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"I'm sorry that you felt like you were..." is the worst form of apology, because it admits no guilt or responsibility. "I'm sorry that you were..." or "I'm sorry that we..." would be a legitimate apology.

That said, nuking this data is the first good thing Mozilla has done in this whole fiasco. It's a small but real act of contrition, so kudos for that.

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> "I'm sorry that you felt like you were..." is the worst form of apology, because it admits no guilt or responsibility. "I'm sorry that you were..." or "I'm sorry that we..." would be a legitimate apology.

GP used the word "felt" and was expressing that he felt a certain way about enabling Studies. You're nit-picking a conversation and it has gone like this:

A: I felt that $x.

B: I'm sorry that you felt that $x.

C: "I'm sorry that you felt ..." is an insincere apology.

Yes, some people use this trick to get out of admitting guilt or responsibility but this is not an example of that.

It is an insincere apology though, because it apologizes for something "you" are doing and not something "I" am doing. An acceptable way to apologize to "I felt that..." is "I'm sorry I made you feel like...".

And that's the minimum. Anything less than that is shifting the blame.

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