After a little digging around I found that this was intentional in the coding. XHTML 1.0 compliance.
Heck, I don't even like most of the styles and I now have to re-learn everything regarding forum management.
The pages just seem so cluttered up and "MySpace"ish. I no longer belong here I guess. Outdated, outmoded, antiquated. Good thing the world can't tell my what bike to ride or what color my leather to wear to be politically correct, eh?
At least users can now use the middle mouse button or right click to open links in a new window.