I understand Antoine. 

At this point, while I could easily implement the changes you ask for in your review, I'm concerned that we are spending our time adding a feature to Python that nobody really loves.

What I'd really love is a pair of methods `read` and `write`. (Less typing than the method names you asked for, and less methods added to the API.) And I'd love for these methods to be able to use append and exclusive. I understand that a feature like that is not acceptable to you, which I accept, since this is an open-source projects that needs to satisfy many people and not just myself.

So the current way you want to implement this is not something I'm excited about and not something I'll be happy to use. The question is, are *you* excited about this feature the way you want to implement it? (With four methods and no append or exclusive.) Is this something you'd love to use? Do you think other people feel the same?

If so, I'll be happy to finish editing this patch so this feature could go into Python. Otherwise, if we find no one who actually loves this feature, I think that the most beneficial action we could do for the Python community is to drop this issue right here, rather than add a command to the API that we'll have to support for decades despite the fact nobody really likes it.