New 2024:
email chain: bosch.e2010 (gmail)

Truncated version if you're reading this before a round and I'm your judge:
- I flow on paper - please adapt to this. Give me a little pen time when you transition from card-to-card or arg-to-arg and also consider that I have to flip sheets of paper between arguments. If I'm not flowing every card during the 1AC / 1NC, it's because I'm reading the evidence with you - not because I'm not paying attention.

- I have been involved in policy debate in some fashion since 2006, and I have been coaching college policy debate since 2014. I've coached at KU, Concordia, and now Samford. I have coached every argument style and I have little preference for how you approach the debate. I just want everyone to make smart arguments and debate the speeches as given / the flow - not competing speech docs.

- I am an expressive judge. If you pay attention to my non-verbal communication during your speeches and cross-x, you will probably figure out how I'm vibing with your arguments. I don't try to control my face when I judge because I believe, at its core, debate is about persuasion and communication - and persuasion is about figuring out how to convince your audience (your judge) that you are correct - and non-verbal communication is a component of the communication process.

- I worked on grid and climate policy for several years in the real world - do with that what you will.

- I will not evaluate arguments being made about things that happened external to the round I am judging. I don't know any of you, you don't know me, and it is not my burden nor is it fair to ask me to assign a value statement on someone's character via ballot. If you believe that someone's conduct is harmful and warrants investigation and resolution, I encourage you to contact the relevant NDT/CEDA/ADA committee who is charged with conducting a fair and professional process.

- Frivolous or last-ditch effort ethics challenges are bad for debate and I will be deeply frustrated if this is the path you choose. Legitimate ethics challenges exist and should/will be taken seriously, but ethics challenges are not just another argument to use to win a debate.

- I think rebuttals should be slower than constructives, persuasive in nature, clarify key issues of the debate, and close doors. Rebuttals that are read at full throttle almost-exclusively from a pre-written text aren't persuasive to me and generally aren't contextualized to the debate that actually happened. Rebuttals MUST have impact comparisons, reasons I should prefer your evidence / warrants, and rationale for why the above means you win the debate. the 2NR / 2AR should be answering the questions that are central to the debate, and thus, my ballot.

Online Debates:

- if you think clarity might be even kind of an issue, you should slow down. Clarity and argument quality are vastly more important than quantity of arguments.

- I will always have my camera on when listening to speeches and cross-x, and turn it off during prep time. If you are about to start a speech and my camera is off, I am not there - be sure to get confirmation that everyone is present.

General thoughts:
- I care about evidence and evidence quality, but it is up to the debaters to make arguments about the evidence and whether it does / does not support the claims each team is making. I love debates that actually dig-in to evidence comparisons, spin, and who did it better - but I see these debates happen very rarely. Yall are letting each other get away with egregiously bad and under-highlighted evidence, and I am beyond ready to hear some debate about it! Teams who have good evidence, are good at unpacking it, and don't rely so heavily on reading a million new cards in the 2AC / 2NC will be rewarded with excellent speaker points and a complimentary RFD.

- I think flowing and debating from the flow are lost arts in the age of Zoom debate - I will appreciate and reward debaters who flow, maintain flow order and actually do line-by-line argumentation. The number of times I have seen entire impact scenarios, off-case positions, dropped arguments, etc. answered by the other team in the following speech because they were in the speech doc, but not read, is too high.

- I value narrative and good storytelling - a lot of debates end up sounding like fragmented parts with no connective tissue or meta-narrative that explains why one team is winning. Do your best to zoom out and explain how all of the pieces fit together in a story that concludes with a ballot for you. This is true of ALL types of debates - from the most technical, wonky policy debates to the most deeply philosophical or performative critical debates.

T - USFG / Framework

- I judge clash debates all the time, and I vote on different things most times, truthfully. You should slow down in these debates because they are more analytic heavy and evidence-light. I don't enjoy T debates that become "how fast can I read my speech doc and then go for whatever they missed."

- I think the best T/framework 2NRs collapse the debate down into 2-3 key impacts and bury the aff on winning the controlling internal link to those impacts. The majority of the time should be spent framing out why those impacts are the most important in the debate, and why the aff's interpretation can't accomplish them / is worse for whatever debate-reason.
- I think reasonability is usually worthless, and the best 2As defending a non-T USFG aff have a really good counter interpretation, solid offensive reasons to prefer that interpretation, and impact turns / defense on the neg's best offense.

quick thoughts on common things:

- IMO, clash is an internal link to education and it's better framed that way rather than as an impact in and of itself.

- TVAs can be helpful to solve the aff's offense, but not required. Whatever happened to good ol' switch side debate solves the offense? I do, however, love a TVA that is found in the aff's evidence, the articles / authors they cut, or maybe even a previous version of the aff. HOWEVER!! Don't just say "XZ's Aff" - I will have no idea what that aff is, nor do I think telling a team to read another team's aff is super persuasive.
- limits, what a great link argument. tell me why limits are key, why your limits are the best ones for achieving your desired impact, and why the other team's interpretation has none / few limits on acceptable affs. Limits determine ground, and certain ground is better/preferable - that's the frame. Ground is inevitable, and you will never win that there is no ground. The more the aff can win that the ground their interp provides is good enough to achieve the neg's impacts, the more the aff ballot becomes likely.

Ks on the negative:
- are always good and allowed. any aff interpretation that says otherwise is a waste of your time - find a better argument / fw interpretation.

- your link argument has to talk about the aff and be about the aff. I don’t think links of omission are links. If the 2NR is explicitly going for a link of omission, you’re going to have a hard time.

- I don’t think criticisms always need an alternative (critique is a verb, after all). Make sure you explain how the "alternative" interacts with affirmative solvency / how they are different / how the alt accesses the aff (beyond just a generic root cause explanation).

- I love a good K trick.

- the role of the ballot is to tell tabroom who won the debate. generally, i decide who won the debate based upon who did the better debating of the arguments in the debate, not some arbitrary standard set up by one team or the other.

- Permutations are tests of competition, and that is all. That means if you read severance / intrinsicness - those are reasons to reject the perm, not the team.

- If you are aff, tell me how the permutation functions for you and why the link is non-unique or untrue. By the 2ar, you should be deciding whether you're going for a permutation/link turn strategy or an aff outweighs or impact turn strategy - not all of the above.

Theory:

- most theory debates are poorly debated and don't impact my decision unless a team is willing to go all-in on theory in the later rebuttals. If there is one conditional K or CP, don’t waste your time. I can be convinced that most types of counterplans are good or that they are bad.

Old 2019
General:

I FLOW ON PAPER. I judge debates much more effectively / think harder about the debate / give better comments when I flow on paper. This is the only thing that I wish debaters would more effectively adapt to – give me a little pen time when you transition from card to card / arg to arg and please consider that I have to flip sheets between arguments.

I believe judges should adapt to the debaters, not the other way around. I will do my absolute best to objectively and fairly judge your debate, regardless of the arguments you choose to read. I would much prefer that you read the arguments you’re interested in / are better at debating than attempting to adapt to what you interpret as my preferences based upon what I have written here.

I find myself to be a much more “technical” judge than I once thought, and by that I mean I tend to pay a lot of attention to the way arguments evolve as the debate progresses. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy the 2NR / 2AR spin game, but that those “spins” need to be traceable to previous speeches. In addition, I have and will vote on technical concessions SO LONG AS there is an IMPACT to that concession – debaters concede irrelevant arguments all the time, as it turns out.

I evaluate debates in segments – I think each flow has compartmentalized “mini-debates” that take place within them that I evaluate piece by piece (for example, on a critique, the “link debate” “perm debate” “alt debate”etc etc, on a disad the “uniqueness debate” “link debate” “impact debate” “impact turn debate” etc etc etc). If you label these segments clearly and follow these segments throughout the debate, I will be a great judge for you and your speaker points will reflect your organization / flow tech.

WITH THAT SAID!! I do enjoy non-traditional flow and speaking styles, so do not be afraid to pref me if you debate with a different style – I judge these debates a lot and have no problem following / figuring out what needs to be evaluated.

I’m a very expressive judge. You will know if I am feeling your argument if you pay attention to my non-verbal communication. I believe debate is a communication activity and you, as debaters, should know how I’m vibing with your arguments throughout the debate.

Note about speed: Speed is fine, but please make your card / argument transitions clear with vocal inflection. If I miss an argument, 97% of the time it’s because I didn’t hear you say “and” and I thought you were still reading evidence. Your speaker points will reflect it if you SLOW DOWN on tags and don’t just read them like another piece of evidence. IMHO, debate is still a persuasive activity, and being persuasive gets you bonus points. I will always be fan of a slower, persuasive rebuttal.

I don’t think you will have an issue reading almost any argument in front of me, but since folks seem to just read philosophies to find out how people feel about K debate and framework, I guess I’ll say some stuff.

Affirmatives: I think affirmatives should, AT THE VERY LEAST, be in the direction of the topic (but being topical is so much better). I think the best K affs have a resolutional component and have literature that is inherent to the topic. I can and have been persuaded otherwise, this is just my baseline.

Affirmatives should have a solvency method - I don't particularly care if that's an instrumental affirmation of US(fg) action or not (see FW discussion below), but you've gotta have a method that you have solvency for - I really don't like affs that state a lot of problems and argue that the revelation of those problems somehow does anything - that's not negatable. This is along the same lines of "advocacy" statements that don't take an "action" (I use the word action very carefully - I think a lot of things are actions). Statements are quite difficult to negate.

Framework/Topicality:

I think topicality debates need to be SLOWER than other arguments - you want me to write down more, you need to give me more time to flow. In general, I DESPISE T debates that are read entirely off blocks and read at the speed of cards. I don't think this is helpful, I don't think this creates depth, I don't think this is good for education, and I'm probably flowing like 2 words / argument tbh.

I am significantly more persuaded by topicality arguments (ie: the affirmative needs to defend international space cooperation bc that’s key to limits) than framework arguments (ie: debate is a game, the affirmative needs to defend instrumental USFG action bc them’s the rules and and it's unfair and they are cheater cheater pants).

