Status depends a lot on the context. There a strange idea going around that we should always try to communicate in the way that signals the highest status. That isn't the case.
On LW we had a review that suggest that one of the most useful social skills for career advancement is to appear modest. Apologizing is also important.
I think 'sorry to bother you' is a signal that you believe that the person you are emailing is higher status then you. For me that sentence has no useful information value. In some contexts I even perceive it as passive aggressive.
Point taken. I come across as passive aggressive when I don't mean to, so that's helpful. Lack of useful information value isn't a problem for most (non-LW) people though.
Do the following things in email tone lower status?: