- Are inbound links still important?
Yes - RELEVANT inbound links are quite important, particularly if the sites linking in have a higher page rank
- Do I still link out to quality sites that don't link back or should I delete their links?
Yes. But simply to have your users regard you as a generous source of information
- Do I use any "no follow" rules on outbound links?
No reason to stop the spiders
- Will having target = _blank on outbound links be regarded as bad by google?
No. It is transparent to Google. It is considered to be just another outbound link, only it follows the best practice rule that "A link which opens to any page where the original navigation is not present must open a fresh window as a courtesy to the user" Using javascript to open a new window will hurt you since it is regarded as a broken link.
- Are directory links worth having?
Yes, definitely.