Bai,+John

First off, I debated public forum my senior year, so my idea of Lincoln Douglas is very different compared to the people still within the scene coaching and performing. Neverless, I'll try to go over stuff that is prevalent within Lincoln Douglas and how I view the event.


 * __Presentation:__** I am not a picky judge when it comes to presentation. You don't have to look at me during CX, you don't have to stand up during your speeches, you can use your phone as timers, etc. If you aren't sure what is allowed in front of me, just ask! I won't be annoyed.

__**Speed:**__ I know that Lincoln Douglas becomes even faster with each passing year, which is why I don't feel comfortable judging people blazing through their cases and rebuttals. I will say "clear" if I feel like you are going faster than I can handle. I hope that debaters go slowly so I can get used to their speed before they go faster. I feel that I should just input that I haven't been in a LD round in over a year so if you speak really quickly I am probably not the judge for you.

__**V/c and Contention level debate, "Old** **School"**__ : Apparently people are running less of this stuff and running more policy, theory-like arguments? That's fine, it's just that I probably cannot evaluate those arguments properly for people. If you want to win in front of me, your best bet is running simple criterion and contention level arguments with me. Run a classic LD debate with this strategy and it will go smoothly for me and you.


 * __Theory:__** I always thought theory was a interesting idea in concept, but totally fails in practice. I do not recommend running theory in front of me. I will not auto drop you, but I have a high threshold of what I consider is "the right time" for running theory. Do not use this as a "go ahead" for running theory just because I will evaluate it. I will give a lot of leeway to your opponent to answer and justify why theory doesn't belong in this round or why you are wrong. I don't really believe in RVI for theory, so that should also spell out how well that will go for you.


 * __Political Arguments:__** In really recent times I heard that these arguments are only getting more common and becoming the norm in LD. I don't know how I feel about it, but I can tell you what I feel about certain arguments.
 * Kritiks, "Ballot Purpose"** - Don't run these in front of me. I probably won't understand what you're going for and give a lot of room for your opponent to answer. I'm sorry, but that's just how it is.
 * Plans/ disaids/ counterplans** - ehh... slightly okay. Slow down on tags and what the plan/cp/disaid text is. Someone explained these arguments to me so I sort of understand them. Explain how you interact with your opponent and don't just extend boring extinction impacts if you can help it. I'll still vote off it but I reward creativity (with some logic) with better speaks.


 * __Other things in policy brought over__** - I'm just covering what the most common things are that I have heard of but I know there are more, highly recommend you don't run them in front of me.


 * __Triggers, underviews, "sketchy__ things"** I know people are basically "one-tricks" with these arguments and all, but I really don't like them. I don't want to reward people just because they tricked their opponent with a trap case. I don't think that's what debate should be like, or at least what I don't want debate to be like. I may give low speaks if it's really bad.

__**Speaks:**__ I start with a 28 and go down and up based on your performance in the round and if I have judged any previous rounds before that in the tournament. Higher speaks are given to better strategy, speaking, good constructed arguments, etc. Bad speaks are given on rudeness, scummy tactics, etc. I am pretty positive I will only give out .5 for decimal places, not .2 or .8, anything of that sort. You can make a case outside of round why I should be giving out 29.9, but I don't think I will be swayed that hard.

Tl:Dr: If you literally scrolled to the bottom. I did PF in High school. I am a traditionalist in a sense I guess. I use the speaking scale before super decimals. I don't really care about presentation.

Besides that, good luck to both debaters and have fun! Debate is an activity where you are supposed to express yourself after all.