diff --git a/doc/Manual.txt b/doc/Manual.txt
index 55f0051..2fe82ba 100644
--- a/doc/Manual.txt
+++ b/doc/Manual.txt
@@ -169,21 +169,19 @@ adjust and have MeetBot re-process the logs later.
                release.
 
 #link
-  Add a link to the minutes.  The URL must be the first thing on the
-  line, separated by a space from the rest of the line, and it will be
-  properly hyperlinked.  This command is automatically detected if the line
-  starts with http:, https:, mailto:, and some other common protocols
-  defined in the ``UrlProtocols`` configuration variable.  Examples::
+
+  Add a link to the minutes.  The URL will be properly detected within
+  the line in most cases - the URL can't contain spaces.  This command
+  is automatically detected if the line starts with http:, https:,
+  mailto:, and some other common protocols defined in the
+  ``UrlProtocols`` configuration variable.  Examples::
 
     < MrBeige> #link http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot/ is the main page
     < MrBeige> http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot/ is the main page
-
-  Both of these two examples are equivalent, and will hyperlink
-  properly.  The first example below won't hyperlink properly, the
-  second one won't be automatically detected::
-
     < MrBeige> #link the main page is http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot/
-    < MrBeige> the main page is http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot/
+               so go there
+    < MrBeige> the main page is http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot/ so go
+               there.  (This will NOT be detected automatically)
 
 
 
diff --git a/ircmeeting/items.py b/ircmeeting/items.py
index 7463585..1109fb0 100644
--- a/ircmeeting/items.py
+++ b/ircmeeting/items.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 ###
 
 import os
+import re
 import time
 
 import writers
@@ -73,10 +74,9 @@ class _BaseItem(object):
             replacements[name] = getattr(self, name)
         replacements['nick'] = escapewith(replacements['nick'])
         replacements['link'] = self.logURL(M)
-        if 'line' in replacements:
-            replacements['line'] = escapewith(replacements['line'])
-        if 'topic' in replacements:
-            replacements['topic'] = escapewith(replacements['topic'])
+        for key in ('line', 'prefix', 'suffix', 'topic'):
+            if key in replacements:
+                replacements[key] = escapewith(replacements[key])
         if 'url' in replacements:
             replacements['url_quoteescaped'] = \
                                       escapewith(self.url.replace('"', "%22"))
@@ -228,24 +228,40 @@ class Rejected(GenericItem):
 class Link(_BaseItem):
     itemtype = 'LINK'
     html_template = """<tr><td><a href='%(link)s#%(anchor)s'>%(time)s</a></td>
-        <td>%(itemtype)s</td><td>%(nick)s</td><td>%(starthtml)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a> %(line)s%(endhtml)s</td>
+        <td>%(itemtype)s</td><td>%(nick)s</td><td>%(starthtml)s%(prefix)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a>%(suffix)s%(endhtml)s</td>
         </tr>"""
-    #html2_template = ("""<i>%(itemtype)s</i>: %(starthtml)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a> %(line)s%(endhtml)s """
-    #                  """(%(nick)s, <a href='%(link)s#%(anchor)s'>%(time)s</a>)""")
-    #html2_template = ("""<i>%(itemtype)s</i>: %(starthtml)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a> %(line)s%(endhtml)s """
-    #                  """(<a href='%(link)s#%(anchor)s'>%(nick)s</a>, %(time)s)""")
-    html2_template = ("""%(starthtml)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a> %(line)s%(endhtml)s """
+    html2_template = ("""%(starthtml)s%(prefix)s<a href="%(url)s">%(url_readable)s</a>%(suffix)s%(endhtml)s """
                       """<span class="details">"""
                       """(<a href='%(link)s#%(anchor)s'>%(nick)s</a>, """
                       """%(time)s)"""
                       """</span>""")
-    rst_template = """*%(itemtype)s*: %(startrst)s%(url)s %(line)s%(endrst)s  (%(rstref)s_)"""
-    text_template = """%(itemtype)s: %(starttext)s%(url)s %(line)s%(endtext)s  (%(nick)s, %(time)s)"""
-    mw_template = """''%(itemtype)s:'' %(startmw)s%(url)s %(line)s%(endmw)s  (%(nick)s, %(time)s)"""
-    def __init__(self, nick, line, linenum, time_):
+    rst_template = """*%(itemtype)s*: %(startrst)s%(prefix)s%(url)s%(suffix)s%(endrst)s  (%(rstref)s_)"""
+    text_template = """%(itemtype)s: %(starttext)s%(prefix)s%(url)s%(suffix)s%(endtext)s  (%(nick)s, %(time)s)"""
+    mw_template = """''%(itemtype)s:'' %(startmw)s%(prefix)s%(url)s%(suffix)s%(endmw)s  (%(nick)s, %(time)s)"""
+    def __init__(self, nick, line, linenum, time_, M):
         self.nick = nick ; self.linenum = linenum
         self.time = time.strftime("%H:%M:%S", time_)
-        self.url, self.line = (line+' ').split(' ', 1)
+        self.line = line
+
+        protocols = M.config.UrlProtocols
+        protocols = '|'.join(re.escape(p) for p in protocols)
+        protocols = '(?:'+protocols+')'
+        # This is gross.
+        # (.*?)          - any prefix, non-greedy
+        # (%s//[^\s]+    - protocol://... until the next space
+        # (?<!\.|\))     - but the last character can NOT be . or )
+        # (.*)           - any suffix
+        url_re = re.compile(r'(.*?)(%s//[^\s]+(?<!\.|\)))(.*)'%protocols)
+        m = url_re.match(line)
+        if m:
+            self.prefix = m.group(1)
+            self.url    = m.group(2)
+            self.suffix = m.group(3)
+        else:
+            # simple matching, the old way.
+            self.url, self.suffix = (line+' ').split(' ', 1)
+            self.suffix = ' '+self.suffix
+            self.prefix = ''
         # URL-sanitization
         self.url_readable = self.url # readable line version
         self.url = self.url
diff --git a/ircmeeting/meeting.py b/ircmeeting/meeting.py
index d694d79..692a394 100644
--- a/ircmeeting/meeting.py
+++ b/ircmeeting/meeting.py
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ class MeetingCommands(object):
             self.addnick(nick, lines=0)
     def do_link(self, **kwargs):
         """Add informational item to the minutes."""
-        m = items.Link(**kwargs)
+        m = items.Link(M=self, **kwargs)
         self.additem(m)
     def do_commands(self, **kwargs):
         commands = [ "#"+x[3:] for x in dir(self) if x[:3]=="do_" ]
diff --git a/tests/run_test.py b/tests/run_test.py
index c677445..213cd43 100644
--- a/tests/run_test.py
+++ b/tests/run_test.py
@@ -222,6 +222,32 @@ class MeetBotTest(unittest.TestCase):
                          results, re.IGNORECASE), \
                          "Nick full-word matching failed"
 