I think negative limits arguments have the capacity to be quite persuasive if teams go for the correct internal links based upon the aff / 2ac strategy. One of the biggest mistakes I see (primarily) 2Ns make is going for the wrong limits scenario. Just like any argument, some links are stronger than others, and you don't need every link to win in the 2NR, so pick the best ones that you think tell the most compelling limits story based upon the particular affirmative. Don't forget to contextualize limits arguments to the COUNTER-INTERPRETATION not (only) the aff itself.

Topical versions of the affirmative are important, but you have to actually explain WHY they are topical versions of the aff (ie how they meet your interpretation, even better if they also meet the counter interp) and how they address the affirmative team’s offense. Ev for TVAs is preferred. I don't think you need to have a TVA to win the debate.

Things that are not persuasive to me:

decision-making
“People quit”
“Small schools XYZ”

I’ll default to competing interpretations unless you tell me otherwise. Reasonability – how do I decide what is reasonable and by what metric do I use?

Critiques:

To make a link argument, YOU HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE AFF. The aff has to have DONE SOMETHING that you have linked to an argument. I don’t think links of omission are links. If the 2NR is explicitly going for a link of omission, you’re going to have a hard time.

I don’t think criticisms always need an alternative (critique IS a VERB, after all). Make sure you explain how the "alternative" interacts with affirmative solvency / how they are different / how the alt accesses the aff (beyond just a generic root cause explanation).

I'm a sucker for K tricks - affs: don't get bamboozled.

Aff fw v ks: Often is an argument made in the 2AC that is just repeated over and over and not advanced in any meaningful way. If you think framework is important for how I evaluate the K debate, you need to do better than that.

“Role of the ballot”:

I have significant problems with ROBs. I think "role of the ballot" is an empty and meaningless phrase. The "role of the ballot" is to let tabroom know who won and lost the debate. I don't think my ballot does anything for activism / changing the structures of debate / anything at all. I tend to think most ROB claims boil down to "ROB: Vote for me" which is silly af.

Now, this is different than telling me how to evaluate the debate, how I should filter impacts, how I should prioritize arguments, or in general, how I should make my decision. You can and must do that to win the debate.

Perm stuff:
Permutations are tests of competition, and that is all. That means if you read severance / intrinsicness - those are reasons to reject the perm, not the team (unless the negative team gives me a compelling reason for why the team should be rejected, tbh, haven't heard one yet.).

There is a lot of discussion about why competition standards for advocacies / methods should change when a K aff is read – eh, I’m unconvinced this is true. My default position is that your method should compete, which means, it has to withstand the permutation test. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that the affirmative shouldn't get a perm if the negative is willing to commit the time and energy to explaining why competition standards should change, how they should change, what debate looks like with those competition standards, how it applies in that particular debate, etc. Sound like a lot? Yeah, it kinda is... just beat the permutation with disads and solid link explanations.

You can be certain that I absolutely will not reject a perm on an assertion of "no perms in critical debates" or "no plan, no perm."

Case debate:
is highly under-appreciated. Oftentimes 2ACs just assume the neg doesn’t know anything about the aff and entirely mishandle case arguments. Punish. Them.
I have and will vote on case turns if they outweigh the aff or if the aff has such diminished solvency that they outweigh the aff.

Theory: most theory debates are garbage. Prove me wrong. If there is one conditional K or CP, don’t waste your time. If the alt isn’t actually vague, make a different argument.

I am no debate expert. At this point, debate enthusiast is probably a more fitting description of what I am. All that to say, hear me out and pref me accordingly. I was a policy debater for 4 years in the Chicago Debate League & I competed for 4 years on both the JV circuit and Varsity circuit for Samford University. It took me two years to learn that my talent and gift lie more with teaching debate and judging more so than my actual desire to debate. Had I applied myself a little more, I probably could have been a more competitive debater but meh- allegedly I'm an adult now and that's the past. Pay attention because this provides context for my actual paradigm; see below.

Debate is a game. Debate is a simulation. Debate is real life. Debate is an opportunity to model real life policy making. All of these things are true, and all of these things have a place in debate and deserve to be truth tested within the confines of the rules that exist unless you can articulate a reasonable argument that it is not. I will not tell you what arguments you can and cannot run. I think teams deserve the right to run the arguments that make sense to them, they are comfortable defending, and are prepared to argue. The real question is whether or not you are willing to do the work to earn my ballot.

I am a lazy judge. I will listen to you, and I will flow. I will vote on the arguments that make sense to me based on the work you do in the round. I will not go out of my way to prove I am competent by explaining high level theory knowing you will probably only retain 3 percent of what I say post round. While I will talk about the arguments, I will mostly provide feedback related to the procedural element of debate. If you see me in the back of the room, it is mostly as a favor to an old debate bud, which means that I am probably vaguely familiar with the topic, if at all, and have zero desire to spend time explaining how things came to be within the topic. If you have specific questions about the topic we can talk about it however, my goal is to ensure you receive the feedback you need to be a better debater- the topics change, the skills to actually be a good, competitive debater will not. After we have addressed the most important skills, I will talk about the actual round.

Arguments:

Again- Run the arguments you are comfortable with. If you can explain it and defend it, I will vote on it. Being a policy debater, from a very policy-oriented team, my typical wheelhouse of argumentation involved strong case arguments, disadvantages, T, and Counterplans with the occasional Neolib or Cap K. That's not to say I won't vote on anything else or refuse to commit to learning anything new- If you are going to run more high theory arguments, understand you will have to spend more time explaining the warrants in the cards and how it relates to the round. If you cannot do that, do what you do but good luck. You leave a lot of responsibility on me to figure it out and you may or may not like how I apply it to the round. I only draw the line with arguments that are discriminatory, hateful, and/or harmful. If it is from a place of ignorance, I will spend time to address it and enlighten you on why the arguments have no place in debate. If I feel it is done purposely to demean or hurt your opponent, I am prepared to end the round with a ballot in favor of the opponent enduring the abuse, severely dock speaker points of the perpetrators and I will address it with you and the coaches of both teams. I won't mince words. Consider yourself warned.

T and Procedural theory arguments are very valid debate strategies, however, be prepared to really spend time on it if you want me to vote on it. My threshold for these arguments is incredibly high given that a lot of teams aren't very good at articulating anything other than "our opponents dropped it." I need to know why the standards are important, I need to know what ground is lost, I need to know how this round sets the precedent for the remainder of the academic year on the topic. If you're going to commit to these kinds of arguments, commit.

Disads: Please make sure your warrants in the cards match the tags. I read cards. If it doesn't make sense, I am going to make fun of them. Tag your cards accordingly. Sincerely, Every Judge Ever.

Counterplans: You have the burden of proving you provide the better Alternative that is 1percent better than the plan. It is not enough that you provide an alternative. Do the work.

Kritiks: Not my favorite arguments in debate but again if that's your thing, have at it. You have the burden of proving why they are the starting point before we can even begin to acknowledge the aff plan.

I will not argue about my decision with you or your coaches. I said what I said.

More than anything, as a judge, my primary responsibility to facilitate a safe space for young people to have fun while discussing very important topics that shape the world around them. This is an extra-curricular activity and not anything that warrants stress and despair. While we are here, we are going to respect each other, learn together, and grow our skills. I will not tolerate any language or posturing that indicates otherwise.

All of these seem intuitive I think but alas... the opposite has happened enough to where for a while I entertained the idea that the quality of debate was rapidly diminishing. Jury's still out.

If you have any specific questions that I didn't cover here, please feel free to ask prior to start of the round.

FYI: My face tends to say everything my mouth won't. I have gotten pretty good at filtering what I say however, I am not responsible for what my face does when people start talking. Do with that what you will.

Thaddeus Cross- 4th year debater at Woodward Academy

I want to be on the email chain: thadcross25@gmail.com

Feel free to ask any questions before the round!

Top 3 things about debate:

1. Be nice to people! - you can be persuasive and nice, there is no reason to be rude

2. Speak clearly! - if I can't flow what you're saying, there is no point in saying it

3. Clash! - if your arguments don't interact with the other team's and apply to the debate, they're bad arguments

My thoughts on arguments and performance:

Cross-Ex: do your own cross-ex, you should know what you are saying, tag teaming is fine, but lowers speaks

Disadvantages: I like good turns case arguments and timeframe comparison for impact calculus.

Counterplans: I like well thought out counterplans with solvency advocates, I dislike bad process CPs that don't have a topic area specific solvency advocate.

Conditionality: in a vacuum I think conditionality is good... my real gripe is with counterplans and kritiks that are not specific to the affirmative and do not have topic specific evidence... that being said, conditionality is a vehicle for the affirmative side to punish the negative for reading the poor quality arguments mentioned above, so my threshold for voting on conditionality is lower when the negative reads poor quality conditional advocacies (I am also very willing to vote on theory to reject CPs without topic specific evidence)... in the event that the negative reads high quality conditional advocacies, I am neutral on voting on conditionality, and good debating is necessary to sway me (in all honesty, I probably lean negative in this scenario, but good debating from both sides is still necessary to persuade me)

Impact Turns: I will not vote for non-unique impact turns, there needs to be a compelling argument why the affirmative is worse than the status quo. I think negative teams win too often on impact turns that are not unique.

Kritiks on the Negative: prove to me why the aff is worse than the status quo and how the alternative resolves the links of the kritik. I lean aff on framework (weighing the aff is definitely best for education and clash), but that can be changed with good debating. Big fan of going for a K against an aff that isn't topical rather than going for T or a generic Cap K.

