> But then I have to hit the Back button. Who hits the back button on the Internet anymore, especially techies like myself who live off of keyboard shortcuts? Why make me go from using my keyboard to using my mouse or trackpad just to go back? No one uses the Delete key to go back, let’s be honest.<p>I don't know what SEO-flavored koolaid you've been gargling, but FYI, the Back button is _still_ the most-used part of browser UI, beating out even _the address bar_: <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-study-2012-results-are-in/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2012/06/firefox-heatmap-study-20...</a><p>I'd think "techies like yourself" would also know that there are also at least four ways to open any link you want in a new tab: ctrl-click, middle-click, context menu, or ctrl-enter while it has focus.<p>As for the Back button, I tend to have one hand on my mouse while browsing anyway (so I can, you know, click links), and I usually go back by clicking mouse4. That's the bottom of the pair of buttons on the left side of the mouse, where my thumb goes. The top one, mouse5, even goes forward. I think this is default behavior in every browser by now.<p>Opening in a new window by default is a crappy idea anyway, but it's particularly bad on a news aggregator site line HN, because I almost certainly want to read _more than one article_. Why would I click a link and alt-tab back ad nauseum, when I can just scan down the front page and middle-click anything that looks interesting, then browse through the collection of new tabs at my leisure?<p>The only remotely compelling excuse for this behavior is that users may not know how to open links in new tabs, but they absolutely understand Back, and one would assume HN has a reasonably technical audience anyway. So that just leaves us with: spawning new tabs forces me to look at the origin site at least once more so I can _close_ it. Well, fuck your cheap tricks and fuck your "engagement". I'll do my own window management, tyvm.