here is my theory: the first sign that any website or software is about to become rapidly more insufferable is a sudden (and usually terrible, disorienting, or both) visual redesign that is unnecessary and widely unpopular.
it also helps a ton (i.e. it doesn't help at all) that most of the time, such redesigns are done to mask the unwanted addition (or removal) of features. want to hide that button that opts out of PII-based ad tracking? easy, totally rearrange the options menu to obfuscate that!
