Thank you again. You're right that checking for database x's existence, while logged into database x, is pointless. I didn't mention that for that command I'd be using the default postgres database.
But again, you're right about what's simple/better and what's not.
In fact, just today, I discovered that there may be an even simpler solution for our scenario: have Yesod deal with postgres altogether -- no script from us. But that's outside the scope of this thread.
Back to scope: I simply vote that the '-d' option of pg_isready be deprecated in favor of a dedicated db_exists utility, rather than change existing spec, for the reasons you gave.
Jake T.