What best practices should be followed when updating timestamps for user activity in PHP forums?

When updating timestamps for user activity in PHP forums, it is essential to ensure that the timestamps accurately reflect the time of the user's last activity. To achieve this, you should use the current timestamp whenever a user performs an action that updates their activity status. This can be done by updating the timestamp field in the user's database record with the current time whenever the user logs in, posts a new message, or performs any other relevant activity.

// Update user's last activity timestamp
$user_id = 123; // Replace with actual user ID
$current_time = time();

// Update the timestamp field in the user's database record
$query = "UPDATE users SET last_activity = $current_time WHERE id = $user_id";
// Execute the query using your preferred method (e.g., mysqli_query, PDO, etc.)