Blue Underlined Links are preferable in my opinion. I don't see any reason to change this. One of the things I've always liked about ihub is that it has stayed with this format. When the user is looking at tons of text throughout the day, it's so much easier to not have to think about is this just colored text or is it a link. It's only a split second difference, but done hundreds or thousands of times a day, it makes a difference. Remember, users aren't only on your site throughout the day. Some sites have colored text and that's all it is, it's not a link.
For years, we've all been trained that "blue underlined" meant a link. I liked it better when every message, every poster's name etc, were blue and underlined before moving the mouse over it.
