Dodson,+Chris

I debated all four years of high school and have been judging the last four years. I will be familiar with the topic when I judge. Overview: I prefer actual arguments/logic to a never-ending line of cards. You should have evidence to back up your argument but the reading of that evidence should not be your entire constructive. When judging LD I tend to vote off of value structure but that doesn’t mean you should be dropping your opponent’s contentions. If you can prove that your case better upholds your opponents value in the round then that is a big plus to me. I will almost never vote on theory, you should debate the resolved statement. I will also only vote on the k or topicality in rare circumstances, so if possible I would advise to stay away from these as well. I do like unique arguments if they are relevant but like I said before, debate the resolved statement. Speed/Flow: As a debater myself I am ok with speed but not spreading. In my experience there is a very clear line between the two and if you spread you will lose me and no I will not interrupt the debate to give an audio cue to this. Clarity will always trump speed in my book because I judge off of my flow. If you were unclear and your argument did not make my flow then it did not happen. Since I do go off of my flow it is important to keep your case/argument organization structured. Slowing down when reading tags would not be a bad idea either. Extensions and voting issues: If you drop an argument it is dropped, end of story, there is no picking it back up later in the debate. You should explain why your argument is extended (or why your opponent's is not) and what that means as far as the round is concerned. Voting issues are a must; if you are good then you should practically write my RFD for me. If you have a question on anything that is not included on here then feel free to ask me about it