diff --git a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
index 2e010715a..39ba258d3 100644
--- a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
@@ -18,14 +18,38 @@ module StatusMessagesHelper
     
     # next line is important due to XSS! (h is rail's make_html_safe-function)
     message = h(message).html_safe
-    message.gsub!(/( |^)(www\.[^ ]+\.[^ ])/, '\1http://\2')
-    message.gsub!(/( |^)http:\/\/www\.youtube\.com\/watch[^ ]*v=([A-Za-z0-9_]+)(&[^ ]*|)/, '\1youtube.com::\2')
-    message.gsub!(/(https|http|ftp):\/\/([^ ]+)/, '<a target="_blank" href="\1://\2">\2</a>')
-   
-    while youtube = message.match(/youtube\.com::([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/)
+
+    message.gsub!(/( |^)(www\.[^ ]+\.[^ ])/) do |m|
+      res = "#{$1}http://#{$2}"
+      res.gsub!(/^(\*|_)$/) { |m| "\\#{$1}" }
+      res
+    end
+    message.gsub!(/( |^)http:\/\/www\.youtube\.com\/watch[^ ]*v=([A-Za-z0-9_]+)(&[^ ]*|)/) do |m|
+      res = "#{$1}youtube.com::#{$2}"
+      res.gsub!(/(\*|_)/) { |m| "\\#{$1}" }
+      res
+    end
+    message.gsub!(/(https|http|ftp):\/\/([^ ]+)/) do |m|
+      res = %{<a target="_blank" href="#{$1}://#{$2}">#{$2}</a>}
+      res.gsub!(/(\*|_)/) { |m| "\\#{$1}" }
+      res
+    end
+
+    # markdown
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)\*\*(([^*]|([^*]\*[^*]))*[^\\])\*\*/, '\1<strong>\2</strong>')
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)__(([^_]|([^_]_[^_]))*[^\\])__/, '\1<strong>\2</strong>')
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)\*([^*]*[^\\])\*/, '\1<em>\2</em>')
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)_([^_]*[^\\])_/, '\1<em>\2</em>')
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)\*/, '\1')
+    message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)_/, '\1')
+    message.gsub!("\\*", "*")
+    message.gsub!("\\_", "_")
+
+    while youtube = message.match(/youtube\.com::([A-Za-z0-9_\\]+)/)
       videoid = youtube[1]
       message.gsub!('youtube.com::'+videoid, '<a onclick="openVideo(\'youtube.com\', \'' + videoid + '\', this)" href="#video">Youtube: ' + youtube_title(videoid) + '</a>')
     end
+
     return message
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
index 0aee3826a..9f89a1eb5 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
@@ -68,5 +68,45 @@ describe StatusMessagesHelper do
     make_links(url).should == "<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http://"+url+"\">"+url+"</a>"
   end
 
+  describe "markdown" do
+    describe "weak emphasis" do
+      it "should be recognized (1/2)" do
+        message = "*some text* some text *some text* some text"
+        make_links(message).should == "<em>some text</em> some text <em>some text</em> some text"
+      end
+
+      it "should be recognized (2/2)" do
+        message = "_some text_ some text _some text_ some text"
+        make_links(message).should == "<em>some text</em> some text <em>some text</em> some text"
+      end
+    end
+
+    describe "strong emphasis" do
+      it "should be recognized (1/2)" do
+        message = "**some text** some text **some text** some text"
+        make_links(message).should == "<strong>some text</strong> some text <strong>some text</strong> some text"
+      end
+
+      it "should be recognized (2/2)" do
+        message = "__some text__ some text __some text__ some text"
+        make_links(message).should == "<strong>some text</strong> some text <strong>some text</strong> some text"
+      end
+    end
+
+    describe "imbricated weak and strong emphasis" do
+      it "should be rendered correctly" do
+        message = "__this is _some_ text__"
+        make_links(message).should == "<strong>this is <em>some</em> text</strong>"
+        message = "*this is **some** text*"
+        make_links(message).should == "<em>this is <strong>some</strong> text</em>"
+      end
+    end
+
+    it "should allow escaping" do
+      message = '*some text* \\*some text* \\**some text* _some text_ \\_some text_ \\__some text_'
+      make_links(message).should == "<em>some text</em> *some text<em> *</em>some text <em>some text</em> _some text<em> _</em>some text"
+    end
+  end
+
   
 end