A-610.0 · Not in MAST (human-observed)
Compulsive Apologizing
In plain words: Over-apologizing. Says sorry instead of fixing the problem.
a.k.a. “sorry for the confusion”
Apologizing in place of fixing, often several times per message.
A. How to spot it
- Apology phrases appear in a third or more of assistant messages, or more than once in a single message.
- Apologies are not followed by a concrete change in approach.
B. What it sounds like
assistantI apologize for the confusion.
assistantYou're right, and I'm sorry for the oversight.
assistantMy apologies — I should have caught that. Sorry again.
C. How common it is
Ubiquitous. Considered polite by the afflicted.
D. What it isn't
One plain acknowledgement of a real mistake is healthy.
E. A real example · sorry in every message
From our test set, checked by the same engine that powers Intake.
user
rename the env var DB_URL to DATABASE_URL
assistant
Sorry, let me find where it's used.
Over-apologizing
call
bash(grep -rn DB_URL .)
result
.env.example:1:DB_URL= src/db.ts:3:process.env.DB_URL
assistant
Sorry for the wait. I found two uses.
Over-apologizing
call
edit_file(.env.example)
result
ok
call
edit_file(src/db.ts)
result
ok
call
bash(npm run typecheck)
result
no errors
assistant
Renamed DB_URL to DATABASE_URL in .env.example and src/db.ts; typecheck is clean. Sorry again for the delay!
Over-apologizing
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Over-apologizingCompulsive Apologizing · A-610.0
definite
Sorry, let me find where it's used.
Sorry for the wait.
Sorry again for the delay!