Faux HTML Tags



"OP (name redacted) Has anyone noticed that Twitter-style hashtags have replaced HTML-style coding as meta-commentary on the internet? Person responding (also redacted)"

- Fail Blog



On blogs and Internet discussion forums, participants use the SGML-style tags popularized by HTML (or sometimes BB Code-style tags) to accentuate their messages, such as ...  and  .... Sometimes these Faux HTML Tags can include attributes such as ... .

Oftentimes the opening tag will be omitted and only the closing tag will be there, as a kind of self-conscious lampshade hung on the preceding flame/rant/etc.

Can also be used in image macros; here are some examples. Note that not all edited photos are image macros: Some humorous pictures are seen on the 'Net, such as a man with " " tatooed on his neck or a tombstone with " ".

Anti-war candidate Darcy Burner wore a T-shirt with  on it in several photos.

Adam Savage frequently wears a T-shirt that states "Am I missing an eyebrow?" .

is occasionally used on Usenet to indicate that one is unsubscribing from a thread. However, the proper use should be either (to indicate that the subscription is ending) or (XML empty tag to indicate an unsubscription). It probably means, though, that the person has just finished the process of unsubscribing. 

This used to be done with faux C preprocessor directives, e.g.: "# ifdef FLAME flame flame flame
 * 1) endif"

but that usage has largely been supplanted by more-approachable HTML.

Also known as Ostensible Markup Language, although it's not the only meaning of that phrase.