Chen,+David

I debated for four years at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, NJ. I used to coach PV Peninsula High School in CA.

I'll do my best to be open-minded. Please feel free to ask me any relevant questions before the round.

I don't assume anything about what you need to do in terms of setting up a framework, a standard, etc., or about how those things function in the round. The most important thing is that you explain, for any given argument, why that argument means you win the debate.

By default, I don't presume aff or neg. When there is no offense extended from either side, I vote on whoever has the best defensive argument in the round.

I don't prefer arguments of a given type or style, and I don't prefer any particular ethical theory or way of viewing the debate. I just want to see you make good arguments and connect them to my ballot.

I won't vote for an argument whose first articulation I could not understand at all.

I have a low threshold for extensions. If an argument is conceded, you can just extend the tag and explain the impact/function.

If an argument is conceded and extended (or otherwise won), I evaluate the round as if it is true, unless doing so results in a logical contradiction or forces me to do something that I really don't want to do, like killing your opponent or letting you hold up the tournament. If I'm in that kind of situation, I'll just choose a premise of the argument to reject and evaluate the round from there.

I don't have a rubric for speaker points. Higher points for positional debating, smart arguments, being reasonable, and being good at CX. Lower points for recycling cards and/or frameworks from other topics, being unclear, and other things that most judges dislike. If you have a lot of extra time in your speech and don't know how to use it, I'll give you higher speaks for sitting down early, and lower speaks for repeating yourself for no good reason.

I want to see that you care about debate. I am probably tired when I'm judging you, so make me want to listen to you. I hope that you and your opponent both care about winning, so please treat each other fairly and respectfully.

(credit to JMoNeebs)