MichaelG,
I understand how you would like to see the full hyperlink displayed however, due to the limitations of this forum software, long hyperlinks often 'mess up' the formatting of the site, which is why the advice is given to effectively hide the full link behind a text anchor. Failing this you can also utilise tinyurl links, all of which are a safe way to embed hyperlinks within a post.
The software behind this forum is less than optimal but I doubt the publishers are ever going to listen to us, we have been complaining about it since its inception!!!
So we are stuck with 'workarounds'
I limit my postings on this forum for that very reason!!!
regards
CB