Pet Peeves (if you want good speaks, this is the "don't do it list"):

- "tag team" CX: it makes it feel like you don't know what you are doing

- taking forever to send out/start speeches: teams that move the round along efficiently will be rewarded with good speaks

-stealing prep: everything done in a debate should be on the clock, anyone at any age can understand this

- not understanding your arguments: I think anyone at any level can and should put in the time to learn about the arguments they are making to the point where they can effectively explain the argument in CX without reading directly from their cards

-avoiding clash: examples include... reading multiple bad arguments to skew your opponents; reading bad theory arguments; reading bad process counterplans; avoiding disclosure; avoiding commitments in CX; trying to confuse your opponents; reading bad evidence

-teams not flowing: poor flowing is obvious, and will result in lower speaks

Procedural Stuff

Email chain: blako925@gmail.com

Please also add: jchsdebatedocs@gmail.com

Add both emails, title the chain Tournament Rd # Your Team vs. Other Team ex) Harvard Round 4 Johns Creek XY vs. Northview AM.

1AC should be sent at round start or if I'm late (sorry in advance), as soon as I walk in the room

If you go to the bathroom or fill your waterbottle before your own speech, I'll dock 1 speaker point

Stealing prep = heavily docked speaks. If you want to engage your partner in small talk, just speak normally so everyone knows you're not stealing prep, don't whisper. Eyes should not be wandering on your laptop and hands should not be typing/writing. You can be on your phone.

Clipping is auto-loss and I assign lowest possible speaks. Ethics violation claims = round stoppage, I will decide round on the spot using provided evidence of said violation

Topic Knowledge

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE.

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I HAVE ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE

I debated in high school, didn’t debate in college, have never worked at any camp. I currently work an office job. Any and all acronyms should be explained to me. Specific solvency mechanisms should be explained to me. Tricky process CPs should be explained to me. Many K jargon words that I have heard such as ressentiment, fugitivity, or subjectivity should be explained to me.

Spreading

I WRITE SLOW AND MY HAND CRAMPS EASILY. PLEASE SLOW DOWN DURING REBUTTALS

My ears have become un-attuned to debate spreading. Please go 50% speed at the start of your speech before ramping up. I don’t care how fast or unclear you are on the body of cards b/c it is my belief that you will extend that body text in an intelligent manner later on. However, if you spread tags as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If you read analytics as if you are spreading the body of a card, I will not flow them. If I do not flow an argument, you’re not going to win on it. If you are in novice this probably doesn't apply to you.

While judges must do their best to flow debates and adjudicate in an objective matter that rewards the better debater, there is a certain level of debater responsibility to spread at a reasonable speed and clear manner. Judge adaptation is an inevitable skill debaters must learn.

In front of me, adaption should be spreading speed. If you are saying words faster than how fast I can move my pen, I will say SLOW DOWN. If you do not comply, it is your prerogative, and you can roll the dice on whether or not I will write your argument down. I get that your current speed may be OK with NDT finalists or coaches with 20+ years of experience, but I am not those people. Adapt or lose.

No Plan Text & Framework

I am OK with any affirmative whether it be policy, critical, or performance. The problem is that the 2AC often has huge case overviews that are sped through that do not explain to me very well what the aff harms are and how the advocacy statement (or whatever mechanism) solves them. Furthermore, here are some facts about my experience in framework:

• I was the 1N in high school, so I never had to take framework other than reading the 1NC shell since my partner took in the 2NC and 2NR.
• I can count the number of times I debated plan-less affs on one hand.
• As of me updating this paradigm on 01/28/2023 I have judged roughly 15 framework rounds (maybe less).

All the above make framework functionally a coin toss for either side. My understanding of framework is predicated off of what standards you access and if the terminal impacts to those standards prove if your model of debate is better for the world. If you win impact turns against the neg FW interpretation, then you don't need a C/I, but you have to win that the debate is about potential ballot solvency or some other evaluation method. If the neg wins that the round is about proving a better model of debate, then an inherent lack of a C/I means I vote for the better interp no matter how terrible it is. The comparison in my mind is that a teacher asked to choose the better essay submitted by two students must choose Student A if Student B doesn't turn in anything no matter how terrible or offensive Student A's essay is.

Tech vs. Truth

I used to like arguments such as “F & G in federal government aren't capitalized T” or “Period at the end of the plan text or the sentence keeps going T” b/c I felt like these arguments were objectively true. As I continue to judge I think I have moved into a state where I will allow pretty much any argument no matter how much “truth” there is backing it especially since some truth arguments such as the aforementioned ones are pretty troll themselves. There is still my job to provide a safe space for the activity which means I am obligated to vote down morally offensive arguments such as racism good or sexism good. However, I am now more inclined to vote on things like “Warming isn’t real” or “The Earth is flat” with enough warrants. After all, who am I to say that status quo warming isn’t just attributable to heating and cooling cycles of the Earth, and that all satellite imagery of the Earth is faked and that strong gravitational pulls cause us to be redirected back onto flat Earth when we attempt to circle the “globe”. If these arguments are so terrible and untrue, then it really shouldn’t take much effort to disprove them.

Reading Evidence

I err on the side of intervening as little as possible, so I don’t read usually read evidence. Don't ask me for a doc or send me anything afterwards. The only time I ever look at ev is if I am prompted to do so during speech time.

This will reward teams that do the better technical debating on dropped/poorly answered scenarios even if they are substantiated by terrible evidence. So if you read a poorly written federalism DA that has no real uniqueness or even specific link to the aff, but is dropped and extended competently, yes, I will vote for without even glancing at your ev.

That being said, this will also reward teams that realize your ADV/DA/Whatever ev is terrible and point it out. If your T interp is from No Quals Alex, blog writer for ChristianMingle.com, and the other team points it out, you're probably not winning the bigger internal link to legal precision.

Case

I love case debate. Negatives who actually read all of the aff evidence in order to create a heavy case press with rehighlightings, indicts, CX applications, and well backed UQ/Link/Impact frontlines are always refreshing watch. Do this well in front of me and you will for sure be rewarded.

By the 2AR I should know what exactly the plan does and how it can solve the advantages. This obviously doesn't have to be a major component of the 1AR given time constraint, but I think there should at least some explanation in the 2AR. If I don't have at least some idea of what the plan text does and what it does to access the 1AC impacts, then I honestly have no problem voting on presumption that doing nothing is better than doing the aff.

Disads

Similar to above, I think that DA's have to be fully explained with uniqueness, link, and impact. Absent any of these things I will often have serious doubts regarding the cohesive stance that the DA is taking.

Topicality

Don't make debate meta-arguments like "Peninsula XY read this at Glenbrooks so obviously its core of the topic" or "every camp put out this aff so it's predictable". These types of arguments mean nothing to me since I don't know any teams, any camp activities, any tournaments, any coaches, performance of teams at X tournament, etc.

One small annoyance I have at teams that debate in front of me is that they don't debate T like a DA. You need to win what standards you access, how they link into your terminal impacts like education or fairness, and why your chosen impact outweighs the opposing teams.

Counterplan

I have no inherent bias against any counterplan. If a CP has a mechanism that is potentially abusive (international fiat, 50 state fiat, PICs bad) then I just see this as offense for the aff, not an inherent reason why the team or CP should immediately be voted down.

I heavily detest this new meta of "perm shotgunning" at the top of each CP in the 2AC. It is basically unflowable. See "Spreading" above. Do this and I will unironically give you a 28 maximum. Spread the perms between cards or other longer analytical arguments. That or actually include substance behind the perm such as an explanation of the function of the permutation, how it dodges the net benefit, if it has any additional NB, etc.

I think 2NR explanation of what exactly the CP does is important. A good 2N will explain why their CP accesses the internal links or solvency mechanisms of the 1AC, or if you don't, why the CP is able to access the advantages better than the original 1AC methods. Absent that I am highly skeptical of broad "CP solves 100% of case" claims and the aff should punish with specific solvency deficits.

A problem I have been seeing is that affirmatives will read solvency deficits against CP's but not impacting the solvency deficits vs. the net benefit. If the CP doesn't solve ADV 1 then you need to win that ADV 1 outweighs the net benefit.

Judge kick is not my default mindset, neg has say I have to judge kick and also justify why this is OK.

Kritiks

I don't know any K literature other than maybe some security or capitalism stuff. I feel a lot of K overviews include fancy schmancy words that mean nothing to me. If you're gonna go for a K with some nuance, then you're going to need to spend the effort explaining it to me like I am 10 years old.

Theory

If the neg reads more than 1 CP + 1 K you should consider pulling the trigger on conditionality.

I default to competing interpretations unless otherwise told.

Define dispositionality for me if this is going to be part of the interp.

Extra Points

To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.

Shannon Feerick-Hillenbrand

2n/1a

Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart'22

Brown University '26

Add me to the chain please - shannon_feerick-hillenbrand@brown.edu

Read whatever you are most comfortable with, I'd rather see a debate where you are confident than one where you read something to impress me.

TLDR - Tech>truth, Clarity>speed, Quality>quantity, Debate is a game, Fairness is an impact, Turns case are amazing, Be nice, Have fun!

T - I like T and think it can often be the best strategic option if the aff makes it very difficult to find a link to your generics. I ran T a lot on both the cjr and water topics but I don't know if there are good arguments for this topic. That being said, I default to competing interpretations - if you can convince me that your interpretation creates better debates and have good enough evidence - I will vote for you.

Counterplans - I don't know anything about specific cp's on the IPR topic but I will read the evidence and defer to the team that explained their evidence better. Process CP and PICs have a place on this topic but you have to defend them against theory. If you tell me to judge kick the cp I will unless the aff tells me not to.

Theory - I will probably reject the argument and not the team except for conditionality. Answer each other's arguments and contextualize them to the debate - please don't just read generic blocks. IF you want to go for condo on the aff it needs to be a large part of the 1ar!

Disads - I love a good DA and CP or DA and case strat. Politics, T, topic DAs and CPs were most of my 2nrs during my career. Turns the case arguments are great but they should be supported by evidence and have logical warrants. In the 1ar please try to make an answer to these otherwise they can come back to bite you. Impact calculus is a must! For the aff, attack the link and internal link starting in 1nc cross x.

Ks - I don't love k v. policy but if you can contextualize your link to the aff and explain how your alt actually solves or why your framework is preferable I will vote for you. That being said I don't think people actually meet this threshold that often. I generally think that the aff should get to weigh their impacts but I will listen if you say they can't. All that being said I am not the best judge for the k.

