- Anybody recommending nolocks should be on an IT no-hire list. You are making bugs. Why not simply store all your data in ASCII flat files and get your wrong answer even faster?
Funny you should bring that up. I was wondering if a DB was even needed in a design like this. Sure, you need a durable store but do you really need a full ACID guarantee? You could go a long way with a simple paxos implementation rather than a full DB.
insert argument about using a sledgehammer to drive a thumb tack here