Many of the features of python were added not out of need but rather for convenience.
If need were the only criteria we could immediately get rid of comprehensions, since they can be written as a series of for loops, the same can be said for many other newer features. Python is all about making the programming experience easier and more productive. Expanding replace from just strings to other sequences such as as lists makes sense. The cost in time and effort to add this to python is trivial. I say go for it. -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