K affs - I honestly don't really like them and err very neg on T USFG - that being said if you read one and you win the debate I will still vote for you but you have to explain why no other model of debate can resolve your impacts.

Case - engage with the case - framing arguments on BOTH sides should be contextualized to answer the other team's arguments. advantages are usually not awesome point out logical inconsistencies in cross ex and rehighlight evidence if it doesn't support the thesis of the advantage (you must read rehighlightings)

Please feel free to email me at aglendebate@gmail.com with any specific questions you may have.

The most important thing to me is that you celebrate and uplift your opponent. Disrespectful behavior toward anyone will be penalized with steep speaker point deductions.

I believe that it is the sacred duty of the judge to minimize intervention.

However, let it be known that I disagree with t-framework for many reasons. I strongly believe that it is unhealthy for our game that one strategy which requires virtually no research or innovation and minimizes engagement with the opponent has such a high win rate.

It is telling that the only people who complain about not being able to engage with planless affs are the people who never try to engage with them. My own experience negating planless affs taught me that the neg has more than their fair share of advantages, and that's why you never hear k debaters complain about going neg in k v k rounds.

Because I consider the resolution arbitrary, it seems to me that to win with framework a team would need to win not only that we should maintain a stasis point even though it is arbitrary but also that the resolution is the best possible choice for an arbitrary stasis point.

However, almost every kritik team makes the same mistake against this strategy. Framework argues that only resolutional affirmatives are legitimate. Almost every kritik team struggles to argue that non-resolutional affirmatives are also legitimate. This approach concedes not only to the legitimacy of the resolution but also to the notion of legitimacy itself. In this sense, even the supposedly radical debaters adopt the same strategy that defines liberalism, i.e. expanding the scope of legitimacy (No one is illegal!) rather than attacking it (No one is legal!). I want to hear kritik debaters attack the legitimacy of resolutional debate.

Speed: Please slow down. I would much rather watch a slower debate. Speed is overrated.

Tech vs truth: While philosophy regards propositions according to their truth, debate regards them according to their plausibility i.e. their ability to win the approval and assent of the judge. As a debater I have a fondness for the kind of eristic trickery outlined, for example, in Schopenhauer's Eristische Dialektik: Die Kunst, Recht zu behalten. I therefore would not refuse to consider a dropped argument on the sole basis that it is fallacious because deliberate fallacy can be a part of good debate technique.

Presumption: Unless someone tells me otherwise, I will use the rule that presumption begins for the neg, flips aff if the neg introduces an alternative to the status quo, and reverts to the neg when evaluating the alternative against the perm (perms need net benefits to win). If you want me to consider judge kicking the perm or the alt, please let me know as early as possible in the debate.

Requirement for Extension: Unless someone tells me otherwise, I will assume that in order for an argument to influence my decision it must be extended in every speech subsequent to the one in which it was first made, even if it were dropped by your opponent.

Tech Issues: Your tech time is your opponent's prep time. CHANGE MY MIND.

David Heidt

Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart

davidheidt@gmail.com

Update for IPR topic:

One semester in, I think this topic is pretty bad. It would have been a good topic if the area was limited to just patents. But there's not consistent, topic-specific negative ground against the range of possible affirmatives in the other two areas, so we have a situation where teams feel like they need to extend arguments like "in means throughout" in the 2nr. The last time this happened was in 2001, another notoriously bad topic because of how broad it was.

What does a bad topic mean for how I judge?

1. I'm probably more supportive of conditionality than I otherwise would be. If there aren't consistently good, robust negative arguments against each of the topic areas, then it may not be possible to fill up a 1nc without conditionality. At the very least, I can see a justification for two conditional options, when previously I could only see a justification for 1.

2. I'm not at all sympathetic to process CPs. "It's hard to be neg" =/= "therefore we need to do the aff". I'm probably an easier sell on "process CPs bad" than on permutation debates, but I'm also very aff leaning on permutations in this context. I think intrinsic permutations are good in the limited instance in which the internal net benefit does not have a link to the affirmative. It does not matter to me whether intrinsic permutations are textual or functional; the core issue is whether the plan is a genuine opportunity cost. Plan-specific link is evidence of that; but without a link, I think intrinsic permutations are fully justified.

I have never seen a spillover card that has been read for a process CP that I thought actually made the spillover claim the negative team claimed. I would easily vote aff on 'no net benefit' if it demonstrated that the affirmative actually read and attacked the negative's evidence. It's not a risk issue if the negative has a bad card; it just means they cut bad cards (and this is fully demonstrated by every process CP that has been run so far this year).

At minimum, for something like the multilateral CP to compete, the negative would need a card that says domestic IPR protection harms multilateral regimes, or international law. The only cards that have been read this year alleging this relationship are wildly out of context. I don't think the camp versions of these CPs are winnable arguments. It's hard for me to imagine any CP along these lines is viable, given that domestic IPR protection is routine, and decisions to enforce sanctions against other countries are unrelated to the strength of domestic protection. I could change my mind if someone has good evidence, but that has yet to be established.

Process CPs are the argument I dislike in debate the most. I would rather vote for planless affirmatives in every debate for the rest of my life than hear a single additional process CP.

That said, I think my record on process CPs this year is that I've voted negative 100% of the time, so debating matters.

3. If you're choosing between going for a bad CP or a bad K, probably choose the strategy with the best evidence (likely the K).

4. IPR bad is under-utilized. The camp versions of these files are weak (in the case of patents), or mostly unusable (in the case of copyright and trademark). All three require research beyond camp, and they're challenging debates. But it's where the best evidence is on this topic, and to me it's the most promising negative strategy by far. If you treat it like a K debate and attack the assumptions, bias and research practices of the affirmative authors, I think it's possible to beat (almost) every aff on this. But it requires a lot of work.

As bad as this topic is for the neg, the advantage CP + IPR bad is potentially overpowered. The affirmative will always have the benefit of specificity, but it really shouldn't matter most of the time if the basic assumptions their authors are relying on are false.

5. I tend to lean negative on topicality when the topic is very broad. But some topicality arguments are very weak by their nature and I think can only win with major affirmative mistakes: T-subsets, T must be the Court, T can't be the Court. Other topicality arguments I've heard are more promising (must be enforcement/can't be enforcement; protection means stopping unauthorized use; Mandel).

Older stuff

Some thoughts about the fiscal redistribution topic:

Having only judged practice debates so far, I like the topic. But it seems harder to be Aff than in a typical year. All three affirmative areas are pretty controversial, and there's deep literature engaging each area on both sides.

All of the thoughts I've posted below are my preferences, not rules that I'll enforce in the debate. Everything is debatable. But my preferences reflect the types of arguments that I find more persuasive.

1. I am unlikely to view multiple conditional worlds favorably. I think the past few years have demonstrated an inverse relationship between the number of CPs in the 1nc and the quality of the debate. The proliferation of terrible process CPs would not have been possible without unlimited negative conditionality. I was more sympathetic to negative strategy concerns last year where there was very little direct clash in the literature. But this topic is a lot different. I don't see a problem with one conditional option. I can maybe be convinced about two, but I like Tim Mahoney's rule that you should only get one. More than two will certainly make the debate worse. The fact that the negative won substantially more debates last year with with no literature support whatsoever suggests there is a serious problem with multiple conditional options.

Does that mean the neg auto-loses if they read three conditional options? No, debating matters - but I'll likely find affirmative impact arguments on theory a lot more persuasive if there is more than one (or maybe two) CPs in the debate.

2. I am not sympathetic about affirmative plan vagueness. Debate is at it's best with two prepared teams, and vagueness is a way to avoid clash and discourage preparation. If your plan is just the resolution, that tells me very little and I will be looking for more details. I am likely to interpret your plan based upon the plan text, highlighted portions of your solvency evidence that say what the plan does, and clarifications in cx. That means both what you say and the highlighted portions of your evidence are fair game for arguments about CP competition, DA links, and topicality. This is within reason - the plan text is still important, and I'm not going to hold the affirmative responsible for a word PIC that's based on a piece of solvency evidence or an offhand remark. And if cx or evidence is ambiguous because the negative team didn't ask the right questions or didn't ask follow up questions, I'm not going to automatically err towards the negative's interpretation either. But if the only way to determine the scope of the plan's mandates is by looking to solvency evidence or listening to clarification in CX, then a CP that PICs out of those clarified mandates is competitive, and a topicality violation that says those clarified mandates aren't topical can't be beaten with "we meet - plan in a vacuum".

How might this play out on this topic? Well, if the negative team asks in CX, "do you mandate a tax increase?", and the affirmative response is "we don't specify", then I think that means the affirmative does not, in fact, mandate a tax increase under any possible interpretation of the plan, that they cannot read addons based on increasing taxes, or say "no link - we increase taxes" to a disadvantage that says the affirmative causes a spending tradeoff. If the affirmative doesn't want to mandate a specific funding mechanism, that might be ok, but that means evidence about normal means of passing bills is relevant for links, and the affirmative can't avoid that evidence by saying the plan fiats out of it. There can be a reasonable debate over what might constitute 'normal means' for funding legislation, but I'm confident that normal means in a GOP-controlled House is not increasing taxes.

On the other hand, if they say "we don't specify our funding mechanism in the plan," but they've highlighted "wealth tax key" warrants in their solvency evidence, then I think this is performative cowardice and honestly I'll believe whatever the negative wants me to believe in that case. Would a wealth tax PIC be competitive in that scenario? Yes, without question. Alternatively, could the negative say "you can't access your solvency evidence because you don't fiat a wealth tax?" Also, yes. As I said, I am unsympathetic to affirmative vagueness, and you can easily avoid this situation just by defending your plan.

Does this apply to the plan's agent? I think this can be an exception - in other words, the affirmative could reasonably say "we're the USFG" if they don't have an agent-based advantage or solvency evidence that explicitly requires one agent. I think there are strong reasons why agent debates are unique. Agent debates in a competitive setting with unlimited fiat grossly misrepresent agent debates in the literature, and requiring the affirmative to specify beyond what their solvency evidence requires puts them in an untenable position. But if the affirmative has an agent-based advantage, then it's unlikely (though empirically not impossible) that I'll think it's ok for them to not defend that agent against an agent CP.

