I just tried to go back and enter a quote in a previous reply but didnt see an edit button. Has it always been this way? I'm on so many forums i cant remember. If so, why cant we edit our own replies?

I see I can edit this post

Members can edit their posts during the first 6 hours after posting (that time may become shorter in the future) and they can delete them during the first 30 minutes. After that, you need to contact a moderator to make the changes for you.

Believe it or not, some members like to repeatedly "stir the pot" and provoke angry reactions - and then go back and edit their posts to "rewite history" to make themselves look good and others look bad. This feature does help discourage that so it does serve a purpose.