If the base target were [something like "pm_display"] instead of "_new", then users of fullpage chat would get the same behaviour as now

No, it wouldn't. If pm_planet was used for target, the first followed link will open a new window as if _new had been used, but the second followed would overwrite the window opened by the first link (if it's still open) instead of opening a new window.

For example, if you click on each of the following without closing newly opened windows, you'll end up with 3 windows instead of the desired 4.
<a href="?node_id=67275" target="_new"> (jZed's home node)
<a href="?node_id=381608" target="_new"> (my home node)
<a href="?node_id=67275" target="pm_display">
<a href="?node_id=381608" target="pm_display">

I *hate* windows overwritting each other. I've lost much this way.

Update: By the way, _new is non-standard. _blank is the standard target to specify that "the user agent should load the designated document in a new, unnamed window."

In reply to Re: _new considered harmful by ikegami
in thread _new considered harmful by jZed

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.