3. I believe that any negative strategy that revolves around "it's hard to be neg so therefore we need to do the 1ac" is not a real strategy. A CP that results in the possibility of doing the entire mandate of the plan is neither legitimate nor competitive. Immediacy and certainty are not the basis of counterplan competition, no matter how many terrible cards are read to assert otherwise. If you think "should" means "immediate" then you'd likely have more success with a 2nr that was "t - should" in front of me than you would with a CP competition argument based on that word. Permutations are tests of competition, and as such, do not have to be topical. "Perms can be extra topical but not nontopical" has no basis in anything. Perms can be any combination of all of the plan and part or all of the CP. But even if they did have to be topical, reading a card that says "increase" = "net increase" is not a competition argument, it's a topicality argument. A single affirmative card defining the "increase" as "doesn't have to be a net increase" beats this CP in its entirety. Even if the negative interpretation of "net increase" is better for debate it does not change what the plan does, and if the aff says they do not fiat a net increase, then they do not fiat a net increase. If you think you have an argument, you need to go for T, not the CP. A topicality argument premised on "you've killed our offsets CP ground" probably isn't a winner, however. The only world I could ever see the offsets CP be competitive in is if the plan began with "without offsetting fiscal redistribution in any manner, the USFG should..."

I was surprised by the number of process CPs turned out at camps this year. This topic has a lot of well-supported ways to directly engage each of the three areas. And most of the camp affs are genuinely bad ideas with a ridiculous amount of negative ground. Even a 1nc that is exclusively an economy DA and case defense is probably capable of winning most debates. I know we just had a year where there were almost no case debates, but NATO was a bad topic with low-quality negative strategies, and I think it's time to step up. This topic is different. And affs are so weak they have to resort to reading dedevelopment as their advantage. I am FAR more likely to vote aff on "it's already hard to be aff, and your theory of competition makes it impossible" on this topic than any other.

This doesn't mean I'm opposed to PICs, or even most counterplans. And high quality evidence can help sway my views about both the legitimacy and competitiveness of any CP. But if you're coming to the first tournament banking on the offsets CP or "do the plan if prediction markets say it's good CP", you should probably rethink that choice.

But maybe I'm wrong! Maybe the first set of tournaments will see lots of teams reading small, unpredictable affs that run as far to the margins of the topic as possible. I hope not. The less representative the affirmative is of the topic literature, the more likely it is that I'll find process CPs to be an acceptable response. If you're trying to discourage meaningful clash through your choice of affirmative, then maybe strategies premised on 'clash is bad' are more reasonable.

4. I'm ambivalent on the question of whether fiscal redistribution requires both taxes and transfers. The cards on both sides of this are okay. I'm not convinced by the affirmative that it's too hard to defend a tax, but I'm also not convinced by the negative that taxes are the most important part of negative ground.

5. I'm skeptical of the camp affirmatives that suggest either that Medicare is part of Social Security, or that putting Medicare under Social Security constitutes "expanding" Social Security. I'll approach any debate about this with an open mind, because I've certainly been wrong before. But I am curious about what the 2ac looks like. I can see some opportunity for the aff on the definition of "expanding," but I don't think it's great. Aff cards that confuse Social Security with the Social Security Act or Social Security Administration or international definitions of lower case "social security" miss the mark entirely.

6. Critiques on this topic seem ok. I like critiques that have topic-specific links and show why doing the affirmative is undesirable. I dislike critiques that are dependent on framework for the same reason I dislike process counterplans. Both strategies are cop-outs - they both try to win without actually debating the merits of the affirmative. I find framework arguments that question the truth value of specific affirmative claims far more persuasive than framework arguments that assert that policy-making is the wrong forum.

7. There's a LOT of literature defending policy change from a critical perspective on this topic. I've always been skeptical of planless affirmatives, but they seem especially unwarranted this year. I think debate doesn't function if one side doesn't debate the assigned topic. Debating the topic requires debating the entire topic, including defending a policy change from the federal government. Merely talking about fiscal redistribution in some way doesn't even come close. It's possible to defend policy change from a variety of perspectives on this topic, including some that would critique ways in which the negative traditionally responds to policy proposals.

Having said that, if you're running a planless affirmative and find yourself stuck with me in the back of the room, I still do my best to evaluate all arguments as fairly as a I can. It's a debate round, and not a forum for me to just insert my preferences over the arguments of the debaters themselves. But some arguments will resonate more than others.

Old thoughts

Some thoughts about the NATO topic:

1. Defending the status quo seems very difficult. The topic seems aff-biased without a clear controversy in the literature, without many unique disadvantages, and without even credible impact defense against some arguments. The water topic was more balanced (and it was not balanced at all).

This means I'm more sympathetic to multiple conditional options than I might otherwise would be. I'm also very skeptical of plan vagueness and I'm unlikely to be very receptive towards any aff argument that relies on it.

Having said that, some of the 1ncs I've seen that include 6 conditional options are absurd and I'd be pretty receptive to conditionality in that context, or in a context where the neg says something like hegemony good and the security K in the same debate.

And an aff-biased topic is not a justification for CPs that compete off of certainty. The argument that "it's hard to be negative so therefore we get to do your aff" is pretty silly. I haven't voted on process CP theory very often, but at the same time, it's pretty rare for a 2a to go for it in the 2ar. The neg can win this debate in front of me, but I lean aff on this.

There are also parts of this topic that make it difficult to be aff, especially the consensus requirement of the NAC. So while the status quo is probably difficult to defend, I think the aff is at a disadvantage against strategies that test the consensus requirement.

2. Topicality Article 5 is not an argument. I could be convinced otherwise if someone reads a card that supports the interpretation. I have yet to see a card that comes even close. I think it is confusing that 1ncs waste time on this because a sufficient 2ac is "there is no violation because you have not read evidence that actually supports your interpretation." The minimum threshold would be for the negative to have a card defining "cooperation with NATO" as "requires changing Article 5". That card does not exist, because no one actually believes that.

3. Topicality on this topic seems very weak as a 2nr choice, as long as the affirmative meets basic requirements such as using the DOD and working directly with NATO as opposed to member states. It's not unwinnable because debating matters, but the negative seems to be on the wrong side of just about every argument.

4. Country PICs do not make very much sense to me on this topic. No affirmative cooperates directly with member states, they cooperate with the organization, given that the resolution uses the word 'organization' and not 'member states'. Excluding a country means the NAC would say no, given that the excluded country gets to vote in the NAC. If the country PIC is described as a bilateral CP with each member state, that makes more sense, but then it obviously does not go through NATO and is a completely separate action, not a PIC.

5. Is midterms a winnable disadvantage on the NATO topic? I am very surprised to see negative teams read it, let alone go for it. I can't imagine that there's a single person in the United States that would change their vote or their decision to turn out as a result of the plan. The domestic focus link argument seems completely untenable in light of the fact that our government acts in the area of foreign policy multiple times a day. But I have yet to see a midterms debate, so maybe there's special evidence teams are reading that is somehow omitted from speech docs. It's hard for me to imagine what a persuasive midterms speech on a NATO topic looks like though.

What should you do if you're neg? I think there are some good CPs, some good critiques, and maybe impact turns? NATO bad is likely Russian propaganda, but it's probably a winnable argument.

******

Generally I try to evaluate arguments fairly and based upon the debaters' explanations of arguments, rather than injecting my own opinions. What follows are my opinions regarding several bad practices currently in debate, but just agreeing with me isn't sufficient to win a debate - you actually have to win the arguments relative to what your opponents said. There are some things I'll intervene about - death good, behavior meant to intimidate or harass your opponents, or any other practice that I think is harmful for a high school student classroom setting - but just use some common sense.

Thoughts about critical affs and critiques:

Good debates require two prepared teams. Allowing the affirmative team to not advocate the resolution creates bad debates. There's a disconnect in a frighteningly large number of judging philosophies I've read where judges say their favorite debates are when the negative has a specific strategy against an affirmative, and yet they don't think the affirmative has to defend a plan. This does not seem very well thought out, and the consequence is that the quality of debates in the last few years has declined greatly as judges increasingly reward teams for not engaging the topic.

Fairness is the most important impact. Other judging philosophies that say it's just an internal link are poorly reasoned. In a competitive activity involving two teams, assuring fairness is one of the primary roles of the judge. The fundamental expectation is that judges evaluate the debate fairly; asking them to ignore fairness in that evaluation eliminates the condition that makes debate possible. If every debate came down to whoever the judge liked better, there would be no value to participating in this activity. The ballot doesn't do much other than create a win or a loss, but it can definitely remedy the harms of a fairness violation. The vast majority of other impacts in debate are by definition less important because they never depend upon the ballot to remedy the harm.

Fairness is also an internal link - but it's an internal link to establishing every other impact. Saying fairness is an internal link to other values is like saying nuclear war is an internal link to death impacts. A loss of fairness implies a significant, negative impact on the activity and judges that require a more formal elaboration of the impact are being pedantic.

Arguments along the lines of 'but policy debate is valueless' are a complete nonstarter in a voluntary activity, especially given the existence of multiple alternative forms of speech and debate. Policy debate is valuable to some people, even if you don't personally share those values. If your expectation is that you need a platform to talk about whatever personally matters to you rather than the assigned topic, I encourage you to try out a more effective form of speech activity, such as original oratory. Debate is probably not the right activity for you if the condition of your participation is that you need to avoid debating a prepared opponent.

The phrase "fiat double-bind" demonstrates a complete ignorance about the meaning of fiat, which, unfortunately, appears to be shared by some judges. Fiat is merely the statement that the government should do something, not that they would. The affirmative burden of proof in a debate is solely to demonstrate the government should take a topical action at a particular time. That the government would not actually take that action is not relevant to any judge's decision.

