Remember, flamacious comments deserve no apology.
That's bullshit. If you say something ignorant and rude, then you ought to apologize. Didn't your parents teach you that? You should, both because it's the decent thing to, and because it'll make it more likely that people will help you in the future. This isn't slashdot and it isn't AOL; a higher standard of behaviour is expected.
I'm glad you're enjoying advogato and Debian. If you can just play nicely with other people, then I'm sure you'll have a great time. That implies just being a bit polite, and admitting when you screwed up.