MDT Debate Timer is a free tool written by Lucas and Max Mueller, two student debaters from Solon, Ohio, for the speech and debate community.
MDT is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored or distributed by Solon City Schools, the Ohio Speech and Debate Association (OSDA), the National Speech & Debate Association (NSDA), or any tournament. We name these organizations only to describe which published rules the timer follows. Their names and marks belong to them.
The "Debaters served by MDT" section on the start page counts finished debates. When a round is over, the judge's page sends only the format (for Congress, also the number of speeches; for Big Questions, 1 or 2 per side) and a random number for that round, so it is never counted twice. Nothing else about the round is part of the count. Debaters are counted from the format (for example 4 in Public Forum), not from the phones that joined.
While a debate room is open, the server keeps a copy of the judge's round (timers, seats, names, team codes and flow notes), so the judge can move it to another device or take it over from a backup on their phone if their computer stops working. The copy is deleted when the judge ends the round. Without a room, everything stays on the judge's device.
If something goes wrong on an MDT page, the page tells the MDT server what broke (the error message, which part of MDT, the kind of device and the version), so it can be fixed. Names, team codes, room codes, notes and anything typed are never included.