Disclosure Theory

Disclosure theory is a subset of theory referring to practices of disclosure (sending cases before a given round). Disclosure practices often happen on the wiki (https://hsld.debatecoaches.org/) and has several components which will be discussed here:

1–Open Source–this is where a word document of your 1AC/1NC are posted on your wiki page. Debaters make a claim that all documents must be open sourced so that debaters can read the evidence of other debaters (to check back against evidence ethics), help under resourced debaters by giving them a new resource, and ensuring better clash since debaters know what is being discussed in depth. Claims to the contrary include critical thinking and the value of thinking on one’s feet and ensuring small schools don’t get prepped out when their prep is on the wiki. Most judges believe that open source is a good thing.

2–Cite Box–the cite box gives a summary of every argument. It shows the tag of each card, the citation, and the first 3 + last 3 words from where the card was cut, labelled under a “cite.” For example, if a 1NC read a Hobbes NC, ICJ Counterplan, and a theory shell, each would go under a separate cite box. Cites on wiki often do not work, however, so many people don’t put it anymore.

3–Round Reports–a little more frivolous, round reports give a summary of what happened in each round. Debaters often say this is important because it tells people your strategy to help them prep their 1nc accordingly, especially since small schools wouldn’t know if a debater goes for theory every round based on their aff whereas a big school is more likely to have a debater who debated that debater and can leak their strat.

To make a wiki, one should sign in with their tabroom account, add a new school, then add a new debater. The home page linked above has resources to aid with this.

Disclosure shells read by debaters include must open source, must disclose round reports, must disclose the aff 30 minutes before the round, new affs bad (when an aff has never been read before, it’s called a “new aff” and is often not disclosed), and must disclose the official tabroom name of a tournament on tabroom.

Disclosure theory is strategic because it gives debaters a free theory shell to read regardless of how fair their opponent’s strategy is. Generic responses to disclosure include critical thinking (thinking on feet), small schools (they’ll get prepped out), reasonability (against egregious shells), out of round violations bad (safety and verifiability), and regress (no brightline to how much disclosure is sufficient).

An example of a disclosure shell can be found here:File:Disclosure-example.docx