that much time, I had a partner who was super experienced and accelerated my learning curve so that we went to the NDT in my Novice year and got 8th at CEDA last year. I see debate as less of a competition and more of an engagement of scholarship and argumentation to shape what I think is the best world post the presentation of the AFF. I'm semi-deep into Anti-blackness literature and have a working grasps of most Ks. I think that the topical action can be violent, and totally love hearing affs not rooted in the state, but also have a strong line that the topic, something about the topic, should be apart of the aff's advocacy or discussion. I think theory is a reason to reject an argument, not the team, unless there is some particular impact tied to larger structures from a team's theory performance. Although I'm familiar with Ks, I dedicated a large portion of my younger life to debates about policy and USFG actions, and can appreciate and stick with a policy v. policy debate. I love hearing good warranted analysis and strong extensions. I will take good warrants and excellent explanation over stacks of cards. I think that the team that can better give explanatory power to the other sides claims as well as provide examples that support their argumentation will usually win the thesis of their argument. I have love for analytics, and think that slower analytics make more impacts that longer cards.

Teams can be rejected for performances or arguments that are demeaning, degrading or disrespectful. I'll take it out on your speaker points and probably attempt to have a semi-constructive discussion about it. If a team makes good arguments on why you should be rejected for it, I'll go for it. Being aggressive and clever in CX is legit, but there is always and line, and if you cross the line, I'll let you know about it after the round. CX matters to me, especially for links and Disads, so know that I'm listening to the exchange. Speed is fine. If you're slower than the other team, hope is not lost. Just because a card was read does not mean that they get 100% access to it because it was read. No warrant extension will make it just another card they read, and good arguments can counteract a shit ton of cards.

I love debate, the education it gave me is priceless. I only look to further opportunities for debaters to grow and learn through competition.

I debated for NYU for three years from novice to open and graduated five years ago. I'm now judging periodically each year for NYU and haven't seen many rounds on the current topic, so please be mindful if you are using jargon, shorthand or acronyms and explain them to me clearly if you think they will be important to my decision calculus.

As far as argumentation, I ran a mix of critical and policy arguments and did practice rounds against performance teams so please do what you do best. I will evaluate Topicality and Framework arguments but have not judged enough to form a bias either way. Some of the best debate rounds I have seen were performative in nature so it will be a matter of execution rather than philosophy that decides the T/FW issue if you go for it. My own affs were generally creative in nature [like climate fiction] but did typically include a plan text or some relation to the topic. My only real limitations on arguments are I will not evaluate Sexism/Racism Good and other on-face offensive positions. Regardless of style, tell me how to weigh impacts in the round, compare your evidence and account for the arguments that you think your opponents are likely to go for. Please treat your fellow competitors with respect. Debates can be hard fought without being rude or offensive. Since these are my first rounds on the topic, it is probably also advisable to slow down some to make sure I catch your arguments.

`Definitely add me to the email chain, and remember to have fun.

Please add me to the email chain: john.dellamore@gmail.com

Experience: I did policy debate in high school and college.

Overview: I am fine with anything you want to read. I did strictly policy (CPs/Das/T) in high school and then leaned more towards Ks in college. I have read every K from Security to DADA. Impacts need to be well extended and weighed and my role as the judge should be made clear by both teams.

Most important thing for me: I love debate. I think the community has its flaws but is unique in the sense that there aren’t many places where a bunch of really smart students can come together and discuss anything from Chinese politics to DeleuzeandGuattari. I understand if teams make arguments about the flaws in debate and more than often I believe they are true. But on the other side, I think debate offers so many valuable skills, research being one of the most important, and should exist.

Specifics

Framework (read on theneg, “you have to read a topical plan”): I really enjoy framework debates. I really go either way on this. I rarely defended a stable plan text and understand the merit in that. I also have read framework on the negative many times and understand that as well. I believe a good framework debate comes down to well impacted education arguments. I understand the merit in “but the state is bad” argumentsbut I don’t believe that is enough, especially if the negative wins a topical version of your plan.

T: I believe competing interpretations are great because the negative can always find a definition that excludes the aff. Like framework, I believe a good debate comes down to the educational impact level. Simply extending “key to ground"isn’t enough.I am not totally sold on just fairness impacts. I believe fairness is just an internal link to participation and clash but is not an impact within itself. Finally, I really like affirmatives that address the topic through a tricky wording in the plan text. This creativity, I believe, is a great skill andleads to creative debate that negatetopic staleness.

DA: I really like DA debates and wish I could have had more of them myself. The best DA debates are ones that come down to the pieces of evidence. As I said above, one of debates greatness merits is the research and there is nothing better than a DA debate to show off the amazing research you’ve done. I think the other really important part of a DA is explaining the story. Saying that “Immigration brings in more high skilled workers and that is key tohegwhich is key to preventing nuclear war” isn’t really enough.

CPs: I love topic specific, alternative solvency CPs. The affirmative reads a lot of evidence and more often than not the authors will come up with different solvency mechanisms. CPs thatgooff of this are awesome. Advantage CPs are cool too, especially when they are very specific and the negative can explain the solvency on the CP better than the affirmative on their case. I have read Consults CPs, agents CPs…(anything that steals the plan) and I like them but also believe that they should be germane to the case/topic. Reading Consult NATO against every Affcan lead to a very stale debate. I like theory onthese CPs, especially ones that make “stale education” arguments.

Theory: Condo is probably a good thing but if theaff wins theneg is being abusive with it, I will voteon it. CP theory is good (as stated in the CP section). I will listen to whatever theory you want just make sure it is impacted well.

K: My favorite type of debate and the one I am most familiar with. I have read tons of Ks and heard even more. If you read a new K in front of me, even if you think it is stupid, I will consider voting on it and always LOVE HEARING NEW PHILOSOPHIES. Please show that you know the theory of whatever you are advancing. I will go into some specifics on each part of the K. The most important thing on a K is making it germane to the aff. Don’t just say “they conceded our warming link." It is best when you use examples from history as to why the aff is just another example of x.

-Framework: I am open to both sides. Ks can lead to generic debates but theaffhas to be held accountable for assumptions.

-Links: links that are explained as turns case arguments or separate impacts are awesome. Shows you really know the philosophers. Use examples as I said above.

-Impacts: Just extended them and do impact calc.

-Perms: Theaffhas the potential to be abusive here. I believe that theaff should be held accountable for everything in the 1ac so “severing reps” arguments hold little weight with me. If the other team drops it I will vote on it but give me a reason to. Also, a good perm do both with net benefits to the perm is awesome. If you can explain why the net benefits are good and outweigh any risk of the link I will be very impressed.

-K tricks (serial policy failure, reps first…): Love them. Just impact them well and give examples of how theaff leads to serial policy failure or what not.

Director of Debate at Georgetown Day School

Assistant Coach, University of Kentucky (2020-2024)

Debated at University of Kentucky (2017-2020)

Debated at Milton High School (2013-2016)

add me to the email chain: genevieveelise1028 at gmail dot com

General Thoughts

I like for debate to be fun and will generally enjoy judging in debates where it is clear you are having a good time and doing what you're passionate about. Don't be afraid to let your personality show in how you debate - being funny or spicy in the CX are often times I enjoy the debate the most. I understand the amount of time and dedication it takes to do this activity seriously, so I will work very hard to make sure that I am evaluating your debate in a way that respects the hard work that you have put into the activity, and the time and energy you are using to be present at each tournament.

The more I reflect on how I judge, the more I think it is really important for debaters to provide instruction/guidance in their speeches about how to tie all of the different pieces of the debate together. 2NRs and 2ARs that do a lot of this, backed by quality evidence read in earlier speeches, will often find themselves winning, getting good speaker points, and being more satisfied with my decision and how I understood the overarching picture in the debate. I generally believe, in the 2NR and 2AR, reading cards should be an absolute last resort.

Online Debate

I appreciate the accessibility benefits of online debate but do think it suffers from some quality deficit. If my camera is off during prep time, I have probably walked away for a number of reasons. I'll generally try to pop my camera back on when I get back to signal I have returned, and will also usually keep a headphone in to maintain awareness of when you stop prep. Just give me a sec to turn on my camera and get settled before you launch into an order or the speech.

I have an audio processing disorder, which makes it more challenging to flow due to the variety of ways that online debate affects clarity/feedback/etc - please take this into account and put in more effort to be clear on your transitions, tags, etc. It helps me to be able to see you talking, so if you are angled to be completely hidden by your laptop, I will likely be less of a precise flow than otherwise.

Please recall that while I cannot hear you when you are muted on zoom, I can still see you - things like talking for the entire 2AR, blatantly not flowing your opponents speeches, etc are still bad practice, even if you can technically do it.

DA/Case/CP

Disad and case is awesome, more case analysis that is smart will be rewarded in points. I think smart and specific counterplans are cool. The more specific and in grounded in the literature your CP is, the less likely I am to care about theory.

Topicality (vs aff with a plan)

I think a limited topic is good and care immensely about the comparison of one version of the topic to another when it comes to T. If you cannot explain coherently what the difference between the two topics are, I am much less likely to care about your very abstract appeals to the notion of limits or ground.

K (vs aff with a plan)

I enjoy judging these debates. Being more specific about the topic is far better than some random backfile check about Baudrillard. You should explain your arguments clearly vs using buzz words because I will be much more likely to understand what you are trying to communicate.