Framework arguments typically made by the negative for critiques are clash-avoidance devices, and therefore are counterproductive to education. There is no merit whatsoever in arguing that the affirmative does not get to weigh their plan. Critiques of representations can be relevant, but only in relation to evaluating the desirability of a policy action. Representations cannot be separated from the plan - the plan is also a part of the affirmative's representations. For example, the argument that apocalyptic representations of insecurity are used to justify militaristic solutions is asinine if the plan includes a representation of a non-militaristic solution. The plan determines the context of representations included to justify it.

Thoughts about topicality:

Limited topics make for better topics. Enormous topics mean that it's much harder to be prepared, and that creates lower quality debates. The best debates are those that involve extensive topic research and preparation from both sides. Large topics undermine preparation and discourage cultivating expertise. Aff creativity and topic innovation are just appeals to avoid genuine debate.

Thoughts about evidence:

Evidence quality matters. A lot of evidence read by teams this year is underlined in such a way that it's out of context, and a lot of evidence is either badly mistagged or very unqualified. On the one hand, I want the other team to say this when it's true. On the other hand, if I'm genuinely shocked at how bad your evidence is, I will probably discount it.

Director of Debate at Alpharetta High School where I also teach AP US Government & Politics (2013- present)

Former grad assistant at Vanderbilt (2012-2013)

Debated (badly) at Emory (2007-2011).

Please add me to the email chain: laurenivey318@gmail.com

I try my best to be a tabula rasa judge and simply evaluate the round in front of me with as little intervention as possible.

Counterplans- I like a good counterplan debate. I generally think conditionality is good, and is more justified against new affirmatives. PICs, Process CPs, Uniqueness CPs, Multiplank CPs, Advantage CPs etc. are all fine. On consult counterplans, and other counterplans that are not textually and functionally competitive, I tend to lean aff on CP theory. All CPs are better with a solvency advocate. If the negative reads a CP, presumption shifts affirmative, and the negative needs to be winning a decent risk of the net benefit for me to vote negative. I am probably not the greatest person for counterplan competition debates.

Disads- The more specific, the better. Yes, you can read your generic DAs but I love when teams have specific politix scenarios or other specific DAs that show careful research and tournament prep. If there are a lot of links being read on a DA, I tend to default to the team that is controlling uniqueness.

Topicality- I find T debates sometimes difficult to evaluate because they sometimes seem to require a substantial amount of judge intervention. A tool that I think is really under utilized in T debates is the caselist/ discussion of what affs are/ are not allowed under your interpretation. Try hard to close the loop for me at the end of the 2nr/ 2ar about why your vision of the topic is preferable. Be sure to really discuss the impacts of your standards in a T debate.

Framework- Framework is a complicated question for me. On a truth level, I think people should read a plan text, and I exclusively read plan texts when I was a debater. However, I'll vote for whoever wins the debate, whether you read a topical plan text or not, and frequently vote for teams that don't read a plan text; in fact, my voting record is better for teams reading planless affirmatives than it is for teams going for FW. However, I also think this is because teams that don't defend a plan are typically much better at defending their advocacy than neg teams are at going for FW. I tend to think affs should at least be in the direction of the topic; I'm fairly sympathetic to the "you explode limits 2nr" if your aff is about something else. Put another way, if your aff is not at least somewhat related to the topic area it's going to be harder to get my ballot. I do think fairness is a terminal impact because I don't know what an alternative way to evaluate the debate would be but I can be persuaded otherwise.

Kritiks- I am more familiar with more common Ks such as security or cap than I am with high theory arguments like Baudrillard. You can still read less common or high theory Ks in front of me, but you should probably explain them more. I tend to think the alternative is one of the weakest parts of the Kritik and that most negative teams do not do enough work explaining how the Kritik functions.

Misc-If both teams agree that topicality will not be read in the debate, and that is communicated to me prior to the start of the round, any mutually agreed previous year's topic is on the table. I will also bump speaks +0.5 for choosing this option as long as an effort is made by both teams. I am strongly in the camp of tech over truth. I flow on paper and definitely need pen time; I've tried to flow on the computer and it just doesn't work for me.

I am unlikely to vote on disclose your prefs, wipeout, spark, or anything else I would consider morally repugnant. I also don't think debate should be a question of who is a good person. While I think you should make good decisions out of round, I am not in the camp of "I will vote against you for bad decisions you made out of round" or allegations made in round about out of round behavior. But, I have voted against teams or substantially lowered speaks for making the round a hostile learning environment and think it is my job as a judge and educator to make the round a safe space.

I am increasingly frustrated by teams just dropping random buzzwords and asserting these are arguments. The word "semiotics" and then moving on is not an argument. Asserting something is a "sequencing DA" and moving on without an explanation of the argument is not an argument. I am not going to vote for you unless I can explain the argument back to you, so you need to make sure claims (or words) have warrants and explanations.

Good luck! Feel free to email me with any questions.

I would prefer if all debates used the NSDA file share on tabroom. I am also ok with a speechdrop or email chain (add willkatzemailchain@gmail.com) but NSDA file share is faster, easier, and has all of the benefits of an email chain.

Coach at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart full time and very part time at the University of Kansas.
I have been actively involved in research for the high school IPR topic and lightly involved in research about college energy topic.

IPR Topic Update

1 semester in, these are my topic-specific opinions:

-I am very bad for a lot of process cp's on this topic. Some of the process cp's being read vs courts affs are so nonsensical they may not require evidence to refute. I am equally good for permutations and theory.

-There are some "pics" on this topic that are arguably more competitive. Think stuff of the treaties/multilat variety. These are probably a step up from remand or consult. However, the evidence I've seen for these cp's so far is all borderline out of context and the perm do both answers are almost non-starters. If you think your cards are better than that, go ahead with these strategies. But so far I've been relatively unconvinced.

-My voting record is good for T so far this year. That is both not surprising (I am often very good for more limiting t definitions) and very surprising (I think most of the t arguments this year are not very good and could lose to a strong reasonability push)

-I am much much better for the "abolish patents/trademarks/copyright" cp than most. I think that there is very good evidence that can make patents/trademarks/copyright bad very viable, especially when paired with an advantage cp.

- I am still not very good for the K. I do recognize many K's have very good link cards on this years topic. That doesn't change most of the issues I have with the way they are often deployed (the impact is larger than the scope of the link, uniqueness issues, unsolvent alternatives, framework arguments that unfairly burden the aff to prove the 1ac is perfect). Teams going for the K would see a lot more success by treating their alt as "ban ip" and going for a linear da combined with robust impact framing.

Short Version

I will flow debates on paper and decide debates from my flow. Evidence quality matters a lot to me, as does execution. Debaters that use their paper flows to deliver speeches often impress me a lot.

I prefer debates with a lot of clash over well-researched issues that are germane to the topic. I often vote for arguments that I don't prefer, but the more your argument is built to avoid disagreement, the less likely I am to vote for you in a close debate.

No ad homs/screen shots. Things that happen outside of the debate are not within my jurisdiction. Contact the tournament director or have your coach do it if you aren't comfortable doing so.

I'm a teacher. Speeches must be appropriate. That means avoid things like excessive swearing, threats, insults, or stories that you would be upset if your principal heard.

Slightly longer version

Everyone must treat all participants in the debate with respect. Speeches are something that I, a high school teacher, should be able to enthusiastically show my administration.

I prefer debates with a lot of clash over well-researched issues that are germane to the topic. I would love to see your core topic da vs case throwdown, your topic-specific mechanism counterplan, or (most of all) your case turn strategy. I might even enjoy your core-of-topic k provided you make link arguments about the aff and have an alternative that actually disagrees with the aff.

Case debating: My platonic ideal of a debate involves the affirmative introducing the largest possible topical aff and the negative going for the core topic DA and engaging in a well-evidenced attack against the case. When the 2nr goes for the status quo, I often find the debates very enjoyable. When 2acs and 1ars engage in efficient yet thorough case debating, as opposed to blippily citing 1ac cards, I find myself very impressed.

Excessive plan vagueness is annoying and leads to multiple negative paths to victory. If I am unclear what the plan does, I will basically accept any interpretation the of the plan the neg wants me to. Do they want to define the plan broadly for a pic? Sure. Do they want to define the plan narrowly for a t argument? Also sure.

If you're response to that is "that's unfair, why does the neg get to decide what the aff's plan does?!?!?!" they don't! The aff gets to define what their plan does, and then subsequently forfeited that right. If you want to define your plan, be very clear about what your plan does.

Topicality: I have far fewer pre-dispositions about what is and isn't topical going into the season than usual. I will be interested to see how debates play out over what it means to protect IPR.

Non-topicality procedurals: My default presumption is that the only requirements on the affirmative are to argue in favor of a topical, positive departure from the status quo. If the negative wants to convince me that there should be some additional requirement, they would best be served by having topic-specific evidence or by using resolution language to prove that mandate.

Historically, the non-topicality procedural that has convinced me the most is a vagueness argument with topic specific evidence. I am generally unconvinced by the genre of argument that says affs must read a particular type of evidence, talk about a particular experience, or perform in a certain way.

Counterplans: I am increasingly opposed to process counterplans. I have historically had an okay record for them, but in close debates, I have voted aff far more than neg. I am equally convinced by "permutation: do the counterplan" and permutations that exercise "limited intrinsicness". Often, teams rush to the latter, but the former is almost always a simpler and clearer path to victory.

Conditionality: I am dangerous to negative teams that flagrantly abuse conditionality. CP'ing out of straight turns, multiple conditional planks, and fiated double turns/contradictions that the aff can't exploit make debate bad. I don't have a hard and fast rule about the number that you can read, but if you have more than 2 or 3 conditional arguments, you would be best served having a robust defense of conditionality.

By default, I care more about the quality of debates than "logic" or "arbitrariness." That doesn't mean I will never care about those things, just that it requires you to robustly develop your impact.

