What are the potential challenges or complexities that may arise when building a community website in PHP without using a CMS?

One potential challenge when building a community website in PHP without using a CMS is the need to manually handle user authentication and authorization. This involves creating secure login and registration systems, managing user sessions, and implementing role-based access control.

// User authentication and authorization example
session_start();

// Check if user is logged in
if(isset($_SESSION['user_id'])) {
    // User is logged in, allow access to restricted content
} else {
    // User is not logged in, redirect to login page
    header("Location: login.php");
    exit();
}