The odd tale of Quickmask and the alpha channel

Question

I'm posting this in hope rather than expectation - as I keep requesting this is fixed, but I seem to be a lone voice.
I understand that this code was written back in the 90's - and I get the impression (from a senior Photoshop engineer no less) that no one really understands it...
The odd tale of Quickmask and the alpha channel
Try this:
With Quickmask set to it's defaults (double click the quickmask icon and ensure it's set to 'colour indicates : masked areas'), paint in black to create a 'red' quickmask area. Hit Q to return to the selection border. You should see two selection borders - one at the edge of the image defining the outer edge of the selected area, and one defining the inner edge of the masked area that you painted.
Now hit the 'save selection as channel' button at the bottom of the channel palette to create an alpha channel.Everything's as expected - the alpha is black ('unselected') where you painted.
Now repeat the process, but with the Quickmask mode set to 'colour indicates : selected areas'.
In this case where you paint in QM mode should be selected. Paint a patch and hit the Q key - it is. You have a single selected area. Now hit the 'save selection as channel' button at the bottom of the channel palette to create another alpha channel.
This time the alpha is incorrect - it's the inverse of what it should be.
And it gets worse:
Ctrl / Cmd click on the alpha thumbnail to load the alpha as a selection -
notice that it even loads the black area as a selection.
It's been like this as long as I can remember... and I really wish it was fixed.
I'm a Photoshop ACI. QM is a tool I'd like to get my students to use more, but this behaviour makes it 'difficult' to teach Quickmask to users, particularly in conjunction with alpha channels. In my experience it seems that most users find it more natural to 'paint on' a selection, rather than than 'paint off' a mask.
So most users would prefer to set 'colour indicates : selected areas'
I've been around long enough to know the rubylith heritage upon which Quickmask is modelled, however I now think it's time that baggage was left behind. I wonder what proportion of current Photoshop users even know what rubylith was?
There are two points here:
1. There should be NO connection between the QM paint state and the subsequent creation (or loading) of an alpha channel.
Whether you choose to label it  a feature or a bug, it's clearly wrong to toggle out of QM mode, see a selection on screen, make an alpha channel - and find your alpha is reversed.
And in addition to that - it's a 'freak' alpha that subsequently loads reversed...
2. I think it's time to drop the rubylith baggage and set the QM paint mode to a default of set 'colour indicates : selected areas'.

Answer 1

Charles,
Thanks to your replies I've now discovered another twist to this tale...
When I'm saving a selection, I typically use the 'save selection as alpha' button in the channels panel. That shows the issue I'm referring to.
However, I've just discovered - thanks to your comments - that if instead you use the 'Select > Save selection' menu command you get a 'correct' alpha.
If you care to try that second example again you'll find you can get two different alpha's from the same selection - depending upon which saving option you choose!
This is now getting so complex, I'll have to put a pdf together explaining it and send it to our fiends at Adobe.