The specificity of the link and explanation of the link and how it coheres with your broader theory about the world and interacts with the consequences of the plan are all things that strongly influence how much I am persuaded by the K. If you have a link to the action of the plan and clearly explain how the impact to that compares to the impacts of the affirmative, as well as having an alternative that resolves this impact, I am likely to vote for you. I find myself less often voting for the K in debates where the neg relies on a strong framework/prioritize rhetorical/discursive links path but would not preclude this entirely because the aff is often time pressured and poorly equipped to debate about framework and fiat.

In addition, I think it's important to resolve how I should weigh impacts in the later speeches - I find myself often concluding I should weigh the aff and its consequences but also weighing the discursive/ethical/structural impacts described by the neg but not getting a lot of instruction about how to compare those two things and decide which one to vote on. I think mitigating claims about total extinction impacts with impact defense and specific solvency take-outs would go a long way to changing how I vote in these debates.

Planless Affs

I have found myself voting both ways in framework debates, but am usually persuaded by the benefits of clash, procedural fairness, etc. The more specific the aff is to the topic & good aff cards are things that most often lead to an aff ballot in these debates. The negative making a strong, coherent limits argument that includes arguments that appeal to clash while providing defense that proves the topic is compatible with the affs theory are things that most often lead to a neg ballot in these debates.

I think specific strategies against these affs are interesting and good (whether that be a da/k/pic) and will reward this specific research with speaker points. I generally think if something is in the 1AC I am likely to believe there is a link to your argument, and am very persuaded by strategies that utilize the cx to pin down specificities of the 1ac advocacy and then predicate the strategy off of that. If the aff is unwilling to speak specifically about the strategy of the advocacy, I generally tend to be more persuaded by framework.

I usually am not persuaded by strategies that rely on the idea that we should destroy debate, or that extinction or death is good. I do not think there is much of a difference between "debating about death being good" and "advocating death being good" so if your strategy relies on a pivot resembling "well we don't think everyone should die but we should talk about death", it is not a good strategy to use in front of me.

Misc.

I tend to lean towards conditionality being good, but would be persuaded otherwise in particularly egregious incidents.

If you are going to read cards written by former debaters, take ten minutes to ask around why they are no longer in the community. Strongly consider if the reason is one which should preclude their evidence from being introduced in a debate. I do not expect perfection in this regard, but I do think we should be talking about this.

It has come to my attention that I am what one might call a "points fairy". I will be working to adjust my points to more accurately reflect the scale I find most other judges follow.

I like when lots of quality evidence is read, and will often read your evidence at the conclusion of the debate (and if evidence is referenced in a cx, will usually try to find what you are referencing while it's being discussed). That being said, evidence is best paired with strong judge instruction in the rebuttals. There are instances when evidence is good enough to speak for itself, but in a debate where both sides read decent ev on an issue, I will often find myself voting for the team who tells me how and why their arguments matter more.

After hosting a bunch of tournaments in my time at UK, I am sympathetic to the pleas of tournament hosts and tabrooms. Please be on time, keep things efficient in debates, and clean up behind yourselves.

My facial expressions are likely unrelated to the things you are saying. In particular, I may come across low-energy. This doesn't mean that I am unhappy with the debate (although if I find your debating upbeat, engaging, and high-energy I will probably be a bit more likely to mirror that). Tournaments are a long-haul, I judge a lot of debates at each tournament (often every debate), and there seems to be increasingly little time afforded to restorative things like sleep or eating, so don't worry too much if I'm coming across a little sleepy.

Also, I sometimes just stare off into space when I'm typing - I'm still paying attention as long as I'm typing.

Liberty University '19

Baylor University '21

Current DoD at Towson University

Small update--specifically for zoom-- please slow down & make less/better arguments. The small glitches result in missing some really great pieces you all have & I don't want to miss anything.

2022:

Honestly, do what makes you happy! I still believe my job is to learn from you all because your research practices are educational opportunities as well! If there is anyway I can help you all grow as intellectuals, that is my main priority. Arguments are going to be made on both sides, but please remember those arguments have real power. Flush out your arguments because any ounce of confusion never plays in anyone's favor well.

The only thing I ask is that you not only keep the debate entertaining and fun, but be respectful of your opponents. Flush out your arguments &

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2019-2020

***I will fill this in or UD this when needed – I’m learning about my judging as the year progresses***

- Let me preface this w/ saying the 2019-2020 year (Space topic) is my first year out from debating, so do as you will with that.

- Yeah add me to the chain…Please don’t use my old email that some of you know—use this one: mikedebate97@gmail.com

- ***I seek to judge the round that occurred in front of me & to not only give feedback, but to also learn from you all [because you’re valid & you work hard on your arguments]. Every judge should come into a round with the openness to listen to the debaters b/c it isn’t their career #iSaidWhatiSaid. But if you saying something racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, ableist or problematic to anyone, then it’s a no-go. Other than that, DO YOU because you can’t let NO haters stop you from doing what you want in your career and that’s on period.***

- I’m a graduate student at Baylor. I debated four years at Liberty starting as a novice until my senior year where I ended my career as a 2x NDT octafinalist, CEDA quarterfinalist, & a first-round recipient. I did policy my novice year & more critical stuff my last three years. 1A/2N.

- Here’s how I would pref me if I was still debating (1: good – 4: eh).
Kritiks (identity politics): 1
Kritiks (high theory tingz): 4
Policy (Soft left): 2/3
Policy (Heg): ¾

- If you’re reading this before the round & you just need the basics: Big picture stories are my jam (i.e.- here’s the main story and how the aff implicates xyz OR how the aff does xyz bad thing). I LOVE ballot framing (i.e.- what we here for?). Condensed debates are always more nuanced (i.e.- sitting on a particular arg). I typically work backwards (i.e.- I evaluate the debate from the 2ar/2nr and circle what’s important/key args…So if it is important in the 1NC/1AC- make sure you have it in the 2NR/2AR). Don’t assume I know your lango on the K or the latest updates on the DA (i.e.- *insert big words* without explaining b/c you assume I know it won’t be the best thing to do). Last thing, have fun & be petty (not rude) – I know debate sometimes forces people to take everything so seriously all the time, but I promise it’s SO much better if you just doing you & having a good time!

Here’s the tea on your particular args:

Disads-

· I actually love a good disad debate! I think that a good link wall in the block is killer & it puts the aff in tougher positions.

· I think empirics that prove the story-line of the DA is SO helpful & slept on. (i.e.- this happened previously when X, which resulted in Y, but the distinction now is Z).

· To make these debates more juicy, I do think that there needs to be more impact distinction and framing than typical (i.e.- if y’all are both going for war scenarios, I need you to tell me more about why your scenario comes first or is more probable).

CPs-

· Ehhhh, if counterplans are you’re thing, I think you need to make sure you’re highlighting a few things for me: why it competes, (if there are) what parts of the aff do you do, & explaining the nuances/planks(if any) of the CP. I think having an overview that is precise & slowing down on that portion would be very beneficial if you’re going for the CP.

· Internal NBs are good, tbh (obvi external ones are as well). Just make sure you explain how the CP avoids said NB.

· If you’re going for/answering theory args, slow down! If you think you’re going to win a theory argument that was 5 seconds of speeding through your block, then lololol no.

Kritik (Identity based args) aff/neg-

· If this is your thing, do you! These debates are best when you isolate an understanding of how power operates in a simplistic way.

· If you’re going for “it’s a question of orientation” or “what we do in the face of X” – I’m good for you, but don’t shy away from explaining why that orientation is important, along with why the aff is necessary.

· I just think making sure you explain your stories interaction with the power you claim puts you in a better position—along with a way to navigate and/or solve said issue.

Kritik (POMO, etc) aff/neg-

· High theory? Make it low. I understand that some of y’all are deep-deep-deep in the archives with whatever lit base you come from, but remember that we aren’t. If you can’t explain to me in translation what you’re saying in the most basic form possible, then I may not be the best for you.

· Make applications, please. The way I can process something that is complex is by making sure I understand it in conjunction to said example.

· Mmm, yeah just explain everything v. simple & you’ll be fine.

Kritik (Security, Cap)-

· These are both viable options that I think are strategic. I think most policy-sided teams get so used to the DA debate that they don’t do well on explaining the theory of cap. I think a little more time on this in relation to the aff will do y’all justice.

· I do think that having/making contextualized links will make it more useful for you in the long run. (i.e.- having an identity ptx link, but then utilizing that in the block to explain how the aff manifest said link *we know they are this b/c the 1ac/2ac said….which means that…)

· **[THIS APPLIES TO ALL THE KRITIKS PORTION THOUGH] Make sure if you’re going for the alternative, you explain how that alt is able to overcome the links you’ve made. (If you can’t articulate why the alt solves the link, then you’re in a rough spot).

FW/T-

· No, they aren’t the same. But it is up to you to explain the difference to me.

· So one of the things that I clearly wait/listen for in the 2NR is a clear interpretation extension. In my career, I found that for critical debaters its always an uphill battle versus FW & they have to explain everything so thoroughly – but somehow fw/t debaters can win on these arguments b/c “we know what they meant” or “its clear what their interp is”…yeah, no! If it ain’t there & the aff points it out, then that’s not good for you. I do think T can be done and done good versus critical debaters (think Michigan GW or Harvard CM/MS), but I think mediocrity shouldn’t be tolerated.

