Decratum

Decratum was a free sourcebook for the 2012-2013 NCFCA resolution (United Nations reform), with contributions by Bruce Ragas, Josh Webb, James Pearce, Palmer Lovett, Jonathan Jee, Daniel Dalto, James Russell, David Poythress, and Braydon Byrd. The project was headed by Palmer Lovett.

Decratum contained 129 pages of evidence, consisting of Affirmative and Negative briefs for six cases: Security Council Veto Reform, Whistle Blower Protection, IMF Bailouts, UNMIK Termination, Financial Disclosure, and UNICEF Abolition. Decratum originally intended to follow up the free preseason edition with additional paid editions, but this plan was eventually scrapped.

Decratum is notable for its unique style of Affirmative briefs: Instead of providing a full 1AC and backup briefs, all evidence was stored in the backup briefs, and 1ACs were provided in the form of an outline indicating which cards to read.

Controversy and criticism
The history of Decratum was fraught with controversy. Initial reactions were highly positive, but many debaters became concerned when it was revealed that Decratum would contain controversial style techniques such as strikeouts and comparatively minimal citations. In addition to aesthetic complaints, some debaters expressed concerns that Decratum's citation style could get competitors in trouble in the event of an evidence ethics dispute. Some of Decratum's contributors expressed agreement with the complaints, stating that the style policy was an executive decision.

The reaction to Decratum's release was highly mixed. Debaters both praised and criticized the evidence, while expressing varying degrees of disapproval about Decratum's formatting, citations, and cutting style. In a poll conducted several weeks later, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that they would not buy another sourcebook if it was written in the same style. Daniel Gaskell summarized the release by saying, "It's decent. But it's hard to deny that it could have - and should have - been better."

The official download was eventually removed from the Decratum website, with an acknowledgement stating:

Decratum was written for the sole purpose of being a useful, credible, and resourceful sourcebook. We feel we did not accomplish these goals. Briefs are not what they could be and not all our cases are topical. Here at Decratum we only want to write the best, and because of this the 2012-2013 Preseason has been discontinued.

Community versions
Shortly after release, several debaters (principally Elijah Schow, with help from Decratum author Braydon Byrd) released an unofficial reformatted version of Decratum. The unofficial version featured extensive reformatting, expanded citations, additional context for short cards, notes on bracket and ellipses use, and a variety of error corrections. Reaction to the release was highly positive.

Other resources
In addition to the sourcebook, Decratum also released a set of other resources, including flowsheets and an evidence formatting tool. The flowsheets in particular were very well-received.