+    def test_urlMatching(self):
+        """Test properly detection of URLs in lines
+        """
+        script = """
+        20:13:50 <x> #startmeeting
+        20:13:50 <x> #link prefix http://site1.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> http://site2.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> ftp://ftpsite1.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> #link prefix ftp://ftpsite2.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> irc://ircsite1.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> mailto://a@mail.com suffix
+        20:13:50 <x> #endmeeting
+        """
+        M = process_meeting(script)
+        results = M.save()['.html']
+        assert re.search(r'prefix.*href.*http://site1.com.*suffix',
+                         results), "URL missing 1"
+        assert re.search(r'href.*http://site2.com.*suffix',
+                         results), "URL missing 2"
+        assert re.search(r'href.*ftp://ftpsite1.com.*suffix',
+                         results), "URL missing 3"
+        assert re.search(r'prefix.*href.*ftp://ftpsite2.com.*suffix',
+                         results), "URL missing 4"
+        assert re.search(r'href.*mailto://a@mail.com.*suffix',
+                         results), "URL missing 5"
+
     def t_css(self):
         """Runs all CSS-related tests.
         """
diff --git a/tests/test-script-1.log.txt b/tests/test-script-1.log.txt
index bd7cb16..7f46176 100644
--- a/tests/test-script-1.log.txt
+++ b/tests/test-script-1.log.txt
@@ -64,7 +64,15 @@
 # links
 20:13:50 <MrBeige> #topic Links
 20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link http://test<b>.zgib.net
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link ftp://test<b>.zgib.net "
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link mailto://a@bla"h.com
 20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link http://test.zgib.net/&testpage
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link prefix http://test.zgib.net/&testpage suffix
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link prefix ftp://test.zg"ib.net/&testpage suffix
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link prefix mailto://a@blah.com&testpage suffix
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link prefix http://google.com/. suffix
+20:13:50 <Utahraptor> #link prefix (http://google.com/) suffix
+
 
 # accents
 20:13:50 <MrBeige> #topic Character sets