You see, I'm exactly the opposite. I get *extremely* annoyed when I click a link and it suddenly spawns a new window. I then have to remember to close the window instead of just clicking back, and I have an extra button my taskbar (when I already have 20 programs opened typically).
To each their own. Tis why we added a setting to let external links open in a new window. We can certainly add the javascript to execute in the profile screen (for example) if it's not executing there.
Honestly, I don't understand what the big deal is. There's a setting to do what you want. Why do you guys care if we used javascript or an attribute that isn't valid (and thus, could potentially not work in future browsers)? If the setting isn't working in, for example, profiles - report that as a bug and be done with it. We'll fix it there, problem solved.