Can I play the Captain Obvious card here for a moment? OK.

Being sincere online is a failed effort. Emoticons won't do it justice. You won't hear the sound of the person's voice dropping to a whisper to apologize. You won't see the expression on the person's face. You won't feel a thing because it's just words on a screen. And this, for lack of a better word, sucks. You don't want to come off unapologetic, but at the same time don't want to overdo the apology for fear of becoming too repetitive and possibly consequently become insincere.

These are things I think about when chatting online.