Glad you followed it. I didn’t!
I don’t know whether the process of filtering persons for age, physical capacity, sobriety, comprehension of instructions and letting them ‘opt out’ turns persons, who are expected to operate emergency exits on command from the PIC, into persons “assigned by [the] operator for duty on [the] aircraft”. Maybe they’re just volunteering to help out …
What would happen if all people with tickets to fly on an aircraft opted out of volunteering to help out in an exit row? Would the operator be obliged to leave the exit rows empty? Would the operator be obliged to “assign” more people for “duty on the aircraft” to operate the emergency exits?