I believe you're using the WYSIWYG editor. In v9 parsing out of links and emoticons is not guaranteed when using WYSIWYG, you're expected to use the WYSIWYG features to select it all within the normal editor features.
The exact reasons are complex, related to exactly what can be parsed, but it is changing in v10.
The exact reasons are complex, related to exactly what can be parsed, but it is changing in v10.