Thanks to aelara's donation I was able to find someone to write the javascript portion needed to present a plain URL and still keep the outbound click counts.
I've created this patch for version 2.1.0.1b SEF It includes a new /out.php
and a new /includes/functions.php file and can be downloaded
here
The included readme.txt file . . .
QUOTE:
This patch is for Dew-NewPHPLinks version 2.1.0.1b SEF
This patch does not use the "outer_frame" method of linking to the sites listed in your installation.
The setting of the outer_frame option is ignored.
What this patch does....
Presents plain URLs on category, whats cool, popular, new pages, as well as search results. Outbound clicks will still be counted
when using a javascript capable browser.
Corrects out.php to ensure outbound clicks are counted, as long as the previous click was from a different IP address
Installation..
Rename your current files /out.php and /includes/function.php to something like /out/php.bck and /includes/functions/php.bck
Upload the new /out.php and /includes/functions.php files.
That's it