You can always just edit it and write 'deleted' if you really want to retract a statement, or better still correct what you wrote and give a reason why.
Because people can abuse it. If someone takes issue with another person and a flame war starts, all they have to do is post something abusive or derogatory, wait until they are sure their intended victim has seen it, and then remove it before the moderators can take action.This is more or less a question for the admin (or 'Jordan'), so; why do users/members not have the ability to delete their posts? Seems like an obvious thing to have.
That seems quite pointless, when simply adding a 'delete' button can't possibly be difficult. Especially for someone who has 'built' up a forum.
Because people can abuse it. If someone takes issue with another person and a flame war starts, all they have to do is post something abusive or derogatory, wait until they are sure their intended victim has seen it, and then remove it before the moderators can take action.
Besides, there's no real point to giving users the ability to delete their own posts. Why on earth would they use it?
Your intimate knowledge of vBulletin's database structure and and code leads you to this conclusion, right?