· Fairness is an impact.

· Insofar as T goes, make sure you have definitions that are clearly extrapolating what your interpretation would justify/mean.

· TVA’s are poppin’—so yes, have some.

· I also think you should contextualize everything to the particular aff and CONTEST THE AFF on some level, please.

Theory args-

· Slow down on them, please. I’m not going to get all 17 points in twenty seconds if you blazing through them.

· Can be strategic for final speeches, but time needs to be allocated there earlier if that will be your option in final speeches.

· Read your blocks, but also answer their particular theory arg about why what you did/do is bad.

If something is unclear or you want to ask me a question about a particular argument, email me! I enjoy talking about how we think about debate. Have fun!

Judge Paradigm for Frank Irizarry, Suffolk University

Name: Frank Irizarry

Email:firizarry@suffolk.edu

College: Suffolk University

Current Profession: Professor/Debate Coach

Judging for: Suffolk University Debate / The Boston Debate League

My experience:

I was a CEDA debater at Marist College (1989-1993) and I coached at the college level for 15 years (Northern Illinois University, Syracuse University, Pace University, University of Florida, Suffolk University). I have been actively involved with the Boston Debate League for the last 14 years and I judge periodically for the BDL. I have judged policy debate for a long time.

After a 14 year "sabbatical" from coaching, I am back coaching college debate for Suffolk University. I am looking forward to this next act in my debate journey.

I am fairly open to whatever debaters want to do stylistically in a debate round. I wasn't always like that but time away gives you some perspective and I realize that this activity belongs to the debaters so I try to create minimal interference in their argument/advocacy strategy.

If you'd like to know about my thoughts on the typical things debaters generally like to ask about, here goes:

Rate of Delivery: You need to slow it down a bit. The hand speed is not what it once was. Additionally, when you are reading blocks of analytics, it is difficult for me to catch everything that you said. Also, the way some debaters underline/highlight their cards doesn't make sense to me as I'm listening to the debate. And I am listening. I actually try to flow and not just construct the round from your speech docs.

Start of the Debate: You do not have to countdown "3..2..1." You're getting ready to read the 1AC, not launch a rocket ship into space."

Quantity of Arguments: I prefer a few well developed arguments but if your strategy involves making lots of arguments early in the debate, so be it.

I am willing to vote on: Topicality, Counterplans, Generic Disadvantages, Conditional Negative Positions, Debate Theory Arguments, Critical Arguments.

I am probably in the minority here but I dislike multiple counterplans in a debate. I think it makes for bad debate. I have voted for teams reading multiple CP's but it never makes me happy.

Ultimately, I like well reasoned arguments, a defense of those arguments and clash on the arguments in the debate.

I dislike rudeness directed toward me or your opponent.

If you have any questions, just ask!

Yes, email chain: sohailjouyaATgmailDOTcom

PUBLIC FORUM JUDGING PHILOSOPHY IS HERE

Update:

- Probably not the best judge for the "Give us a 30!" approach unless it becomes an argument/point of contestation in the round. Chances are I'll just default to whatever I'd typically give. To me, these kind of things aren't arguments, but judge instructions that are external to making a decision regarding the debate occurring.

BIG PICTURE

- I appreciate adaptation to my preferences but don’t do anything that would make you uncomfortable. Never feel obligated to compete in a manner that inhibits your ability to be effective. My promise to you will be that I will keep an open mind and assess whatever you chose. In short: do you.

- Truth > Tech, but RELAX: All this means is that I recognize that debate is not merely a game, but rather a competition that models the world in which we live. This doesn’t mean I believe judges should intervene on the basis of argumentative preference - what it does mean is that embedded clash band the “nexus question” of the round is of more importance than blippy technical oversights between certain sheets of paper - especially in K v K debates.
Don't fret: a dropped argument is still a concession. I likely have a higher threshold for the development of arguments that are more intrinsically dubious and lack warrants.

- As a former coach of a UDL school where many of my debaters make arguments centred on their identity, diversity is a genuine concern. It may play a factor in how I evaluate a round, particularly in debates regarding what’s “best” for the community/activity.

Do you and I’ll do my best to evaluate it but I’m not a tabula rasa and the dogma of debate has me to believe the following. I have put a lot of time and thought into this while attempting to be parsimonious - if you are serious about winning my ballot a careful read would prove to serve you well:

FORM

- All speech acts are performances, consequently, debaters should defend their performances including the advocacy, evidence, arguments/positions, interpretations, and representations of said speech acts.

- One of the most annoying questions a judged can be asked: “Are you cool with speed?”
In short: yes. But smart and slow always beats fast and dumb.
I have absolutely no preference on rate of delivery, though I will say it might be smart to slow down a bit on really long tags, advocacy texts, your totally sweet theory/double-bind argument or on overviews that have really nuanced descriptions of the round. My belief is that speed is typically good for debate but please remember that spreading’s true measure is contingent on the number of arguments that are required to be answered by the other team not your WPM.

- Pathos: I used to never really think this mattered at all. To a large degree, it still doesn’t considering I’m unabashedly very flowcentric but I tend to give high speaker points to debaters who performatively express mastery knowledge of the subjects discussed, ability to exercise round vision, assertiveness, and that swank.

- Holistic Approaches: the 2AR/2NR should be largely concerned with two things:
1) provide framing of the round so I can make an evaluation of impacts and the like
2) descriptively instruct me on how to make my decision

Overviews have the potential for great explanatory power, use that time and tactic wisely.

While I put form first, I am of the maxim that “form follows function” – I contend that the reverse would merely produce an aesthetic, a poor formula for argument testing in an intellectually rigorous and competitive activity. In summation: you need to make an argument and defend it.

FUNCTION

- The Affirmative ought to be responsive to the topic. This is a pinnacle of my paradigm that is quite broad and includes teams who seek to engage in resistance to the proximate structures that frame the topic. Conversely, this also implicates teams that prioritize social justice - debaters utilizing methodological strategies for best resistance ought to consider their relationship to the topic.
Policy-oriented teams may read that last sentence with glee and K folks may think this is strike-worthy…chill. I do not prescribe to the notion that to be topical is synonymous with being resolutional.

- The Negative’s ground is rooted in the performance of the Affirmative as well as anything based in the resolution. It’s that simple; engage the 1AC if at all possible.

- I view rounds in an offense/defense lens. Many colleagues are contesting the utility of this approach in certain kinds of debate and I’m ruminating about this (see: “Thoughts on Competition”) but I don’t believe this to be a “plan focus” theory and I default to the notion that my decisions require a forced choice between competing performances.

- I will vote on Framework. (*This means different things in different debate formats - I don't mean impact framing or LD-centric "value/value criterion" but rather a "You must read a plan" interpretation that's typically in response to K Affs)That means I will vote for the team running the position based on their interpretation, but it also means I’ll vote on offensive responses to the argument. Vindicating an alternative framework is a necessary skill and one that should be possessed by kritikal teams - justifying your form of knowledge production as beneficial in these settings matter.
Framework appeals effectively consist of a normative claim of how debate ought to function. The interpretation should be prescriptive; if you are not comfortable with what the world of debate would look like if your interpretation were universally applied, then you have a bad interpretation. The impact to your argument ought to be derived from your interpretation (yes, I’ve given RFDs where this needed to be said). Furthermore, a Topical Version of the Affirmative must specifically explain how the impacts of the 1AC can be achieved, it might be in your best interest to provide a text or point to a few cases that achieve that end. This is especially true if you want to go for external impacts that the 1AC can’t access – but all of this is contingent on a cogent explanation as to why order precedes/is the internal link to justice.

- I am pretty comfortable judging Clash of Civilization debates.

- Framework is the job of the debaters. Epistemology first? Ontology? Sure, but why? Where does performance come into play – should I prioritize a performative disad above the “substance” of a position? Over all of the sheets of paper in the round? These are questions debaters must grapple with and preferably the earlier in the round the better.

- "Framework is how we frame our work" >>>>> "FrAmEwOrK mAkEs ThE gAmE wOrK"

-Presumption can be an option. In my estimation, the 2NR may go for Counterplan/Kritik while also giving the judge the option of the status quo. Call it “hypo-testing” or whatever but I believe a rational decision-making paradigm doesn’t doom me to make a single decision between two advocacies, especially when the current status of things is preferable to both (the net-benefit for a CP/linear DA and impact for a K). I don't know if I really “judge kick” for you, instead, the 2NR should explain an “even if” route to victory via presumption to allow the 2AR to respond.
“But what about when presumption flips Affirmative?” This is a claim that I wish would be established prior to the 2NR, but I know that's not gonna happen. I've definitely voted in favour of plenty of 2ARs that haven't said that in the 1AR. The only times I can envision this is when the 2NR is going all-in on a CP.

- Role of the Ballots ought to invariably allow the 1AC/1NC to be contestable and provide substantial ground to each team. Many teams will make their ROBs self-serving at best, or at worse, tautological. That's because there's a large contingency of teams that think the ROB is an advocacy statement. They are not. Even more teams conflate a ROB with a Role of the Judge instruction and I'm just now making my peace with dealing with that reality.
If the ROB fails to equally distribute ground, they are merely impact framing. A good ROB can effectively answer a lot of framework gripes regarding the Affirmative’s pronouncement of an unfalsifiable truth claim.

