i tend to agree with this. like the above scenario with a telegram channel, clearly there are going to be cases where overriding the user preferences is ideal for admin created custom links. in theme components we target _blank often so i’m not sure why this option can’t be here as part of the custom side-bar config modal (unless it’s a case of real estate and there is no room there).
i actually have a admin customized side-bar links on my forum as well where i would be inclined to override the user setting for links.