Power users are likely to be annoyed when middle clicking your link opens a new worthless tab instead of doing what they wanted to do. Less knowledgeable users

Power users are likely to be annoyed when middle clicking your link opens a new worthless tab instead of doing what they wanted to do. Less knowledgeable users already have a hard enough time distinguishing what is clickable and what causes navigation, swapping functionality around on them is not kind. Styling can overcome this one to be fair. And of course as the article states, using the wrong thing makes it harder for screen readers and other such technologies to help users use your page. If that's not enough to convince you, I offer you a challenge. Use a screen reader for a week to get a feel for how to use it. Then use nothing but a screen reader for a week, no looking at your screen at all for even a moment. If you get through that without being frustrated by decisions exactly like these, I'll take you much more seriously.