Thanks for the link!
Since I have your attention now, this might be a good place to post this request. I'd love to have the option of opening links in discussions in a new tab.
I just wanted to see what the new lay-out was and continue with reading the rest of the thread. Now I accidentally forgot to "open in new tab", saw the picture and had to use the "Back" button in the browser. Losing the position in the discussion in the process.
Links in the comment part of an article are almost always something you would want to read in addition to the rest of the discussion.
Just my two cents. From reading your other replies, you seem to have a lot of ideas for improving the site already.