diff --git a/app/assets/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter.js b/app/assets/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter.js
index a3733b629..a6fc1c391 100644
--- a/app/assets/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter.js
+++ b/app/assets/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter.js
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
     });
 
     md.use(inlinePlugin, 'link_new_window_and_punycode', 'link_open', function (tokens, idx) {
+      tokens[idx].href = tokens[idx].href.replace(/^www\./, "http://www.");
       tokens[idx].href = punycodeURL(tokens[idx].href);
       tokens[idx].target = "_blank";
     });
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter_spec.js b/spec/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter_spec.js
index 0343dc4ed..cbdfbe6ac 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter_spec.js
+++ b/spec/javascripts/app/helpers/text_formatter_spec.js
@@ -116,6 +116,11 @@ describe("app.helpers.textFormatter", function(){
       expect(this.formatter('<http://google.com>')).toContain('_blank');
     });
 
+    it("adds a missing http://", function() {
+      expect(this.formatter('[test](www.google.com)')).toContain('href="http://www.google.com"');
+      expect(this.formatter('[test](http://www.google.com)')).toContain('href="http://www.google.com"');
+    });
+
     it("respects code blocks", function() {
       var content = '`<unknown tag>`';
       var wrapper = $('<div>').html(this.formatter(content));