- Analytics that are logically consistent, well warranted, and answer the heart of any argument are weighed in high-esteem. This is especially true if it’s responsive to any combinations of bad argument/evidence.

- My threshold for theory is not particularly high. It’s what you justify, not necessarily what you do. I typically default to competing interpretations, this can be complicated by a team that is able to articulate what reasonability means in the context of the round, otherwise I feel like it's interventionist of me to decode what “reasonable” represents. The same is true to a lesser extent with the impacts as well. Rattling off “fairness and education” as loaded concepts that I should just know has a low threshold if the other team can explain the significance of a different voter or a standard that controls the internal link into your impact (also, if you do this: prepared to get impact turned).

I think theory should be strategic and I very much enjoy a good theory debate. Copious amounts of topicality and specification arguments are not strategic, it is desperate.

- I like conditionality probably more so than other judges. As a young’n I got away with a lot of, probably, abusive Negative strategies that relied on conditionality to the maximum (think “multiple worlds and presumption in the 2NR”) mostly because many teams were never particularly good at explaining why this was a problem. If you’re able to do so, great – just don’t expect me to do much of that work for you. I don’t find it particularly difficult for a 2AR to make an objection about how that is bad for debate, thus be warned 2NRs - it's a downhill effort for a 2AR.
Furthermore, I tend to believe the 1NC has the right to test the 1AC from multiple positions.
Thus, Framework along with Cap K or some other kritik is not a functional double turn. The 1NC doesn’t need to be ideologically consistent. However, I have been persuaded in several method debates that there is a performative disadvantage that can be levied against speech acts that are incongruent and self-defeating.

- Probability is the most crucial component of impact calculus with disadvantages. Tradeoffs ought to have a high risk of happening and that question often controls the direction of uniqueness while also accessing the severity of the impact (magnitude).

- Counterplan debates can often get tricky, particularly if they’re PICs. Maybe I’m too simplistic here, but I don’t understand why Affirmatives don’t sit on their solvency deficit claims more. Compartmentalizing why portions of the Affirmative are key can win rounds against CPs. I think this is especially true because I view the Counterplan’s ability to solve the Affirmative to be an opportunity cost with its competitiveness. Take advantage of this “double bind.”

- Case arguments are incredibly underutilized and the dirty little secret here is that I kind of like them. I’m not particularly sentimental for the “good ol’ days” where case debate was the only real option for Negatives (mostly because I was never alive in that era), but I have to admit that debates centred on case are kind of cute and make my chest feel all fuzzy with a nostalgia that I never experienced– kind of like when a frat boy wears a "Reagan/Bush '84" shirt...

KRITIKAL DEBATE

I know enough to know that kritiks are not monolithic. I am partial to topic-grounded kritiks and in all reality I find them to be part of a typical decision-making calculus. I tend to be more of a constructivist than a rationalist. Few things frustrate me more than teams who utilise a kritik/answer a kritik in a homogenizing fashion. Not every K requires the ballot as a tool, not every K looks to have an external impact either in the debate community or the world writ larger, not every K criticizes in the same fashion. I suggest teams find out what they are and stick to it, I also think teams should listen and be specifically responsive to the argument they hear rather than rely on a base notion of what the genre of argument implies. The best way to conceptualize these arguments is to think of “kritik” as a verb (to criticize) rather than a noun (a static demonstrative position).
It is no secret that I love many kritiks but deep in every K hack’s heart is a revered space that admires teams that cut through the noise and simply wave a big stick and impact turn things, unabashedly defending conventional thought. If you do this well there’s a good chance you can win my ballot. If pure agonism is not your preferred tactic, that’s fine but make sure your post-modern offense onto kritiks can be easily extrapolated into a 1AR in a fashion that makes sense.
In many ways, I believe there’s more tension between Identity and Post-Modernism teams than there are with either of them and Policy debaters. That being said, I think the Eurotrash K positions ought to proceed with caution against arguments centred on Identity – it may not be smart to contend that they ought to embrace their suffering or claim that they are responsible for a polemical construction of identity that replicates the violence they experience (don’t victim blame).

THOUGHTS ON COMPETITION

There’s a lot of talk about what is or isn’t competition and what competition ought to look like in specific types of debate – thus far I am not of the belief that different methods of debate require a different rubric for evaluation. While much discussion has been given to “Competition by Comparison” I very much subscribe to Competing Methodologies. What I’ve learned in having these conversations is that this convention means different things to different people and can change in different settings in front of different arguments. For me, I try to keep it consistent and compatible with an offense/defense heuristic: competing methodologies require an Affirmative focus where the Negative requires an independent reason to reject the Affirmative. In this sense, competition necessitates a link. This keeps artificial competition at bay via permutations, an affirmative right regardless of the presence of a plan text.

Permutations are merely tests of mutual exclusivity. They do not solve and they are not a shadowy third advocacy for me to evaluate. I naturally will view permutations more as a contestation of linkage – and thus, are terminal defense to a counterplan or kritik -- than a question of combining texts/advocacies into a solvency mechanism. If you characterize these as solvency mechanisms rather than a litmus test of exclusivity, you ought to anticipate offense to the permutation (and even theory objections to the permutation) to be weighed against your “net-benefits”. This is your warning to not be shocked if I'm extrapolating a much different theoretical understanding of a permutation if you go 5/6 minutes for it in the 2AR.
Even in method debates where a permutation contends both methods can work in tandem, there is no solvency – in these instances net-benefits function to shield you from links (the only true “net benefit” is the Affirmative). A possible exception to this scenario is “Perm do the Affirmative” where the 1AC subsumes the 1NC’s alternative; here there may be an offensive link turn to the K resulting in independent reasons to vote for the 1AC.

SHORTEST VERSION: THINGS I BELIEVE ABOUT DEBATE

_______________________________________________________

Lawful Good -----|----Neutral Good -----|----Chaotic Good

1AC Plan Texts, ----|----- Case Debate,------|----Performance Debate,

Open Debaters -----|----Novice Debaters----|----JV Debaters

_______________________________________________________

Lawful Neutral ---|---True Neutral------|---- Chaotic Neutral

Topicality -----------|----Counterplans ------|------Dispositionality

_______________________________________________________

Lawful Evil -------|----Neutral Evil ------|-----Chaotic Evil

Framework args ---|----Standard Nuke ----|----- Baudrillard

from 1996 that ----|---- War Disad

say no K's

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHORT VERSION:

You are prepping and don't have time to read everything, or interpret. So this is the stuff you most need to know if you don't know me :

1) I run The New School program. The New School is in the Northeast, around the corner from NYU where I actually work full time. (CEDA has Regions, not Districts. The NDT and the Hunger Games have Districts.) I care about things like novice and regional debate, and pretty much only coach for resource poor programs. You need to know this because it affects how I view your ETHOS on certain "who are we" arguments.

2) Email: vikdebate@gmail.com. Skip the rant below about want/need to be on chain.

3)SLOW THE HELL DOWN, especially ONLINE. I flow on paper. I need PEN TIME. I am not reading along with the doc unless the connection gets bad or I have serious misgivings.

4) Do what you need to do to make the tech work.

5) Do what you do in this activity. Seriously, especially in novice, or on a panel, you are not 100% adapting to me, so change how you debate those things a bit maybe, but not what you debate. To help with that:

6) Yes, my threshold for "is there gonna be a nuclear war" is WAY higher than it is for "what we talk about in the debate round going to affect us personally". I will vote on the wars, but I don't enjoy every debate about prolif in countries historically opposed to prolif. That isn't "realism" - that's hawk fetish porn. So if this IS you, you gotta do the internal link work, not read me 17 overly-lined down uniqueness cards.

7) I am more OFTEN in K rounds, but honestly I am more of a structural K person than a high theory person. Yes, debate is all simulacra now anyway, but racism and sexism - and the violence caused by them - ARE REAL WORLD. Your ability to talk about such things and how they relate to policies is probably one of your better portable skills for the modern world in this activity.

8) Performance good. Literally, I have 2 degrees in theater. Keep in mind that it means I am pretty well read on this as theory. All debate is performance. (Heck, life is performance, but you don't have time for that now...). My pet peeve as a coach is reading through all the paradigm that articulate performance and Kritikal as the same thing. It.Is.Not. Literally, it is Form vs. Content.

9) Winning Framework does not will a ballot. Winning Framework tells me how to prioritize or include or exclude arguments for my calculation of the ballot. T is NOT Framework (but for the record I err towards Education over Fairness, because this activity just ain't fair due to resource disparity, etc, so do the WORK to win on Fairness via in round trade offs, precedents, or models.)

10) Have fun. Debate can be stressful. Savor the community you can in current times.

PS: I am probably more flow focused than you think, BUT I still prefer the big picture. Tell me a story. It has to make sense for my ballot.

---------------------

Previous Version

The 2020 Preamble relevant to ONLINE DEBATE:

1) Bear with my tech for September for the first round of each day - I work across multiple universities and I am still sorting out going across 3 Zoom accounts, 5 emails accounts, and 2 Starfish accounts for any given thing. Working from home for 6 months combined my day-job stuff into my debate stuff, so I may occasionally have to remember to do a setting. This is like the worst version of a Reese's peanut butter cup.

