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by kobayashi 3724 days ago
If you're actually interested in the topic, here's an absolutely fantastic blog post on the subject:

http://blog.statuspage.io/why-public-apologies-suck

Some important bits:

>4 PARTS OF A BAD APOLOGY

- Justifying the offending actions or words.

- Blaming the victim.

- Making excuses.

- Minimizing the consequences.

>8 PARTS OF AN EFFECTIVE APOLOGY

- You actually have to use the words I’m sorry.

- Acknowledge that you messed up. (As in, “I take full responsibility for my words.”)

- Tell the person how you’ll fix the situation.

- Describe what happened, but without foisting the blame off on someone else.

- Promise to behave better next time.

- Make sure the person knows you know exactly how you hurt or inconvenienced them.

- Much like the first rule, it’s important to use some version of the phrase “I was wrong.”

- Ask for forgiveness.