Index: sbbs.el
==================================================================
--- sbbs.el
+++ sbbs.el
@@ -563,13 +563,36 @@
 (defvar sbbs-compose-mode-map
   (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
     (define-key map (kbd "C-c C-c") #'sbbs-compose-create)
     map))
 
+(defvar sbbs--font-lock
+  ;; stolen/based on from http://textboard.org/prog/81/5
+  '(;; code
+    ("^```\\(.*\n\\)*?```\n?" . 'sbbs--code-face)
+    ;; bold
+    ("\\*\\*[^ ].*?\\*\\*" . 'bold)
+    ;; italic
+    ("__[^ ].*?__" . 'italic)
+    ;; monospaced
+    ("==[^ ].*?==" . 'shadow)
+    ;; spoiler
+    ("~~[^ ].*?~~" . 'sbbs--spoiler-face)
+    ;; references
+    (">>\\([[:digit:]]+\\(?:-[[:digit:]]+\\)?\\(?:,[[:digit:]]+\\(?:-[[:digit:]]+\\)?\\)*\\)"
+     . 'link)
+    ;; quotes
+    ("^>.*" . font-lock-comment-face))
+  "Highlighting for SchemeBBS posts")
+
 (define-derived-mode sbbs-compose-mode text-mode "SchemeBBS Compose"
   "Major mode for composing replies and starting new threads."
+  (setq-local comment-start ">")
+  (setq-local comment-start-skip "^>")
+  (setq-local font-lock-defaults '(sbbs--font-lock))
+  (setq-local font-lock-multiline t)
   (setq-local fill-column most-positive-fixnum)
   (message "Press C-c C-c to send"))
 
 (provide 'sbbs)
 
 ;;; sbbs.el ends here