I say let the links remain as they are. The user should be able to make that decision.
Although it is much more a common practice to open external websites into a blank tab/window.
I don't know about everyone else but when I want a link to open in a new tab I tell it too manually. There's too many websites that react differently from one to the other.
Stumbled over this comment and felt an urge to reply. I think this is superuser behaviour, and that most people (those we're designing for) just click the links. I admit that I don't have any numbers to back this up, though.
I say let the links remain as they are. The user should be able to make that decision.
Although it is much more a common practice to open external websites into a blank tab/window.
I don't know about everyone else but when I want a link to open in a new tab I tell it too manually. There's too many websites that react differently from one to the other.