

Sideloading (is supposed to) mean just transferring files between local devices, as in, you aren’t uploading or downloading them, you are going sideways. E.g you download a song to your pc, then sideload it to your mp3 player.
That’s also where it comes to installing phone apps, as you transfer the app file to the phone yourself. Being “outside” or “going around” the official method just happens to be another way to interpret the meaning of “side” in the word.
Disk rot usually happens when air gets in contact with the reflective coating and oxidises it. With CD’s, it’s actually the top side you need to be worried about, as it’s right there under a thin lacquer coating. Any ding to that can expose the layer or just literally chip off a chunk of data.
At least on DVD’s it’s sandwiched inside the disk, so usually the only reason is a manufacturing error, and not really something the user can cause.