Creating links in text.

How do the bots read the actual text?

[youfoundjake]

If I'm posting on a forum or blog that has links turned off, how would the bots see the text " <a href="http://www.example.com> link </a> "
Would they read that as normal text or would the bots parse it and actually extract the link so that it counts as an inbound link to the site?

[Brett_Tabke]

not counted as inbound link - but they will spider the url.

[youfoundjake]

Brett, thanks for the quick response. Why would it not be listed as an inbound link if robots are sent to the url? What mechinism is it that triggers the link to be considered an inbound link? It seems odd that the robot would follow the url posted in text but not count that as an inbound link.
Thanks for WebmasterWorld.