[wp-hackers] WP_Query() for meta_value = Empty or Missing?

[Andrew Nacin]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 11:21 PM, Ryan Bilesky <rbilesky at gmail.com> wrote:

> Why not just use wpdb.
>

Mike, looks like you're going to have to use said hooks. I was doing the
same thing the other day (and ended up with a different implementation, but
I saw the route I needed to take for that).

Ryan -- never a good idea to use direct queries whenever you can avoid it...
Using the API will ensure that things don't break during an upgrade, it
allows your plugin to play nice with other plugins, and it also scales
better as caching will be handled for you. Thus on the frontend especially,
avoid them at all costs.