2) Look, it would be great if I COULD see you as you debate. I am old - I flow what you say and I don't read along with the speech doc unless something bad is happening (bad things include potential connection issues in 2020, concerns over academic integrity/skipping words, and you don't actually do evidence comparison as a debater when weighing your cards and theirs). I don't anticipate changing that in the online debate world. But also, tech disparity and random internet gremlins are real things (that's why we need so many cats in the intertubes), so I ALSO understand if you tell me the camera is off for reasons. That's cool.

3) Because of connections and general practices - SLOW DOWN. CLARITY is super important. (Also, don't be a jerk to people with auditory accommodation needs as we do this). Trade your speed drills for some tongue twisters or something.

4) Recording as a back up is probably a necessary evil, but any use of the recording after a round that is shared to anyone else needs explicit - in writing, and can be revoked - permission of all parties present. PRACTICE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT. See ABAP statement on online debate practices.

5) I have never wanted to be on the email chain/what-not; however, I SHOULD* be on the chain/what-not. Note the critical ability to distinguish these two things, and the relevance of should to the fundamental nature of this activity. Email for this purpose: vikdebate@gmail.com .

(Do not try to actually contact me with this address - it’s just how I prevent the inevitable electronically transmitted cyber infection from affecting me down the road, because contrary to popular belief, I do understand disads, I just have actual probability/internal link threshold standards.)

((And seriously Tabroom, what the F***? First you shill for the CIA, and now you want to edit the words because "children" who regularly talk about mass deaths might see some words I guarantee you then know already? I was an actual classroom teacher....debate should not be part of the Nanny State. Also this is NEW, because the word A****** used to be in my paradigm in reference to not being one towards people who ask for accessibility accommodations. ARRGGHHH!!!))

-------

Things I am cool with:

Tell met the story

Critical Args

Critical Lit (structural criticisms are more my jam)

Performative strategies - especially if we get creative with the 20-21 format options.

CP fun times and clever intersections of theory

A text. Preferable a well written text. Unless there are no texts.

Not half-assing going for theory

Case debate

Reasonability

You do you

Latin used in context for specific foreign policy conditions.

Teaching Assurance/Deterrence with cats.

Things that go over less well:

Blippy theory

Accidentally sucking your own limited time by unstrategic or functionally silly theory

Critical lit (high theory … yes, I know I only have myself to blame, so no penalty if this is your jelly, just more explanation)

Multiple contradictory conditional neg args

A never ending series of non existent nuclear wars that I am supposed to determine the highest and fastest probability of happening (so many other people to blame). You MAY compare impacts as equal to "x number of gender reveal parties".

Not having your damn tags with the ev in the speech doc. Seriously.

As a general note: Winning framework does not necessarily win you a debate - it merely prioritizes or determines the relevancy of arguments in rounds happening on different levels of debate. Which means, the distinction between policy or critical or performative is a false divide. If you are going to invoke a clash of civilizations mentality there should be a really cool video game analogy or at least someone saying “Release the Kraken”. A critical aff is not necessarily non Topical - this is actually in both the Topic Paper for alliances/commitments and a set of questions I asked at the topic meeting (because CROSS EX IS A PORTABLE SKILL). Make smarter framework arguments here.

Don't make the debate harder for yourself.

Try to have fun and savor the moment.

--------------

*** *** ***

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*Judges should be on the chain/what-not for two reasons: 1)as intelligence gathering for their own squad and 2) to expedite in round decision making. My decisions go faster than most panels I’m on when I am the one using prep time to read through the critical extended cards BEFORE the end of the debate. I almost never have the docs open AS the debaters are reading them because I limit my flow to what you SAY. (This also means I don’t read along for clipping … because I am far more interested in if you are a) comprehensible and b) have a grammatical sentence in some poor overhighlighted crap.) Most importantly, you should be doing the evidence comparisons verbally somehow, not relying on me to compare cards after the debate somehow. If I wanted to do any of that, I would have stayed a high school English teacher and assigned way more research papers.

Please add me on the email chain: thomasjtk13@gmail.com

Updated: 11/15/23

Hi y'all,

I've debated for NYU since my first year here, as a Novice, JV, and Open debater now. I mostly ran soft-left/policy aff but started to do more K later on in my college career--but I've gone for all sorta thing on the neg. Now as the president I also spent quite some time judging and mentoring Novice debaters, which is arguably my favorite division--this is how the activity gets promoted to more people, and, imo, is also the stage when a debater really operates not as much on habits and more on learning and thinking.

2023 and thoughts on the resolution

I have written aff in the past and appreciate the hard work any student put into researching and coming up with an idea of their own. I also just enjoy reading different literature used for a new aff in general. Obviously there's no issues if you are just running NFU etc, but either way I will always make sure I understand your aff and judge it on the basis of how well you incorporate it to the debate/whether it solves/whether it is a valid argument under the rules.

I think compared to the past few years, I have started to shift my focus from debating to running the team and promote the activity to more students here, so I will have to admit my grasp on the topics might not be enough to get your aff at first. I will appreciate a well-organized story, which to me is the most powerful tool you have at your disposal.

General things:

1. Please point it out for me why you should win, this applies to dropped argument, offense, off-case in general etc:

If your opponent drops an off case, I will give you the right to spin it. But you have to actually do the spinning. Tell me the fact they drop somethingAND WHY IT MATTERS. Explain to me what that means to your argument, dropping something only mean as much as you explain it to the advantage to your burden.

2. I don't have have preference for K, Policy, or Clash. But jargon and high theory stuff don't mean much to me unless you explain it:

Consistent with what I said about affs, I will try my best to understand you, but only to the extent of how coherent your story/argument is.

3. Be clear

That's it. I will probably gives you some leeway for 1AC etc but for rebuttal, if you I can't catch what you are saying. There's nothing I can do to help. If you know it's a winning hand, please slow down and explain it to me or it will be forever lost in the air.

Aff:

Anything goes for me. But at the end of the round, it's whether you have a coherent story and your impact that matters. Tell me where to vote and I will go there if the argument is valid.

Neg:

It's a pleasure to judge and compare different well thought out analytics. Obviously that doesn't happen every round, but if you do, I will also give high speaks for that. I vote on anything.

DAs:

Love! But:

1. I can't think of many reasons why several cards all saying the same thing is going to be helpful. I am not gonna think less of your argument but I think it's a waste of time to say China bad with 10 cards that all share the same reasoning.
2. Internal link chain matters the most to me.
3. Rule of thumb: make sure your story is consistent and complete throughout the round.

CPs:

As much as I love and enjoy listening to all affs. Please provide me with a clear net benefit no matter where it comes from.

Ks:

Like I said earlier, I enjoy reading the type of literature people use for their argument, especially for Ks. "The opponents are X , use Y, do Z" is not a sufficient link story, please elaborate. Like alt, but would appreciate the similar work you would've done for a CP.

FWK:

Would vote on it. I enjoy the activity more as a game the more I debate. Tell me why you win and why it's actually beneficial to run your thing, to debate with a non-topical aff, to not just view our debate a place to compare plans. Smart debaters should be rewarded.

T:

Would vote on it, but do spend time on it if you end up going for T. If not, I think it's rarely a better option than substance.

Also, this applies to anything: "fairness" doesn't really mean much to me alone. Please either quantify the impact, tell me how exactly is something bad for education, or just use it as a link to a broader impact.

Theory:

Would vote on it, but similar to T, please spend as much time as you can if you end up going for it.

MISC:

1. I will still make a decision and will respect the time and effort you put in. But I'd be happier if the debate just becomes a 1 hour block reciting session :(
2. Personal pet peeve, but especially during rebuttal, I enjoy powerful speech that make good use of the tempo, difference in tones, well-told story, and clear/organized reasonings. It's just so much more pleasant than spreading and screaming.

Background/Top-Level:

He/him/his

I am beginning to judge more events other than just policy but I have almost zero experience with other forms of debate.

Please include me on the email chain: joshlamet@gmail.com. Everyone gets plus .1 speaks if I'm not asked to be put on, and I'm just automatically put on the chain. Ask me any questions about my paradigm in person or via email, although I try to update it regularly with the most important stuff.

School conflicts: Minnesota, Glenbrook North, Como Park

I don't care what you read as long as you convince me to vote for you, I will.

Stuff related to online debating:

Don't delete analytics from the speech doc, please. I'll probably dock your speaks if I remember to. Online debate is harder to flow than in-person so it's good practice if you want me to catch everything you're saying.

Please slow down a little (especially on T and theory*) because the number of arguments I flow is rarely equal to the number of arguments the speaker actually makes, and those numbers will be much closer to each other if everyone prioritizes clarity and slowing down a bit. Don't just read this and think you're fine. Slow down, please. I know half of all judges ever have something like this in their paradigm but I'm a slower flow than average because I flow on paper.

Sliders:

Policy------------------x-------------------K

Read a plan-------------------------------x---------Do whatever (probably at least sorta related to the topic)

Tech--------------x----------------------------Truth -- I hate myself for it, but I am kind of a truth-orientated judge in that I really don't want to vote for silly args, and the worse an arg is, the more leeway I give to answering it

Tricks---------------------------x--------------Clash

Theory-------------------------------------x--------- Substance -- condo is really the only theory arg that gets to the level of "reject the team", I simply feel that most other theory args are reasons to reject the arg, not the team. Unless the negative goes for the CP/K to which the theory applies in the 2nr, it's a tough sell for me to vote on, "They read [insert abusive off-case position], they should lose".

