diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 2a2188263..309ea8438 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ module ApplicationHelper
   def markdownify(message, options = {})
     message = h(message).html_safe
 
-    [:autolinks, :youtube, :emphasis, :links].each do |k|
+    [:autolinks, :youtube, :emphasis, :links, :newlines].each do |k|
       if !options.has_key?(k)
         options[k] = true
       end
@@ -231,6 +231,10 @@ module ApplicationHelper
       end
     end
 
+    if options[:newlines]
+      message.gsub!(/\n+/, '<br />')
+    end
+
     return message
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
index f093ed46d..44195c7cd 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/application_helper_spec.rb
@@ -202,6 +202,14 @@ describe ApplicationHelper do
       end
     end
 
+    describe "newlines" do
+      it 'generates breaklines' do
+        message = "These\nare\nsome\nnew\nlines"
+        res = markdownify(message)
+        res.should == "These<br /\>are<br /\>some<br /\>new<br /\>lines"
+      end
+    end
+
     context 'performance' do
       before do
         @message = "HHello,Hello_, I _am a strong robot.*Hello, I am *a strong robot.Hello, I am a strong robot.Hello, I am a strong robot.Hello, I am a strong robot.Hello, I am a **strong robot.Hello, I am _a _strong *robot**.Hello*, I am a strong "