O'Brien,+Chris

I graduated from Athens High School in 2013 and primarily judge in the Austin/Dallas TFA circuits.

__General Paradigm__
I view the debate through the heuristic of offense/defense and will weigh the round through the winning impact framing if given one. If not given a specific evaluative framework for the round I default to policymaker and will evaluate whether or not the aff is the best policy option in the face of the neg’s advocacy (counterplan or disad or kritik, etc.). I prefer that the negative not run all new in the 2nc and to split the neg block correctly, covering half of the 1nc in the 2nc and the other half in the 1nr. I will not vote you down for this but it will affect speaker points. I also prefer the neg to collapse down into one coherent world or strategy in the 2nr as well.

__Topicality__
If you’re going to read Topicality I will be holding you accountable to making sure to extend and flesh out the standards debate, especially on the negative and please make sure there are voters at the bottom. I will evaluate T through whatever the winning framework is, reasonability and competing interns. I default to reasonability if not given one. If you want me to vote on T, it should be the only argument you are going for in the 2nr. If not, I will try to find a way to vote on another piece of offense you go for and not the Topicality.

__Kritiks__
If you choose to run a kritik please make sure to be able to explain the thesis of your criticism and how the alt functions to solve your impacts. Role of the judge or ballot is important to me in order to evaluate the k in the context of the arguments made in the round.

__On-Case__
Case debate is always good. A mixture of offense and defense on case is always good. When going for case in the 2nr explain how these arguments affect the other positions in the round if possible.

__Counterplans__
CPs are always great, as long as the neg is able to prove how the counterplan is net better, either through internal or external net benefits. I like clear analysis on how the perm doesn't work or is worse for the solvency of the cp. Theory is fine here, although I won't be trying to vote on an RVI here unless there is clear abuse.