But for those of us who aren't perfect, a short exposure to the facility would be nice. I agree it could be abused, which is why I would put a time limit on (like some other sites do).
Sites that use Disqus have an edit facility, and I remember seeing it abused once. There was a troll on the site, mocking all the answers. Posters began to edit/change their posts so that the troll answers made the poster look silly. It was funny at the time, but made me realise that an edit facility is not a good idea.
None of the excuses for not having it hold water on other sites so no reason why this one should be an exception. Continual errors make one look an idiot so it is cruel to refuse the facility to correct them. It may not be the end of the world but as far as one's reputation is concerned it's close to it. And clearly none of the suggested alternative solutions work now so they clearly aren't going to suddenly start doing so. I don't see why folk think it's good to deny a simple request to allow folk to present a decent image of themselves.
I suspect that there is a technical reason why implementing an edit facility is not available on this site. There may also be privacy and security reasons.
continual errors make one look an idiot so it is cruel to refuse the facility to correct them.
You're saying that the people who do make 'continual errors' look like idiots.
An edit facility will not help with people who do not even know they have made an error.
I did suggest that for one weekend, tilly:-) or hiding all the usernames to make it completely anonymous. But, surprisingly, Ed didn't go for it... :-)