[Mears]

I have no idea what that means.

[nicollo]

It used to be that html-based posts (i.e., not plain text) required </> tags to turn off bold, italics, and other html formats. If the poster did not include the off tag, "</>" the format would carry over into subsequent posts (such as "<i>" for italics on and "</i>" for italics off).

Drove everyone nuts, but it's also the origin of the </> meme, such as "/sarcasm."

I learned basic html here at FR, which has served me well ever since.