bulk italic and bold - what's going wrong with it?

[thumbwitch]

This has been going on for a while, so it's probably been done already - I did look but didn't see anything immediately so I'm asking:
What is going on with it? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't! Sometimes I get the bits I've bolded/italicised individually properly, and sometimes the buggering thing appears to ignore the first ^ or * and work from the second one right through until it finds another one! It's Not Consistent and it's winding me up!

Please tell me if there is some magical way to ensure it works properly every time. I have worked out already that I have to leave a space before the ^ or the * or they don't work at all - so what else is there please?

Hi thumbwitch. We'll see if we can get this improved. It is a bit lenient sometimes.

Thank you AdamTech! It usually works ok for me but twice today it has messed up spectacularly - I have taken to "shouting" at people instead to avoid confusion.

I could be wrong, but I have noticed that certain punctuation typed immediately after the ^ or * mess it up.

this is a test

(this is a test)

!this is a test!

this is a test)

this (is a test)

Oh, that could just be the space thing.

Sorry.