Bast,+Skyler

Hello. I judge LD.

Basic philosophy: I’m going to judge the round based on what happens in it – I will //not// make arguments or extensions for you. As well, I’m not particularly attached to the Value/Value Criterion structure. If you (sufficiently) prove your position without using one, I’ll vote for you.

Speed: Speed is fine with me, just be clear. If your speech is just a vowel movement, I won’t understand it, and obviously won’t flow it. I will tell you “clear” a maximum of twice. If I say “clear” twice and you don’t clear up, I will start to hate you, and your speaks will reflect this. Also, I prefer if speed has a purpose – such as running an argument that requires a lot of explanation rather than just running a lot of blippy arguments.

Theory: As a general rule, I dislike theory arguments. I want to see that you know how to debate; I don’t care if you’re able to read six T-shells so that they can’t all be addressed in the next speech. All that will make me do is think you’re dumb. Please don’t run theory unless there is real, clear abuse.

Kritiks (and the like): Go for it.

CX: Like most judges, I don’t flow CX. Don’t be a jerk. CX is where you get your opponent to talk themselves into corners, not where you yell at them a lot.

Warrants: give them. Seriously. If you’re going to say something important, provide a warrant; I don’t care if they’re empirics, analytics, or whatever, but if there is a clash between the two, I will (generally) prefer the empirics.

Speaks: Speaks will typically range 26-28. A 25 means that you probably ran a dumb theory argument. 24 or below means that you did something that irritated me very much very often. If you debate well, you’ll probably get a 28; if you run interesting arguments and have good clash, 29-30.

In summary, don’t be a jerk, and actually debate. Unless I’m asked not to by tournament officials, I will usually disclose after the round; sometimes I may decline to do so because the round is very close and I need to think about it more, but this will not happen very often. I’ll give feedback unless it’s temporally inconvenient.

Meta-paradigm: If you don’t ask me any questions before the round, I will assume that you’ve read this.

Happy debating, and good luck.