Ever heard of bit.ly or TinyURL.com?
In short those services offer the shortening of (long) URLs so the link becomes easier to read and to publish, e.g. on Twitter. I do not deny that advantage whereas I criticize that none of the providers I know states the disadvantages.
Transparency
People like to know what they click on because their decision whether to click on the link not only depends on the surrounding text but also on the link itself.
At least I wouldn’t never click on a link titled malevolent.com.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I really don’t get why people who state that they know how SEO works use bit.ly & co.
What would you say is ranked better?
A speaking link like more information on SEO or bit.ly/xyzskSh23?
Availability
Who says bit.ly & co stills exists in 2 years? No one.
All links based on those providers simply won’t work anymore…
Abuse
There are people who don’t want specific information to be spread or to be accessible.
By providing a single point of access only that point needs to be controlled by whoever is interested in.