i think this is the problem, .. correct me if i'm wrong. you are using a text box just like you used to type your post.
then, to print it to the screen, you are not putting it in a text box, but rather just plain html.
if this is the issue, then it is not a problem. the text is going out the same way it goes in.
html does not recognize a line break, but rather the html tag
<br>
fortunately for you, php has a function that converts line breaks to br tags.
PHP Code:
<?
$text = "hi my
name is
mike";
echo nl2br($text);
?>