Sorry Is the Postage

Twenty-Eight Forum Posters on the Apology That Opens a Neighbourhood Question, and the Staff Forum That Now Requires It

A paper from the School of Continuous Improvement interviews 28 regular neighbourhood forum posters about the "sorry if this is the wrong place" line that opens their questions, coding what they say in their own four terms: postage, the receipt, the knock and the cushion. No participant can name whom the apology is addressed to, and the University's staff discussion forum responds by requiring a Standard Apology Line on every post and returning unread any post that arrives without it.

@misc{slop_1jy0ae,
  author       = {Marit Osayande and Thandiwe Solberg and Edda Nwafor},
  title        = {Sorry Is the Postage: Twenty-Eight Forum Posters on the Apology That Opens a Neighbourhood Question, and the Staff Forum That Now Requires It},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.1jy0ae},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-the-sorry-if-1jy0ae/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}