Non-conditionality theory: It can definitely be boring when it is just whining, but I do think there are some things that negative teams fiat that are hard to defend when put under scrutiny. I am probably one of the better judges to go for a theory argument in front of, provided that theory argument is developed and warranted. I have been sat out on a few panels that I thought were a crush for the aff on things like 50 state fiat bad, 2nc cp's bad, and international fiat bad.

Kritiks: I am not the best for most kritiks. There are K debates on this topic that I am excited to watch. Those K debates will focus on the link and actually talk about what the affirmative does that is wrong. It will focus a lot less on abstract frameworks, theories of power, or generic structures. A few more notes on kritiks:

1. Links aren't alt causes, they are things that the aff does that are bad

2. K's need alts. Framework CAN function as an alt, but then the affirmative obviously gets to permute it and any other deviation from the status quo that the neg defends. To convince me the aff perm doesn't apply, you would need to defend the status quo.

3. Bring back the ethics impact! I am rarely persuaded by a k with an extinction impact because those are usually very easily solved by a permutation. You need an impact to your link, not an impact to your overall structure.

4. The fiat k is perhaps the least persuasive argument to me. It severely misunderstands what fiat is.

Gabriel Morbeck

Debated at Strath Haven High School in PA 2014 to 2016

Debated at Emory University in GA 2016 to 2020

gsmorbeck28@gmail.com

Currently assistant director of debate at Emory University and a part-time coach at Woodward Academy.

If you're judged by me, here are the most important things for you to know:

1. I prefer affs that defend a topical plan. If they do not, I find framework arguments about fairness and limits very compelling. If you choose to not defend a plan, you have to play at least some defense on fairness/limits to make any education arguments compelling.

2. I'm very offense-defense. Really unlikely to vote on presumption.

3. How I evaluate your explanation is shaped by how much quality evidence you have. I think I care about evidence quantity much more than most judges. It's just how my brain works. The more cards you read on something the truer it feels.

4. Tech is important, but so is developing robust positions throughout the debate. My threshold for "complete argument with a claim and warrant that I'm willing to vote on" is pretty high.

5. I'm more amenable to conditionality bad than I used to be. Lots of 2Ns use conditionality as a shortcut to avoid debating the case or answering straight turns, which seems anti-educational to me. I won't judge kick unless the 2NR instructs me to do it. My views on counterplan legitimacy are shaped by evidence. If you have a card advocating for the counterplan it's probably legitimate. If you don't have a card from this topic advocating for a counterplan then theory is pretty persuasive. No theory argument that is not conditionality bad or topicality is a reason to reject the team.

6. Fine for T vs policy affs, but I also think substance crowd-out is true on reasonability. I will default aff unless the magnitude of offense the neg is winning is very big.

7. Fine for the K vs policy affs. I default to the aff being able to weigh their 1AC, but I also think it's arbitrary to completely exclude the justifications for the 1AC from consideration.

8. Debate is fun! I understand everyone cares a lot about wins and losses, but I appreciate debaters who remember that they're functionally just playing a game with their friends on the weekend. I'll enjoy judging you if you enjoy being in the debate!

Some misc thoughts: lots of impact defense to warming on the college topic is basically climate denial and my threshold for rejecting it is very low, I love the agenda DA, I think qualifications debating about where an author/think tank gets funded from is very convincing and underutilized in policy debates, usually a try-or-die guy. I look at speech docs less and read far fewer cards in decisions than I used to, but I do subconsciously care a LOT about evidence formatting and doc organization.

Senior Varsity debater from Woodward

For the email chain: 25lpaladugu@woodward.edu

Top-level — Just try to clash with the other team's arguments and do impact calculus (I promise you'll get super high speaks if you do both!)

Tech > Truth. Still, if an argument is dropped, the opposing team still has to extend it with warrants.

Clash > tricks.

Clarity > Speech. Please try to be clear!

Alpharetta 21. Emory 25.

Email chain: hargunn.sandhu03@gmail.com

Note:

I have ZERO TOPIC KNOWLEDGE. Explain acronyms and don't assume I know the limits/consensus on T.

General:

1. Tech > Truth. Better debating can easily overcome any of the preferences I have below. Judge instruction is key, especially in the final rebuttals.

2. Good debating requires quality evidence; strong logical explanation, and contextualization.

3. Online debate: please slow down and enunciate more than you normally would. Clarity should not be sacrificed for speed. Sending analytics might be useful in case internet cuts out. Try to keep your camera on at least during speeches and CX.

4. Racism, sexism, discrimination, or any other problematic actions will result in an L and the lowest speaks.

5. Clipping = L and lowest speaks. If you accuse someone of clipping you must have evidence, if you fail to prove they clipped then you get an L.

Specifics:

1. K:

a. K Affs: Clash > Fairness > Education/Skills. I'm more inclined to vote on t usfg/framework since I have mostly been on this side of the debate. Heg good, cap good, etc are all good 2nr options. However, I do think the aff can win with impact turns to the negative's model. Good K affs have a connection to the topic and a clear offense/defense mechanism in the 1AC.

b. Ks: Leaning towards aff gets to weigh the plan. Who cares if fiat isn't real. Specific links, pulling quotes from the 1AC, and in-depth explanation at every level are very important. Avoid large overviews. Turns case/root cause/alt solves > fw 2nrs. Extinction ow/impact turn > permutation 2ars.

2. CPs/DAs:

a. CPs: Cool. If undebated, I'll judge kick the CP. I might be a little more receptive to intrinsic perms than most.

b. DAs: Turns case is crucial. Politics DAs are good, spin is important. 0% risk is a thing, but hard to get to.

3. Theory:

a. Conditionality: Good. Worth noting that I think aff teams rarely capitalize on neg teams' poor defense of condo.

b. International CP and Ctrl + f word PICs are bad assuming even debating. Neg leaning on most other theory.

4. T - Assuming even debating, competing interps > reasonability. Precise, contextual evidence is key to winning these debates, for both the aff and the neg, but especially the aff if there's a substantial limits differential. Read cards. Both sides should be clashing over their visions of the topic and the impacts to it.

5. Case: Not a fan of framing pages. Impact Turns are fantastic. Good case debating is underutilized. Presumption is possible.

6. Misc:

- Speaks: I'm prolly a little above average giving them out. Specific strategies are good. It always helps to make the round fun. Quality evidence is good. If you opensource, let me know, + .1

- Insert perm texts

- I'm usually not expressive, and anything I do express is usually not your fault.

- Things I prolly won't vote on: ASPEC, death good, and out of round issues

Current Associate Director of Debate at Woodward Academy

Former Associate Director of Debate at Emory University

Former graduate student coach at University of Georgia, Wake Forest University, University of Florida

Create an email chain for evidence before the debate begins. Put me on it. My email address is lace.stace@gmail.com

Do not trivialize or deny the Holocaust

Online Debates:

Determine if I am in the room before you start a speech. "Becca, are you ready?" or "Becca, are you here?" I will give you a thumbs up or say yes (or I am not in the room and you shouldn't start).

I get that tech issues happen, but unnecessary tech time hurts decision time.

Please have one (or all) debaters look periodically to make sure people haven't gotten booted from the room. The internet can be unreliable. You might get booted from the room. I might get booted from the room. The best practice is to have a backup of yourself speaking in case this occurs. If the tournament has rules about this, follow those.

DA’s:

Is there an overview that requires a new sheet of paper? I hope not

Impact turn debates are fine with me

Counterplans:

What are the key differences between the CP and the plan?

Does the CP solve some of the aff or all of the aff?

Be clear about which DA/s you are claiming as the net benefit/s to your CP

"Solving more" is not a net benefit

I lean neg on international fiat, PICS, & agent CP theory arguments

I am open minded to debates about conditionality & multiple conditional planks theory arguments.

Flowing:

Make flowing easier for me (ex. debating line by line, signposting, identifying the other team’s argument and making direct answers, answer arguments individually rather than “grouping”)

Cross-X:

"What cards did you read?" "What cards did you not read?" "Did you read X off case position?" "Where did you stop in this document?" - those questions count as cross-x time! If a speech ends and you ask these, you should already be starting your timer for cross-x!

Avoid intervening in your partners cross-x time, whether asking or answering. Tag team is for professional wrestling, not debate.

Public forum debate specific thoughts:

I am most comfortable with constructive speeches that organize contentions using this structure: uniqueness, link, and impact.

I am comfortable with the use of speed.

From my experience coaching policy debate, I care a lot about quantity and quality of evidence.

I am suspicious of paraphrased evidence.

I like when the summary and final focus speeches make the debate smaller. If your constructive started with 2 or 3 contentions, by the summary and final focus your team should make a choice of just 1 contention to attempt winning.

Because of my background in policy debate, it takes me out of my comfort zone when the con/neg team speaks first.

E-Mail: cstewart[at]gallowayschool[dot]org

Disclaimer #1:I am a mandatory reporter under Georgia law. If you disclose a real-world risk to your safety, or if I believe there is an imminent threat to your well-being, I will stop the debate and contact the Tabroom. Arguments that talk generally about how to engage systems of power in the debate space are more than okay and do not violate this.

Disclaimer #2: I am partially deaf in my left ear. While this has zero impact on my ability to flow in 99.9% of debates, exceptionally bad acoustics may force me to be closer than usual during speeches.

Speaker Points Update (November 2023):Moving forward, I will be following Regnier's speaker points distribution (see below). This should align my points with national trends and ensure I am not unfairly penalizing (or rewarding) debaters I am judging.

