Also, I think the problem is needing a database to serve content, not to generate or store it. Many people would be happy with a system where the database is needed only by the author, generating static pages from the database content and then serving those even if the database is down. I even wrote a bunch of scripts to use Wordpress as a static site generator, before I switched to Pelican. With a little more work I probably could have turned that into a turn-key solution that would still insulate readers from database problems.
Also, I think the problem is needing a database to serve content, not to generate or store it. Many people would be happy with a system where the database is needed only by the author, generating static pages from the database content and then serving those even if the database is down. I even wrote a bunch of scripts to use Wordpress as a static site generator, before I switched to Pelican. With a little more work I probably could have turned that into a turn-key solution that would still insulate readers from database problems.