I downloaded this extension after reading your post. now this is cool, and time-saving! I was not aware of this one. Thanks for the tip! 8)
Well....that didn't work. Hmmmmmm........
Make sure in the options (in the extensions area after highlighting bbcode) you select "enable html" and then use the "htmlcode" tab and not the bbcode tab. Most message forums don't use html code as Free Republic does, they use their own sort of code using [ instead of < .