you can also just hit the back button to go back to the original topic… or right click a link and tell it to open in a new tab… I didn’t know that option existed in discourse, but there were other options.
Although it’s a built-in Discourse function, you can also open any link from any web page in a new tab by using a keyboard modifier. On Mac, ⌘-click opens in a new tab (and ⇧-click in a new window In Chrome and Firefox.)
Indeed, and to show you can’t please everyone, I would be pretty miffed if that were forced on for everyone. I should get to choose whether to open a new tab, not the web site I’m on.
Having worked on the sales (i.e. customer-facing) side of software for over 20 years, one thing that irritates me the most is when software designers decide how users want things to work. If it’s possible to provide a choice, then provide it.