Do not query the database upon each and every request (and use a CDN for media assets, but it's secondary) and you'll basically never die from being hugged. He

Do not query the database upon each and every request (and use a CDN for media assets, but it's secondary) and you'll basically never die from being hugged. Heck, a few month ago someone shared their website hosted on an old Android phone and it didn't have any issues handling the load from the HN crowd (which isn't really that big anyway).