--- Fabulous (29.7 - 29.9) / Excellent (29.4-29.6)

--- Good (29.1 - 29.3) / Average (28.7 - 29)

--- Below Average (28.4 - 28.6) / Poor (28 - 28.3) / Very Poor (27.6 - 27.9)

Experience

Debate Experience

--- Lincoln-Douglas: 3 Years (Local / National Circuit)

--- Policy Debate: 4 Years of College Policy Debate (Georgia State University)

-- 2015 NDT Qualifier

-- Coached By: Joe Bellon, Nick Sciullo, Erik Mathis

-- Argument Style: Kritik (Freshman / Sophomore Year) & Policy (Junior / Senior Year)

-- Caselist Link (I Was A 2N My Senior Year): https://opencaselist.com/ndtceda14/GeorgiaState/StNa/Neg

Coaching Experience

--- Lincoln-Douglas: 4 Years (Local / National Circuit)

--- Policy Debate

-- University of Georgia - Graduate Assistant (3 Years)

-- Atlanta Urban Debate League (3 Years)

-- The Galloway School - Head Coach (3 Years)

Preferences - General

Overview:

Debate is a game; my strongest belief is that debaters should be able to play the game however they want to play it. I remain committed to Tabula Rasa judging, and have yet to see an argument (claim/ warrant) I would not pull the trigger on. The only exception to this is if I could not coherently explain to the other team the warrant for the argument I'm voting on. Unless told otherwise, I will flow the debate, and vote, based on the line-by-line, for whomever I thought won the debate.

What follows are my general thoughts about arguments, because for some reason that's what counts as a "judging paradigm" these days. Everything that follows WILL be overridden by arguments made in the debate.

Evidence:

Evidence is important, but not more than the in-round debating. Substantial deference will be given to in-debate spin. Bad evidence with spin will generally be given more weight than good evidence without.

Theory:

No strong predispositions. Run theory if that's your thing, there's actual abuse, or it's the most strategic way out of the round. I have no default conception of how theory functions; it could be an issue of competing interpretations, an issue of reasonability, an RVI, or a tool of the patriarchy. Given my LD background, I likely have a much lower threshold for pulling the trigger than other judges. Defaults such as X is never a reason to reject the team, RVIs bad, and a general disregard of Spec arguments aren't hardwired into me like the majority of the judging pool.

If you're going for theory, easiest thing you can do to win my ballot is to slow down and give an overview that sets up a clear way for me to evaluate the line-by-line.

Counterplans:

Read 'em. While I'm personally a big fan of process CPs/ PICs, I generally default to letting the literature determine CP competition/ legitimacy. If you have a kickass solvency advocate, then I will probably lean your way on most theoretical issues. On the other hand, as a former 2A, I sympathize with 2AC theory against CPs against which it is almost impossible to generate solvency deficits. 2ACs should not be afraid to bow up on CP theory in the 1AR.

DAs:

Specific DAs/ links trump generic DAs/ links absent substantial Negative spin. Love DAs with odd impact scenarios/ nuanced link stories.

Politics:

I functionally never read this as a debater, but my time coaching at UGA has brought me up to speed. Slow down/ clearly flag key points/ evidence distinctions in the 2NR/ 2AR.

Topicality:

Read it. Strategic tool that most 2Ns underutilize. Rarely hear a nuanced argument for reasonability; the T violation seems to prove the 1AC is unreasonable...

Kritiks:

I do not personally agree with the majority of Kritiks. However, after years of graduate school and debate, I've read large amount of Kritikal literature, and, if you run the K well, I'm a good judge for you. Increasingly irritated with 2ACs that fail to engage the nuance of the K they're answering (Cede the Political/ Perm: Double-Bind isn't enough to get you through a competently extended K debate). Similarly irritated with 2NCs that debate the K like a politics DA. Finally, 2ACs are too afraid to bow up on the K, especially with Impact Turns. I often end up voting Negative on the Kritik because the 2AC got sucked down the rabbit hole and didn't remind there was real-world outside of the philosophical interpretation offered by the K.

Framework (2AC):

I am generally unpersuaded by theoretical offense in a Policy AFF v. Kritik debate. You're better off reading this as policymaking good/ pragmatism offense to defend the method of the AFF versus the alternative. Generally skeptical of 2ACs that claim the K isn't within my jurisdiction/ is super unfair.

Framework (2NC):

Often end up voting Negative because the Affirmative strategically mishandles the FW of the K. Generally skeptical of K FW's that make the plan/ the real-world disappear entirely.

Preferences - "Clash" Debates

Clash of Civilization Debates:

Enjoy these debates; I judge alot of them. The worst thing you can do is overadapt. DEBATE HOWEVER YOU WANT TO DEBATE. My favorite debate that I ever watched was UMW versus Oklahoma, where UMW read a giant Hegemony advantage versus Oklahoma's 1-off Wilderson. I've been on both sides of the clash debate, and I respect both sides. I will just as easily vote on Framework as use my ballot to resist anti-blackness in debate.

Traditional ("Policy" Teams):

DO YOU. Traditional teams should not be afraid to double-down against K 1ACs,/ Big K 1NCs either via Framework or Impact Turns.

Framework (As "T"):

Never read this as a debater, but I've become more sympathetic to arguments about how the the resolution as a starting point is an important procedural constraint that can capture some of the pedagogical value of a Kritikal discussion. As a former 2N, I am sympathetic to limits arguments given the seemingly endless proliferation of K 1ACs with a dubious relationship to the topic. Explain how your interpretation is an opportunity cost of the 1ACs approach, and how you solve the 2ACs substantive offense (i.e. critical pedagogy/ our performance is important, etc.).

Non-Traditional ("Performance"/ "K" Teams):

As someone who spent a semester reading a narrative project about welcoming veterans into debate, I'm familiar with the way these arguments function, and I feel that they're an integral part of the game we call debate. However, that does not mean I will vote for you because you critiqued X-ism; what is your method, and how does it resolve the harms you have isolated? I am greatly frustrated by Kritik Teams that rely on obfuscation as a strategic tool---- even the Situationist International cared deeply about the political implications of their project.

AT: Framework

The closer you are to the topic/ the clearer your Affirmative is in what it defends, the more I'm down with the Affirmative. While I generally think that alternative approaches to debate are important discussions to be had, if I can listen to the 1AC and have no idea what the Affirmative does, what it defends, or why it's a response to the Topic beyond nebulous claims of resisting X-ism, then you're in a bad spot. Explain how your Counter-Interp solves their theoretical offense, or why your permutation doesn't link to their limits/ ground standards.

Fairness/ Education:

Are important. I am generally confused by teams that claim to impact turn fairness/ education. Your arguments are better articulated as INL-turns (i.e. X-ism/ debate practice is structurally unfair). Debate at some level is a game, and you should explain how your version of the game allows for good discussion/ an equal playing field for all.

Misc. - Ethics Violations

Ethics Violations:

After being forced to decide an elimination debate on a card-clipping accusation during the 2015 Barkley Forum (Emory), I felt it necessary to establish clarity/ forewarning for how I will proceed if this unfortunate circumstance happens again. While I would obviously prefer to decide the debate on actual substantive questions, this is the one issue where I will intervene. In the event of an ethics accusation, I will do the following:

1) Stop the debate. I will give the accusing team a chance to withdraw the accusation or proceed. If the accusation stands, I will decide the debate on the validity of the accusation.

2) Consult the Tabroom to determine any specific tournament policies/ procedures that apply to the situation and need to be followed.

3) Review available evidence to decide whether or not an ethics violation has taken place. In the event of a clipping accusation, a recording or video of the debate would be exceptionally helpful. I am a personal believer in a person being innocent until proven guilty. Unless there's definitive evidence proving otherwise, I will presume in favor of the accused debater.

4) Drop the Debater. If an ethics violation has taken place, I will drop the offending team, and award zero speaker points. If an ethics violation has not occurred, I will drop the team that originally made the accusation. The purpose of this is to prevent frivolous/ strategic accusations, given the very real-world, long-lasting impact such an accusation has on the team being accused.

5) Ethics Violations (Update): Credible, actual threats of violence against the actual people in the actual debate are unacceptable, as are acts of violence against others. I will drop you with zero speaker points if either of those occur. Litmus Test: There's a difference between wipeout/ global suicide alternatives (i.e. post-fiat arguments) and actually punching a debater in the face (i.e. real-world violence).

4x debater @Georgia, 2x NDT Attendee

Please send your hate mail to --> jhweintraub@gmail.com

I was a 2a for my entire 8 yr debate career, so i'm willing to do the work to protect the aff from what I see as abusive strategies.

I think I get a reputation for being a hack judge because I end up resolving debates by doing work for either team to try and untangle messy parts at the end, usually by reading a lot of evidence. My biggest issue is in these complex and messy debates when neither side is really making an attempt to clarify the story of what's going on and just speed through the line by line, so the debate ends and I have to make arbitrary decisions on evidence and internal link chains because neither side has told me what the ballot ought to be for. If you can do that I'm significantly more likely to vote for a scenario that is elucidated well and untangled for me.

Ex: Willing to vote on theory against arbitrary and contrived CPs that don't have a solvency advocate or try to skirt clash on the core issue. Willing to vote for the Aff on framework against the K because even though fiat isn't real the game of debate itself is useful.

I like good mechanism debates. Process CP's not my favorite cup of tea but if you've got a CP that you think does actually solve better than the aff i'd be pretty interested in hearing it.

Framework makes the game work and fairness is an impact. If the game isn't fair and both sides don't stand an equal chance of winning what's even the point of playing. At that point we're basically playing blackjack but one side gets to be the house and the other the player, and Idk about you, but I don't wanna play that game.

Coaching is not my full time job so I'm not as tuned in to everything going on on this topic as I would like to be, which means that if you wanna go for T It might be useful to do a little extra work to explain why the aff is far outside the bounds of what we know the topic is. That being said though, i'm definitely willing to pull the trigger on it if I think the aff is overly contrived in an attempt to skirt the core neg ground.

The aff almost always gets to weigh its implementation against the K. The neg gets to link representations but you also need to justify why that matters against the aff or some tangible impact of that.

My background and day job is in cybersecurity (blockchain and encryption engineering) so if you're gonna read arguments about technology i'm gonna expect you to have at least some understanding of how tech works and will almost certainly not be persuaded by tech > truth. Most cyber arguments are stupid and completely miss the nuance of the tools. If you want more explanation i am happy to explain why.

For Novice Only: To promote flowing, you can show me your flows at the end of a round and earn up to 1.0 speaker points if they are good. To discourage everyone bombarding me with flows, you can also lose up to a full speaker point if your flows suck.