Conditionality good--------x---------------------Conditionality bad -- this being said, I would much rather see 4-6 good off, than a 7+ mix of good and bad

States CP good (including uniformity)-----------x----------------------50 state fiat is bad

Always VTL----------------x---------------------Never VTL

Impact turn (*almost) everything-x-----------------------------I like boring debate -- to add to this, I'm a huge sap for impact calc and specifically rebuttals that provide a detailed narrative of the impacts of the debate and how they interact with the other team's. Impact comparison and impact turns are often the deciding factors for me in close debates

*Almost meaning I'll vote on warming good, death good, etc. but not on args like racism good or ableism good. Why don't people read death good anymore? I am an edgy teenager at heart and could be convinced the human race should go extinct.

Limits---------------x-------------------------------Aff Ground

Process CP's are cheating----------------------x---------------Best fall-back 2nr option is a cheating, plan-stealing CP

Lit determines legitimacy-------x-----------------------Exclude all suspect CPs

Yes judge kick the CP--x-------------------------------------------Judge kick is abusive -- as long as the 2nr says to kick the CP, I'm gonna kick it and just analyze the world of the squo vs the aff and I'm pretty sure there's nothing the aff can really do if condo bad isn't a thing in the round. Heck, I judged a debate where the CP was extended for 30 seconds and not kicked but I still voted neg because the neg won a large risk of a case turn. What I'm saying, is that when you are aff and the neg goes for more than just the CP with an internal NB, beating the CP doesn't equate to winning the debate outright

Presumption----------x--------------------------Never votes on presumption

"Insert this rehighlighting"---------------------x--I only read what you read

I flow on my computer ---------------------------------------x I'm gonna need to borrow some paper

I try to give out speaker points that are representative of how well you performed in the round compared to the tournament as a whole. I try to follow the process detailed here, but I often find myself handing out speaks sort of indiscriminately. Getting good speaks from me includes being respectful and making good choices in the rebuttals (smart kickouts, concessions, and flow coverage).

Clash! I like judging debates where the arguments/positions evolve about one another as opposed to simply in vacuums.

Don't be sloppy with sources.

Random things I am not a fan of: Excessive cross-applications, not doing LBL, email/tech issues, making my decision harder than it should be, and 2ACs and 1ARs that don't extend case impacts (even when they're dropped).

T-USFG/FW:

Fairness is an impact----------x-------------------Fairness is only an internal link -- My threshold is usually how close your aff is to the topic in the abstract, i.e. econ inequality and nukes. I do feel like in the end the main goal of doing debate is to win. The activity serves a ton of other purposes but at the end of each debate, one team wins, and one team loses. This doesn't mean that I think reading a planless aff is unfair and can be convinced that a "fair" debate produces something bad, but it's going to be very hard to convince me that debate is not a game.

Topic education is decent for an education impact but policymaking and policy education are meh. Critical thinking skills can also be extracted from debate and critical skills about calling out state action and for revolution planning.

If you don't read a written-out advocacy statement: Impact turn framework---------x---------------------------Procedural

Debate and life aren't synonymous but I understand that many of your lives revolve heavily around debate, so I will respect any arg you go for as long as you make smart arguments to support it.

I have coached and judged college debate for almost 15 years, and have judged hundreds (if not over 1000) intercollegiate policy debates in all formats: CEDA/NDT, NFA-LD, BP/Worlds, IPDA, and NPDA. I think all forms of debate have merit. I will generally judge a debate consistent with the norms and goals of the particular format.

You do not need to “adapt” to me. I will “adapt” to you. That is my role as an educator, and being an educator is the primary role of a judge / critic in intercollegiate debate.

You work hard doing this. You give up your weekends and substantial portions of your life to participate in this activity. It is my role to make sure you get rewarded, educationally, for that. Debate should be fun, and educational, and rewarding. I will do my best to make sure it is all those things.

I have judged all kinds of debates in all kinds of frameworks and voted for all kinds of arguments. I've voted for and against my own political and philosophical beliefs.

My general assumptions are: policy, critical, performance, and procedural debate are of roughly equal value.

I love a good policy debate. I love a good critical debate. I love a good performance debate. I especially love when the debaters agree on a style and go all in on it. Two policy teams running “5-off” and going fast and engaging in good issue selection in rebuttals is a beautiful thing. Seeking someone run a K, really well, and knowing the critical literature inside and out, is a beautiful thing. Judging in a magnificent “performance” debate, it a beautiful thing. Do what you do. Do it well. Do it with passion. Teach me something. Teach your opponent something. Teach yourself something.

I can't be "objective" or neutral about intentionally hostile and exclusionary speech acts (classism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism etc.)

I enjoy good theory and procedural debates. In competitive debate, I prefer competing interpretations and tend to believe conditionality is good. You can convince me otherwise.

T:Generally, T is a time suck. I have voted on T many times, however, if handled well or poorly. I have also voted for many “non-topical” and performance Affs. I do not require a debater to “role play” the USFG. An aff that does not want to debate in a traditional policy format can do so, the Neg must then convince me that this is not part of the Aff’s right to define, etc. It’s easier to win T if you can show in-round abuse than hypothetical abuse, although I’ve voted on both. In theory, I can be convinced T is a “reverse voter” and would vote on this in a rare case, when properly argued by one side and poorly rebutted by the other. Although if you are going for this, you are probably desperate on the flow everywhere else.

Aff, you needn’t necessarily have a plan (although your opponents might convince me otherwise) but you need a clear statement of advocacy. Neg, your advocacy must be a reason to reject the affirmative advocacy.

CP: You can have more than one (LD rules notwithstanding) although if are you doing this, then something odd is happening in the round. I will default to conditionality on CP’s unless convinced otherwise.

A “perm” is a test of competition, and not part of affirmative advocacy. I tend to default to the position that CP’s must be competitive.

I view the resolution an initial division of ground, and not the matter to be “proved.” Thus, I default to the position that PICS are OK. As with all theory, however, the debater can convince me otherwise and I have voted Aff on PICs bad before.

K: A K is not required to have an ALT, but certainly can have one. If there is no ALT, however, there needs to be a reason to vote for K, set up as a voting issue (usually through a framework). If you run a K, you need to know the literature – don’t run Ks you don’t understand. I do enjoy reading and listening to good discussions of critical literature.

Debated for Winston Churchill High School (TX). Debated at Texas. Camps worked at: VBI, Baylor, UTNIF.

Email: jacoblugo101@gmail.com

Please have the email chain ready as soon as both opponents meet before the round.

A few thoughts:

• I consider my role in the debate is to decide who did the better debating.
• I prefer for there to not be any room in the debate to input my own opinions. Prefer debates to be as clean and explicit as possible to make the most objective decision.
• I'll listen to most any type of argument. Not a fan of vacuous theory arguments or paragraphs of spikes/preempts (most pertinent to LD).
• I tend to/prefer to flow on paper. Take that into consideration. If you see me flowing on my computer, be mindful when you are transitioning between arguments.
• I flow what you say. Not looking at the doc during speeches unless I have absolutely no idea what you are saying (at which point I will stop flowing and stare at you until you notice). I read the docs between speeches/during CX/after the round.
• Please slow down during analytics. For some reason people tend to read through these faster and faster every year.
• I'm very expressive. My face is a good indicator of where the debate is going.
• If I'm absolutely unsure of what is going on/no arguments have been made, I'm most likely going to err neg.
• I'm always listening.
• Speaker points: I like to be entertained. I care about pathos. I enjoy creative and strategic argumentation. I generously doc speaks if I feel that you are being unnecessarily rude.

The briefest background info ever:

2A at Binghamton - I did a lot of K debate in high school - I do a lot of K debate now.

1- K, phil

2- policy/LARP

3/strike- theory/tricks

Put me on the email chain

cmarin1@binghamton.edu

Do whatever you want* just tell me how to vote, what to vote on, and why I should vote on it

* Misc things that are not up for debate

- problematic behavior/rhetoric/language/vibes means your speaks= the number of hours of sleep I got last night

- I will flow shared speeches, please do not feed lines to your partner, just say them yourself

- If you're reading Schmitt or Heidegger your speaks are capped at 26 regardless of whether or not you win

- Brownie points in the form of speaks for a well-executed phil strat in any event (that includes util if you do it right)

- if you spread your unsent analytics at card speed im only going to evaluate what i was able to flow so be careful

My default procedure for evaluating a debate -

*I believe very strongly that the three points under this heading are up for debate - these are just defaults*

1. Who am I, what is the round, what is the ballot and what can it do? Absent arguments that tell me otherwise:

- I am a college debater majoring in linguistics and psychology, I care a lot more about the activity than policymaking

- The round is a competition predicated on your ability to persuade me to vote for you

2. What are the roles/burdens of the aff and the neg

- I don't care if the aff reads a plan, defends a change from the status quo, makes no arguments at all, you just have to explain why it means I should vote aff

- the negs job is to convince me to vote neg

3. Who solves which impacts and how do I evaluate/compare them?

- I start my evaluation with probability of solvency

- discourse/education matter (ie. I would rather you just go for liberalism good than argue that your reps aren't important)

more detailed takes for people who want them:

K's:

I have probably read your lit base, if I haven't I'm equally excited to hear it

Do something fun and exciting, do something we've all seen before, just do it well and enjoy doing it. It's your round, I'm just living in it

There are probably no perms in a methods debate, but you still have to win that

DAs:

Love them (and never get to judge them lmao)

Don't be afraid to go for a DA and case just don't forget presumption

CPs:

Solvency advocate theory is probably true

These are a solid and underutilized strategy against k affs

Theory/T:

think of this as like a break glass in case of emergency option in front of me

Disclosure theory means I need screenshots with a timestamp

if you're a circuit debater and your opponent has no idea what's going on I will deck your speaks

affs

I'm a 2a, I've read all kinds of affs.

