[sokols]

This is exactly what I understood from the article. Your explanation didn't add anything extra.

[lazide]

I actually used the 1.0 version of Netscape Navigator, and did some web development on it back in the day.

Originally, _blank, _new, etc. weren’t special. A target ref to a name which wasn’t used would open a new window. If it was already used, it would take you to that open window.

People started using _whatever because just ‘blank’ would almost always cause a collision. Eventually it got standardized that it would always open a new blank window.

[tredre3]

If what you say is accurate then it should have been in the article. Because, as is, GP is correct that it doesn't answer the question!