What are the limitations of using cookies in PHP to store user data for forum functionality?

Using cookies in PHP to store user data for forum functionality can be limited by security concerns, as cookies can be easily tampered with by users. To enhance security, it is recommended to use sessions instead of cookies to store sensitive user data. Sessions store data on the server side, making it more secure compared to cookies.

// Start a session
session_start();

// Store user data in session variables
$_SESSION['user_id'] = $user_id;
$_SESSION['username'] = $username;