John, if you are copy/pasting the link directly to the message body you need to be careful to insert a space before you paste the link (paste it after a space.)  Once it is pasted without the space it does no good to insert the space.

An example - I did a test on the test forumhttp://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17161&posts=1#M116997

But if I insert the space and then paste I get an active link http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17161&posts=1#M116997

". . . but on my post below the link went off screen and it wasn't active."  Apparently you have edited out the link in question.  You may be correct that a long link will cover beyond the entire screen if there is not a break in the link to allow a line return, but I do not see that by narrowing this reply window.

I hope this helps.  Gary