What are the makings of a good flamer?
Always wondered about that.
For the answer to this question, I never ask anonymous people on the internet who style themselves "flamers."
No, I ask myself "Who are the best flamers I've ever read?"
My short list, in chronological order: Tacitus, Terence, Swift, Voltaire, Twain, Bierce, Mencken, Parker, Böll, Vonnegut, Thompson, Royko
And I consider the qualities they all seem to have in common:
~ Erudition and literacy
~ Aptitude for history and social / cultural anthropology
~ Cynicism
~ Ribald sense of humor