K aff's- literally do whatever you want. I don't care if you mention the topic. I don't care if you have a c/i on fw.

I will vote for soft left affs, and honestly, I miss them, probability>magnitude is very winnable in front of me.

Policy affs- please keep your internal link chains alive ???? - tell me how the aff solves your extinction scenario

I am a former Army West Point Debater, 2016 JV/Novice National Champion, 2017 and 2018 NDT Participant, and three-time CEDA DoubleOcta Finalist.

I graduated from West Point in 2019 and have stayed connected to the community.

I will listen to Ks or Policy; just make sure it's warranted. Ultimately, my flow will determine who wins the round, so being efficient and orderly would be beneficial. I flow cross-ex. I enjoy, in the last rebuttals, each side telling me what to look for when determining who wins the round in the overview.

I enjoy good K debates, as I am a K debater! I am very familiar with black studies.

With that being said, whether or not it comes down to methodology or framework debates, it is up to the debaters to explain their evidence.

I won't connect the arguments for you and I expect to hear great articulations to win my ballot. Impact Calculus is always good.

I may or may not vote on T; depends on the answered and unanswered questions.

Speaker Points vary starting at 25. Not in favor of jerks, love comedy. PLEASE make me laugh :)

If you really want me to hear something you say, slow down and tell me so I can flow it. Remember, slow and steady can win races too.

Ks:

ROB is crucial. It is a framing question of how I should view the round. Explain your link story, how it turns the aff, how your alt functions (EXPLAIN your alt-give me something to weigh with the aff and its impacts of the aff), and how it interacts with the aff. If not, i'll have to vote on "perm solves, case outweighs" and other aff solvency claims. For aff, explain what the perm is and what is wrong with framework or whatever. Both sides: Make sure to interact with the other team's evidence. NOT generic blocks.

CPs:

Counterplans are okay. AFF should make any theory arguments that apply.

DAs/Case:

Disads should apply to the AFF. If it is a tricky disad, explain it. Trickiness does not win rounds if I don't understand. Always try to answer case.

Performance/Non-Traditional Debate:

You should explain why your performance is important, how it relates to debate, the resolution, the other team, and me. Don't just dance, sing, play tracks, or whatever and expect me to vote for you.

Theory:

Make your arguments as needed.

Joe Patrice

USMA

Paperless Policy:I'm at joepatrice@gmail.com. Or I can do the situational dropbox thing. Whatever. Regale me with your evidence. I don't read it during the round, I just want it all for post-round evaluation and caselist obligations. I still flow based on what you SAY so don't cut corners on clarity just because I have your speech docs in my inbox.

Flowing: Seriously, I’m not reading your evidence during your speech. Why doesn’t anyone ever trust me on this? Did I do something in a past life that makes debaters pathologically incapable of believing me? Anyway, if you’re not articulating your distinct arguments, you’re taking your chances that I’m not getting what you’re trying to put out there. I consider debate to be a contest between teams to communicate to me what should be on my flow and where, so orient your argumentation accordingly.

Everything Else: I characterize myself as a critic of argument, which is the pretentiousway of saying that I listen to everything, but that, all else equal, certain things are more compelling than others.

NOTE: Do not necessarily interpret any of my preferences as bans on any kind of arguments, or even guides to how to select down. It's a threshold of believability issue.

Policy Debates: Compare your impacts, weigh them, and tell me a story of the world of voting Aff vs. voting Neg. I’ll choose the one that’s comparatively advantageous.

I prefer fewer positions withlonger evidence, clearer scenarios, and more analysis of impact probability ratherthan harping on the massive scale of the impacts. If I hear that a slight increase in spending collapses the world economy triggering a nuclear war, you may as well tell me aliens are invading. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll vote on it, but I’ll die a little inside and there’s frighteningly little of my soul left to kill – I’m a lawyer.

I’m not particularly excited about the world of flinging 4 CPs at the Aff and just playing the coverage game. It’s just not the makings of a compelling debate, you know? Pick a lane! And it doesn’t seem especially cool on a topic featuring legal scholars proposing almost infinite specific counter-proposals to research. I’ve got no preferences on CP/Perm theory arguments other than it bugs me that people don't feel compelled to explain the abuse story like they would on T. I do not think the blip "the Perm is severance" is enough to get the job done and if I’m going to vote on it, I’d really prefer if, before the round is over, I can comfortably explain why it severs and preferably a reason why that is uniquely disadvantageous. But given that caveat, I'm more than willing to vote on these args because people all too often don't answer them well enough, probably because they don't know how to flow anymore. NOTICE A TREND!

In other words, if you're going the policy route, you’ll make me so happy teeing off with specific arguments tied to the real academic/policy debate over the subject.

And if you’re reading this harsh criticism of policy debate with a smug look on your face, slow your roll there Kdebater...

Kritik Debates: Kritiks challenge the advocacy of the other team in salient ways that could be lost in a pure utilitarian analysis. Issues of exclusion and oppression ingrained in the heart of a policy proposal or the representations of the other team can be called out with kritiks ranging from simple “-ism” args to a postmodern cavalcade.

It is NOT an excuse to say random pomo garbage that sounds cool but doesn’t bear upon what’s happening in the round. Esoteric ramblings from some dead French or German thinker can – and often do – have as little to do with the debate round as the hypothetical global nuclear wars that have killed us a million times over in this activity. Look, I actually KNOW what most of that garbage means, but that's not a reason for you to not make sense. Make the K relevant to the specific policy/issue discussion we’re having and I’ll be very happy.

Again, I vote on this stuff, but see above about killing me inside.

When it comes to K/Performance Affs, I’m pretty open to however you justify the Aff (metaphorically, as activism, as some kind of parable), so long as deep down you’re advocating that all things equal, “giving rights or duties to the things listed in the topic would be good.” Faint in the direction of the topic and you’re in good shape.

With that caveat, if you outright refuse to "affirm" anything in the "topic," that's all well and good, just be a really good T/Framework debater. I'll vote for a compelling justification — I’ve recently been told that according to Tabroom, I’m almost exactly .500 in K v. Framework debates over the last few years. I don’t know if that’s true, but it sounds right. Frankly, I'd rather hear "we can't be Aff because the resolution is broken and we'll win the T/Framework debate" than some squirrely "we're not topical, but kind of topical, but really not" thing.

But who am I to judge! Oh right... I'm the judge. Kinda my job.

An honest pet peeve (that I can be talked out of, round-by-round) is that I don't think “performance” means acting out the argument in-round. For example, Dadaism is an argument, not a reason to answer every question with “Fishbulbs!" You job is to sell me that people answering questions with “Fishbulbs” would be good – if you’re doing it in-round you’ve skipped the foundational part.

Topicality: I feel like I've told enough people in enough rounds about this that I'm comfortable putting it here: if you're running this Scalia evidence as a definition of "vest" despite the fact that it is EXPLICITLY not about rights and duties and solely about Article II power or if you're running the "rights are 15 things" from a definition about how the Indian legal system makes distinctions between constitutional rights and statutory legal rights, you're engaged in an act of such intellectual dishonesty that I think I'm willing to vote on that alone if the other team mentions it.

Every time you steal prep time will also kill me a little more inside. But you’re going to do it anyway.

Joe Patten - I make it a point to judge the round based on the evidence provided by both teams, and do not make arguments for teams - in other words, I will vote for teams even if I don't personally agree with their arguments.  I can judge speed, but tend to give higher speaks for debaters who speak clearly.

Kathryn Rubino
USMA
Put me on the chain: kathrynrubino@gmail.com

I dislike intervening in debate rounds. I would much rather apply the criteria the debaters supply and work things out that way. As a result the final rebuttals should provide me with a clean story and a weighing mechanism. If only one side provides this I will default to their standards. If neither side does this, I’ll use my own opinions and evaluations of the round.

Simply put the debate is about impacts- weigh them, their likelihood and magnitude and we’re doing fine.

I think it is the debater’s responsibility to explain the analysis of their cards, particularly on complex positions. However, I recognize the time constraints in a round and will read cards that receive a prominent place in rebuttals. But I do not like to read piles of cards and being forced to apply my analysis to them. As a side note, I rarely flow author names so don’t just extend the author’s name- also be clear to which argument the card applies to.

I’ll listen to whatever people want to say- but you should probably know my dispositions ahead of time. Be warned however, I have voted against my preferences many times and anticipate doing it again in the future.

I like kritik/advocacy debate. That being said, I do not have a knee-jerk reaction when I hear them. Part of what makes kritiks interesting is the variety and depth of responses available. To get my vote here I generally need a clear story on the link and implication levels.

I enjoy framework debates- debating about debate is fun- and as a bonus I don’t think there are any right or wrong answers- just arguments that can be made.

