As I noted earlier in the comments, this should be fixable with one line of CSS:
a[onclick] { cursor: pointer }
As far as I can tell, this fixes the issue (and any possible similar issues elsewhere in the user interface) with no harmful side effects.
Since the SE folks don't, alas, seem very interested in fixing this, I've added the CSS rule above to the Stack Overflow Unofficial Patch, a collection of client-side CSS and JavaScript fixes packaged as a GreaseMonkey-style user script. If you're using a compatible browser (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, possibly Safari and others, but unfortunately not IE or most mobile browsers), please give it a try!
Update: In the upcoming release of SOUP (v1.17.devel) this rule has been generalized to:
a[onclick], a:not([name]) { cursor: pointer }
This rule catches some extra pointer-less pseudo-links that the earlier one didn't, such a comment delete links, and should hopefully still remain free of false matches.
Update 2: It looks like this has been quietly fixed at some point, possibly as a side effect of the great CSS redesign of 2018. The mobile style sheet now contains the rule:
a, .s-link {
color: #D58E10;
text-decoration: none;
cursor: pointer;
}
which makes all <a>
elements have a pointer cursor by default.