<?php in 'description' under forum manager?

[karlm]

I am versed in adding HTML to the 'description' field under the forum manager for specific forums, for example to allow me to draw attention to a specific forum of interest by adding <b>bold</b> or even <img src="abc"> and so on.

However, I would like know if I can use php in there too? If not... why not?

I have a simple ad rotator and would like to put some links to books of interest under the forum for 'mens health', but have them rotate every refresh. I have the script and have added the necessary require_once added to the forumdisplay.php file. However, the intended outcome is not possible as it doesn't appear to be reading the php code to randomly select data from the source file.

Any help always appreciated.