Knatt,+Mesha

I was a debater for Isidore Newman for 4 years, I did policy my freshman year and LD the last 3 years. I debated on the National and Local circuit and I went to nationals in 2015 in World Schools and broke to double octos. I consider myself a flow judge so you can’t pull any tricks on me. I’m not stupid so you can’t and will not get by on bullshit arguments, even if you have evidence to back it up. Everything you say, you have to back it up with evidence or else you will lose. __If you don’t feel like reading my entire paradigm, skip straight to the end and read the “moral of the story”.__


 * Read and comprehend every single thing I am telling you to do in my paradigm if you really want to win my ballot. **


 * Framework (Value/VC)-** I like a good framework debate. Link everything you have back to the framework and explain to me how your arguments fit under your framework. If your framework is bad, I’m not going to automatically vote you down. You just better clean up your act by the end of the round before I have to intervene in the ballot and I know how much debaters hate that…….so just do me a favor and NOT put me in that position; please and thank you.


 * Evidence:** You better have it. If you don’t and your opponent just so happens to call you out on it, you are screwed because I will vote you down. You can’t expect me to even consider what you are saying if you have no evidence to back it up. DISCLAIMER: if you try to pull the “this is Lincoln Douglas debate so its about morals and not about evidence” card on me I will give you 10 speaker points and vote you down IMMEDIATELY. So don’t even think about it.


 * Speaks:** OK. I don’t really care about speaker points. As long as you don’t get up whispering your entire case and spreading to the point where I can’t understand you even after I’ve said clear; you’ll be fine.


 * Speed:** I’m fine with speed, but if I can’t understand you I will say “clear” **__ONE (1) TIME__**. If I still can’t understand what you are saying, I will either put my pen down and start playing on my phone OR I will still try to flow you and I will write down what I think I heard you say and I know you don’t want me to do that……


 * Clash:** Just do it. Its not that hard. Also, if you do terrible work on the flow and force me to intervene in the ballot, I will be VERY biased in my decision, so don’t leave the decision up to me. Do your work and everything else will fall into place.


 * Voters:** I love voters. If you give me at least three SOLID reasons why I should vote for you and it is backed up by good arguments and it is clear on the flow, I will love you forever.


 * Theory:** ahhh theory, theory, theory. I am fine with theory but I’m not fine with “drop the debater” arguments if there is no clear reason why I should drop the him/her. I am also not fine with people running theory if there is no clear violation. If there is no violation and you still waste your precious time reading a theory shell, I will give you one of the worst death stares you can possibly think of. I will still flow you, I just will dislike you for wasting your own time. ALSO, **do not spread the violation** I need to hear both of those things because they are very important if you really want to win on a theory shell. To my newbies; don’t run theory if you don’t know how to run it properly, you just end up wasting everyone’s time. Lastly, yes I will vote on a theory shell if there is a CLEAR VIOLATION and you give a good explanation on why you should win the theory debate.


 * Extensions:** just….doooooooo it. If you don’t, it shows me that you have zero interest in winning the debate. Don’t just extend taglines of cards, extend the entire argument. Don’t say “Extend Nye 86” and that’s it, tell me why its important to the round, why its a voting issue and how it clashes with your opponent’s arguments.


 * Kritiks:** YAAAAAAAS! I loooooove K debates. Run them if you want, I believe they make debates pretty interesting. I only despise K’s that have a very weak link. If you have a K, you better have a good link and a good explanation of the link. Don’t waste my time.


 * Disads:** lol. Just like K’s; run them if you want, just explain them well, tell me why its important and try to slow down on the tags if you are going to spread. I’m still trying to get on board with disads in LD just because there isn’t much time to run them, but hey; if you feel the need to run it, run it. Just know that if you spend time on a bad disad, it will come back and bite you.


 * Topicality:** …..umm idk why you would run T in an LD round but if you want to do it, you can. Just know its not going to be something I will vote on because I am a human being who knows how to debate; you don’t have to tell me if your opponent is/ isn’t topical. I will be able to tell if they are/ aren’t. Its fine in policy but not so much in LD because it can become a waste of time.


 * Plans:** I’m cool with plans. I will listen to them. Make sure its organized. If it isn’t, my flow will end up looking a hot mess and that’s not a good thing. Don’t run a plan just to impress me and don’t read a plan that someone put together for you 5 mins before the round because 9 times out of 10 you wont know what you are talking about and I hate that. With a passion.

Don’t run stuff you don’t know how to run properly. Don’t read things in the round for the sake of reading it. Don’t waste my time. Be confident in what you are saying. If you are a first year debating a senior with 4 years of debate experience on the national circuit, its OKAY! Don’t lose confidence in yourself as soon as you walk in the room and see your opponent. Put up a good fight and you’ll be fine. Hell, I’ll even give you a hug before the round if you need an extra boost of confidence. Just don’t give up so fast. Don’t be stupid when weighing arguments in the round, pick and elaborate on things that are important. Please be smart. Debate is a THINKING activity, not a READING activity.
 * Moral of the story:**