Lately I have been getting a lot of emails from various people using a leading slash in their email signature, e.g:

/John Doe

Or the more obscure variant:

/J

Apart from some viral effect, I have been wondering where this fad came from? The best I could find is some speculation on this page from WikiAnswers:

What does a slash mean before a name signature in emails?

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Updated 2021 : note that the above was originally published in 2009, but is left here for archival purposes. /John