diff --git a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
index 80a20d00b..b999f1a49 100644
--- a/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/status_messages_helper.rb
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ module StatusMessagesHelper
     # next line is important due to XSS! (h is rail's make_html_safe-function)
     message = h(message).html_safe
 
+    message.gsub!(/\[([^\[]+)\]\(([^ ]+) \&quot;(([^&]|(&[^q])|(&q[^u])|(&qu[^o])|(&quo[^t])|(&quot[^;]))+)\&quot;\)/, '<a href="\2" title="\3">\1</a>')
+    message.gsub!(/\[([^\[]+)\]\(([^ ]+)\)/, '<a href="\2">\1</a>')
+
     message.gsub!(/( |^)(www\.[^ ]+\.[^ ])/) do |m|
       res = "#{$1}http://#{$2}"
       res.gsub!(/^(\*|_)$/) { |m| "\\#{$1}" }
@@ -29,13 +32,16 @@ module StatusMessagesHelper
       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
+    message.gsub!(/(<a href=")?(https|http|ftp):\/\/([^ ]+)/) do |m|
+      if $1 == '<a href="'
+        m
+      else
+        res = %{<a target="_blank" href="#{$2}://#{$3}">#{$3}</a>}
+        res.gsub!(/(\*|_)/) { |m| "\\#{$1}" }
+        res
+      end
     end
 
-    # markdown
     message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)\*\*(([^*]|([^*]\*[^*]))*[^*\\])\*\*/, '\1<strong>\2</strong>')
     message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)__(([^_]|([^_]_[^_]))*[^_\\])__/, '\1<strong>\2</strong>')
     message.gsub!(/([^\\]|^)\*([^*]*[^\\])\*/, '\1<em>\2</em>')
diff --git a/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
index 0f699781b..61ae88be0 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/status_messages_helper_spec.rb
@@ -104,6 +104,18 @@ describe StatusMessagesHelper do
       end
     end
 
+    describe "links" do
+      it "should be recognized without title attribute" do
+        message = "[link text](http://someurl.com) [link text](http://someurl.com)"
+        make_links(message).should == '<a href="http://someurl.com">link text</a> <a href="http://someurl.com">link text</a>'
+      end
+
+      it "should be recognized with title attribute" do
+        message = '[link text](http://someurl.com "some title") [link text](http://someurl.com "some title")'
+        make_links(message).should == '<a href="http://someurl.com" title="some title">link text</a> <a href="http://someurl.com" title="some title">link text</a>'
+      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"