Casual sorry (gomen ne)
Overview
Gomen ne is one of the casual ways to say sorry in Japanese. It's lighter than sumimasen (sorry, excuse me) and friendlier than moshiwake gozaimasen (I sincerely apologize). People use it between friends and in casual exchanges on social media.
Japanese people are said to apologize too much. They say sumimasen even when they haven't done anything wrong. This habit carries over into question boxes, and there are cases where the person answering apologizes more than they need to.
Saying sorry in a question box
Sorry shows up a lot in question box answers. "Sorry I couldn't answer them all." "Sorry for the late reply." "Sorry I couldn't give you a good answer." "Sorry I couldn't live up to your expectations."
You can see the sincerity of the person answering in these apologies. But apologizing every time comes with two problems. First, the apology turns into an empty formality. If you write sorry every time, the word's weight fades. Second, it can lower the self-esteem of the person answering. Apologizing all the time means you keep sending yourself the message "I'm not good enough."
Say thanks instead of sorry
One technique is to replace sorry with thank you. "Sorry I couldn't answer" becomes "Thanks for asking." "Sorry for the late reply" becomes "Thanks for waiting." The feeling you want to get across is the same, but the impression changes.
An apology puts yourself below the other person (I did something wrong). Thanks puts the other person above you (they did something good for me). Use thank you instead of sorry. This small change in wording helps make the mood of a question box brighter.