1) There is no preview (as mentioned previously).
2) There is no spell check.
3) The editing window is tiny.
4) There is no test or scratch forum.

DSLReports incorporates all of the above in their forums. You can even play with their scratch forum you like:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/devnull

It took me some time to adjust to the clumsy FT entry page. Now I just accept that I will almost always have to edit, because there is just no way to catch all the errors in this tiny window where I'm typing right now. And I'll never catch all the spelling errors without a spell checker (not because I can't, but because it isn't worth my tyme!).

And for those who think their is something sinister about editing, perhaps you're being a bit paranoid. Personally, even if someone materially alters a post, I'm OK with that. If they've said something they regret it is their prerogative to retract it, and the best way to do that here is by deleting it.

These are, after all, DISCUSSSION forums, not courtroom testimony or parliamentary debates. And in day to day discussion, "Let me rephrase that" and "I take that back" are commonly used to "edit" or even "delete" regrettable turns of conversation. I think it is unforgiving and vindictive to attach someone to words they sincerely regret and wish to retract, just like it would be inappropriate in interpersonal social discourse to not offer someone the same courtesy.

That's not to say people shouldn't be held accountable for what they say. There are people that show up here deserving of our mistrust, and I've been impressed with how astute the FT community when it comes to smoking these people out. Likewise there are those persistently anti-social people that eventually get corrected, bored, or banned.

But we shouldn't allow these elements to breed such undue suspicion of each other that we shouldn't allow people rephrase things or retract things they've said.

At least not without a preview mode.