What is faster: to write unconditionally or write only when required?

Before deletion of the link we have to ensure that it's value is reset.
Right now we read the value to decide to reset it or not to reset.
Would it be faster if we just write all the time unconditionally?

No file or test is named. Start at the link-deletion path described in the issue, measure the existing read-before-reset behavior against unconditional writes, and document which approach is faster; done means a benchmark-backed decision.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.