I rejoice the return of topicality! And I have no problem voting on topicality, even if I don’t agree with a particular interpretation, but I do think a T story needs to be clear and technically proficient.

DAs are great, and the more case specific the better. Make sure you have a clear story and try to create distinctions between multiple end of the world scenarios if that's your thing.

I don’t mind listening to PICs or other interesting CPs, and I often feel they’re good way to test the validity of a plan. However, I am open to theoretical debate here and I’m willing to vote on it.

I will vote on the easy way out of a round- I don’t try to divine the ultimate truth of what the debaters are saying. I’m just adjudicating a game- a fun game that can teach stuff and be pretty sweet- but still a game. So enjoy your round, do your job and I will too.

- Please add me to the e-mail chain - sabcsaenger@gmail.com

- I'm open to hear and vote on any argument as long as it's presented clearly and carried throughout the round.

- Please speak clearly, clarity over speed.

- Impact Calc - tell me why you should win.

- Have fun!

Hi, I'm Jeremy. I did policy debate in high school and now in college..

Some thoughts, not necessarily in any order:

--the 2nr/2ar should write my ballot. that requires judge instruction surrounding key framing questions and how those framing questions implicate my evaluation of the rest of the debate. the best rebuttal probably wins a framing arg at the top and then goes down the flow to apply it. Recently i've been persuaded by role of the judge arguments because they provide me with a epistemic/ethical position from which to adjudicate arguments on the flow. If you want me to do work for you in my decision, this is how, you just need to implicate it.

--If ur a 2n, probably don’t drop case. if you’re a 2a, punish the 2n for dropping case.

--hypothetical/universal models of debate probably don’t exist in so far as my ballot can not fiat them into existence, there is just the specific debate under adjudication and real existing debate practices within the concrete totality of the activity - whether that is true or not is ultimately up for y’all to prove/disprove - that means that in round abuse tends to be more persuasive than potential abuse because it means ur impact exists rather than being hypothetical

--The same logic folds true for other impact analysis. I tend to think that institutions/systems/entities, etc. have historical existence (for instance, "historical capitalism") which binds their coming-into-Being (past) to their Being (present). That is to say that violence isn't just an ethical choice in a vacuum, but something that accumulates through the reproduction of its existence over time and through space. that means that hypothetical impacts are probably less important than real-existing impacts since the future existence of hypothetical impacts is not certain and/or necessary. That being said, if you win your internal link chain is true, that the hypothetical impact outweighs, and that you solve it, i probably will vote for you absent some tricky framing argument you drop.

Topicality

• I like these debates. i don't judge a ton of them though, especially not on this topic.
• Fairness is probably the best impact if you're reading T, but you should have inroads/internal link turns on clash/edu because i'm willing to be persuaded that the inclusion of debatably (un)topical aff into the activity is good because it provides a unique type of education not accessed by existing affirmatives
• the current college topic has made me believe in subsets (do with that what you will)

Framework vs K affs

• hypothetical/universal models of debate probably don’t exist in so far as my ballot can not fiat them into existence, there is just the specific debate under adjudication and real existing debate practices within the concrete totality of the activity - whether that is true or not is ultimately up for y’all to prove/disprove - that means that in round abuse tends to be more persuasive than potential abuse because it means ur impact exists rather than being hypothetical
• I tend to think that FW is chosen ground vs many k affs unless its a new aff because many teams get by fine without reading fw
• Fairness is probably an impact, but its not necessarily the most important impact and is often just an internal link to other things (clash/education/etc.)
• The biggest issues that i have with 2nrs that go for fw is a) the lack of an external impact (people quit, debate dies - participation has decreased over the years, explain that impact flows ur way and how you solve it) and b) not explaining why debate is a valuable activity that should be preserved (this is where things like education, skills, and fun often become terminal impacts to the internal link of education) c) lack of defense (SSD or TVA) that absorbs the educational net benefits of the aff
• The biggest issue that i have with 2ars responding to fw is insufficient impact calculus - i will probably let you weigh ur aff's theory of power/understanding of the world vs fw, but you have to explain you impacts on the level of the activity and contextualize that as offense vs their reading of fw - does FW, particularly the invocation of procedural norms, insulate debate from a critique of its ideology? Are the content-neutral education/skills produced by their content agnostic model good?
• I don't really care whether you go for a C/I or an impact turn, but a mix of the two can be good i.e. a straight impact turn might leave you without defense, whereas a C/I means your vulnerable to the normative impacts of theory debates. I think that if you isolate a critique of the outcomes of their model, then provide an alternative model, you're probably in a good place.

K v K Debates

• Affs probably get a perm, theoretically (if the 1nr is 5 min of perm theory that would be pretty devastating) but whether the perm solves the links is up for debate.
• A good 2ar either goes for the perm with case, link turns, and alt DAs as Net benefits OR goes for case outweighs with a disad to the alternative
• A good 2nr has an impact which outweighs the aff with either an alt that resolves the aff impacts OR presumption
• you can probably win presumption with me in the back. I used to go for baudrillard a lot

DA/CP

I don't judge these debates very often and thus don't have any specific thoughts that aren't captured by stuff i said above. just win the flow.

e-mail chain: afroditeoshun@gmail.com

Hey, I’m Eli! Binghamton University (Bing TC)

Personal thoughts (on debate): Debate is legit a business. To debate is work. Like yes, enjoy the activity, but after a certain point what is the plan for how you interact with this space (and especially your arguments)?

That said, I do not have the capacity to busy myself with argumentation that is a waste (meaning it lacks intention, a goal, and/or a purpose). I'm deeply intuitive and clock things with ease.

Let me not feel about your arguments how Grace Jones felt about meeting Lady Gaga:

https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/grace-jones-on-meeting-lady-gaga-i-just-didnt-feel-a-soul-2015510/

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For PF: you can read this paradigm to understand the framework I will evaluate arguments, but the threshold is lower (except for everything I wrote after the Theory section). Do you, have fun. I don't particularly care.

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Top of the line: I like ethos. I vote for the team who best articulates a politic that shows an understanding of the world beyond technicalities and jargon.

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Speed: If I yell clear twice, more than likely I will default to what I’ve heard and understood. So, if it comes down to the flow, please make sure I understand the important points. For your sake, not mine.

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Policy Affs- I need a clear framework for how I am to evaluate the plan (and round) beyond a reactionary response to the negative. I also require a clear link story to the impact(s), and how the plan actualizes a politic to secure a resolution to the harms of the 1AC.

In many words, block out for T. That seems to be a lot of policy teams' weakness when Affirmative.

T/Framework: I think procedurals can be a proper way to contest the aff's methodology and solvency mechanism. That depends on nuance and the way it is read. So, T-USFG: that’s fine, but you're not gonna go far if the block is just surface level on questions of YOUR wants.

CPs: I’m pretty neutral on them. Please just remember to have a net benefit (whether it’s internal or a DA).

DAs: Again, also pretty neutral. In order to justify a win with the DA, I require a very clear and concise link story as well as impact comparison to justify the DA as a takeout to Aff solvency. Like, why is it important? Many times I see DAs be ran and I'm just like... this feels like a huge FYI and still don't know why I should care (judge instruction)...

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The K-

Aff: Let the aff be in discussion of the topic. If not, I need instruction as to why I should care. I feel like that's my entire paradigm: why should I care... how should I evaluate the round...?

Neg: I think it’s important for content and form to be aligned. I require strong judge instruction because I refuse to do any more labor than I need to. This applies to Affs as well, but I specified here as the Neg has the burden of rejoinder. Meaning y'all have to win an actual DA to the Aff and/or an outweigh claim.

POMO: I require an advocacy that could easily be materialized or understood in a way that I can intuitively see it solving for the impacts. Examples and analogies would be best.

"Identity": to win my ballot, you have to win your Theory of Power and that your method best alleviates the violence that incurs from power (as opposed to being an 8/9-minute FYI). I'm familiar with many and live in the intersections of many. Black Fem args have my heart tho

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Performance: Your stylistic choice in itself is also a critique. Be strategic and use your 1AC/1NC to leverage offense throughout the round.

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Theory: No one reads it properly for me. Divert from only reading unspecified shells. Apply it to the actual performances of the opposing team, so that I can evaluate the importance of this voter. Clear articulation (and extension) of the abuse story is key.

/

Any rhetoric that defaults to antiblackness (yes that includes misogynoir), queer/trans-phobia, ableism, etc- I have the complete right to drop you and end the round. I do not care. Auto-loss.

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I live for a good ki ki, a roast, a gag. So, gag me and I will give a boost to your speaks.

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Anything more than 5 off, you're clicking... but you're clicking down (iykyk).

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I (still) flow on paper.

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Add on to previous: I do not flow from the doc, but from speech. Clarity benefits you.

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I vote fast because I am actively thinking about the round. My written RFD will be short, but the verbal RFD will be plentiful. Take notes and ask questions.

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I cuss, but only to emphasize certain points. That said, with Novs/JV I'll watch my mouth but varsity? I view y'all as growing academic peers and therefore will speak to you as such. Do not be surprised if I say a curse here or there, it is what it is.

Please be respectful in round, as this is a learning environment for all :)

Please time yourself.

Remember to not only extend your impacts throughout the round, but also tell me why they matter.

And lastly, have fun :)