When I choose to add a link on a text, I simply mark the specific text (in Github), press the link button and I get a nice, preformatted syntax, which lets me simply copy in the URL.
In Discourse, a pop-up appears which lets me write the already written text again.
My proposal is: Let the pop-up automatically use the marked text as “displayed text”
FYI this is purely a UX issue. Currently, if you highlight text, click Hyperlink in the toolbar and add a URL, it does add the link to the selected text despite the “optional title” field being left blank.
Ideally the highlighted text should be added to the “optional title” field - but it does at least work.