Ouch, I'm not a DBA nor advocating for hint support in PostgreSQL but were I either, I'd take Josh's broad brush of "old", "lazy" and "ignorant" unkindly.

PostgreSQL is indeed an awesome technology, I'm using it again after several years of working with folks who were stalwart MySQL adherents. I'm glad to be back. The query planner, among many other things, is a huge improvement.