Hu,+Wesley

I debated for Millburn High School from 2013-2016, earning 5 bids to the TOC my senior year. I'll vote on anything so long as a semblance of a warrant for it exists, and I understand it. Debate is a game of arguments, so my job is not simply to evaluate claims. “The sky is blue thus affirm” is never going to be sufficient for my ballot, even if conceded. If you're in a rush, //**this is basically all you need to know**//.


 * __General__: **Please **//weigh// **, and be ** //responsive// **to your opponent. Absent explicit comparison between two conflicting claims, I will not hesitate to intervene and decide myself which one is better warranted. I have a really low threshold for extensions of conceded arguments, especially if you’re the aff. But, if you need an argument to win the round, I’d like for you to at least mention its existence. Otherwise, I don't think it makes sense for me to reward you for a winning strategy that includes the argument. An argument is new if it would have been directly responsive to your opponent’s arguments in a prior speech. I will ignore new arguments in late rebuttals, but new implications or weighing are not necessarily new arguments.

 __**Style**__**:** I only care about execution. Do what you do best. If your position is one that you think I’ll have a hard time understanding please **//slow down//** and **//emphasize explanation//**. In particular, I have a tough time wrapping my mind around so called "high theory" arguments that are popular these days – please do your best to help me understand and not confuse me more.

 __**Defaults**__**:** My defaults only matter when debaters are forgetful. I will ignore them if any argument about the issue is made. I default that my role is to truth-test the given resolution, using ethical modesty to do so. I default that links to violations of fairness are the first layer I look to, fairness and education matter and are reasons to exclude an argument, theory should be evaluated via an offense/defense paradigm, and no RVI. If neither debater makes a presumption argument and there's truly no way to resolve the round, then I'll presume for whom I think did the better debating. If the aff defends an advocacy text that is not the resolution, then I assume the debate involves a comparison between the plan and some negative advocacy. Given that the aff defends the plan, it seems only natural that I should default that perms are a test of competition – so net benefits to perms are **//not//** a reason to vote aff absent an explanation as to why I should treat the perm as the aff's new advocacy.

__**Speaks** __**: **I will say clear, slow, or loud. Please be clear and audible since I can’t vote on arguments I don’t flow. An average performance will earn a 28, determined by a combination of your strategy (understanding of how layers in a round interact, and collapsing to the layer(s) that is/are important) and technical efficiency (how well you engage in the line by line arguments of said layers), and only those two things – notably, in assigning speaks, I do not consider how well you speak (not what this activity is about), or how good your arguments are (debaters shouldn't have to conform to a judge's feelings about arguments for the sake of speaks). Do whatever you want in round – stand, sit, eat, do pushups, etc., as long as you're not **//mean or exclusionary; if and only if you are, I will dock speaks, and I will do so __significantly__.//**

 Here’s a list of individuals in the activity who influenced me as a debater, coach, judge – perhaps even as a person. I may or may not judge like these people.

 Nathan Cha <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Samantha Hom <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Tom Evnen <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mark Gorthey <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Paul Zhou <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Daiya Massac <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Martin Sigalow <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Bob Overing <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Rahul Gosain <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Michael Bogaty <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Emily Massey