> and `log` base `math.e` is likely to be less accurate than plain natural log

Nope, that's nonsense, since the two-argument form simply divides by log(base), and while log(math.e) is mathematically not exactly 1 (its exact value, assuming IEEE 754 binary64, starts 0.9999999999999999468176229339410862948..., which is off from 1.0 by around 0.48 ulps), it's *just* close enough that with a well-behaved libm log implementation it's exactly 1.0 after rounding.

I still don't like the idea of math.e as a default value here, but I'd have to work harder to identify why it makes me uneasy.