Perhaps a Small Bug
I have noticed now on repeated occasions that when applying the initial value for the HTML Editor on an update page, for instance, that the initial value does not "stick" and get placed in the code. It does, though, stick if you reopen the editor using the edit button after it placed on the page and then hit the lightning bolt again and add the recordset or other variable to set the initial value.
I made sure the behavior was the same on several attempts before posting this... but now that I have experienced the same issue on several different sites, I have come to the conclusion that it is probably a bug of sorts. I am using Mac OSX 10.6.1 and Dreamweaver CS4.
Cheers,
Brian