Forte 6U2 - poor performance of std::map::operator[]

Question

I discovered to my horror this morning that Forte 6U2 implementation of std::map (at least at the patch level I'm working with) ALWAYS default constructs a value_type when operator[] is invoked - even if value_type already exists in the map.
Any reasonable STL implementation first uses lower bound to search, and failing to find an appropriate element, uses the resulting iterator as an insertion hint, only then default constructing a value_type (and therefore a mapped_type) element.
The existing implementation in Forte 6U2 imposes an absurd penalty on the use of the subscript operator when mapped_type's default construction semantics are non-trivial. While "correct" in the sense that the contract for std::map::operator[] is met, I cannot imagine that this was an intentional design choice given the performance implications. How can I get this issue addressed?

Answer 1

Well, I wasn't making any claim about the efficiency of the underlying tree representation - only the fact that operator[] unconditionally default constructs a mapped_type object, even if there is already an appropriate element in the map, which is no good at all. I'll try your request for enhancement thing though...
While I would very much like to switch to using STLport vs. the RW stl, a compiler upgrade is not the answer here.