Thread:Deadcoder/@comment-5175866-20161022150023/@comment-5973717-20161028191443

If all you need is something that takes plaintext links, and makes a url; then the NewTabLink script is exactly what you need. I'm sure it's possible to make a version which allows the links to be reused in a similar manner to the reftags, but fair warning: the solution will probably be uglier than Marilyn Monroe's liver.

Additionally, there's a RefTagger clone you may be interested in: http://dev.wikia.com/wiki/ReferencePopups. This could be combined with a little bit of custom code to create the sort of thing you seem to be looking for.