def METHOD_NAME(token):
    # takes a string like '<opaquelocktoken:afsdfadfadf> and returns the token
    # part.
    if not token: return None           # An empty string was passed in
    if token[0] == '[': return None     # An Etag was passed in
    if token[0] == '<': token = token[1:-1]
    return token[token.find(':')+1:]