Drakino is quite right... Attitude is really everything. If I bump into someone at the mall I say excuse me. There was nothing intentional or even harmful to apologize for. If I'm going to do that for a complete stranger how much more should I be willing to do it for a community of people that I have something in common with and are willing to put up with my insanely basic questions.

In short if you would ere on the side of graciousness instead of correctness this would cease to be an issue.