In end effect the web bug used by Dokuwiki is probably as effecient and robust as it can be. While the general concept may be remeniscient of generating electricity from a hamster wheel, given an efficient solution, it begs the question: if you have a host which does allow you use of cron, would you still be tempted to live with Dokuwiki’s web bug? Still a dodgy hack or a valid solution?
via SitePoint » Web bugs for job scheduling: hack or solution?.