David,
Adding to what Michael said, an idiomatic pattern I've been using is:
obj = kv.bucket(b).get(name)
data = f.get_data() or {'my_list': []}
data['my_list'].append(something)
obj.set_data(data)
obj.store()
[usually it's `f.get_data() or {}` when I use it, but you should see the
pattern.]
David,
The way you're doing it is correct. As far as I can tell populate is
mostly meant for internal use similar to set_siblings which has this
comment in the code
Set the array of siblings - used internally
Not sure why they arnt using the convention of setting internal methods
with _
