According to database pioneer Michael Stonebraker, Facebook is operating a huge, complex MySQL implementation equivalent to “a fate worse than death,” and the only way out is “bite the bullet and rewrite everything.”

— GigaOm

I think the best thing about being a database pioneer is giving tech blogs Gandalfesque warnings about massive sites. “And yea, the database thou hast split into 4,000 shards shall be filled unto bursting, and the 9,000 instances of memcached shall rend thee like the houndebeasts of Hades.”

Link: Facebook Trapped in MySQL “Fate Worse Than Death” [GigaOm]