Many websites take input from users. If your website is going to take that input a redisplay it somewhere on the site, you really need to filter your html. If you are lucky the requirements for your site will let you strip out all html code, if your not lucky you will have to filter it.
Why Filter
First, why accept html at all? because it is easy enough for users to work with, for a WYSIWYG editor to work with, and it is what you are going to be displaying, really it is best all around in ....
DavidMichaelThompson