I wonder if it is because of the new pending comments system that 15 comments in, no one has said, "why don't they just use PostgreSQL?" :-). Not that I am MySQL fanatic but I think it gets more hate on HN than it deserves. It has its quirks but is a good lightweight DB.<p>Funny enough I think all the hate for MySQL provides good documentation of what to watch out for.
It's interesting that the development is not really designed for public contributions; only contributions originating in the "webscale" companies.