Like you've mentioned in comments, I think that unless we end up hosting the archive in a country with more permissive laws, we'll probably have to go the login or 'click if you're 18' way. It sucks, but if we want to keep the archive up and running and (fairly) legal in nature, we'll need to cop to at least the clicking option. The only way I can think of to soften the blow is saying it could be worse - that underage readers and writers could just not be allowed in, but that doesn't help when you're on the other side of the arbitrary line between adulthood and childhood.
As far as the quality thing, I can't remember exactly who suggested it, but someone talked in the earlier comments about some sort of two-tier judging system that would depend on ratings and so on. I actually quite like the idea, especially if it wasn't literally just six people doing the final vetting of fics. What could make it even fairer could be switching around the vetting group every so often, or mixing up its membership or composition or something. Of course, people would probably try to game the system at the rating end, but one can take actions to stop that kind of thing, e.g. everyone getting only a certain amount of votes, and maybe only getting to vote every so often, and the process having a captcha or other anti-bot mechanism bolted on, etc.
The tiered quality system would probably work even better if it was organised along fandom lines as well. Say, you submit a fic to the normal pool, where everyone starts out. People rate it/vote it up, and it gets enough votes and comments or whatever to be in consideration for reviewing by people in the fandom. The reviewing process can be quick and straightforward - mostly rooted in form and, er, spelling instead of bringing people's opinions of plots and kinks into it - and then the fic goes into the 'fandom vetted' pool or something, and is then eligible for any contests or competitions or 'featured fic of the week' spots or whatever, just like every other fic out there.
What might also help (and god, I know this is long) is if all fics were pretty much treated equally. Except for being eligible for bigger contests and featured fic bylines or whatever, the fandom vetted pool of fics would be displayed and treated the same as everything else. There could even be columns for stories close to becoming fandom vetted or just starting out - like an undiscovered fic of the day, or something? And the authors wouldn't be treated differently (well, in theory) either - all fics could begin as non-fandom-vetted, with each author's work standing on its own merit in the process.
no subject
As far as the quality thing, I can't remember exactly who suggested it, but someone talked in the earlier comments about some sort of two-tier judging system that would depend on ratings and so on. I actually quite like the idea, especially if it wasn't literally just six people doing the final vetting of fics. What could make it even fairer could be switching around the vetting group every so often, or mixing up its membership or composition or something. Of course, people would probably try to game the system at the rating end, but one can take actions to stop that kind of thing, e.g. everyone getting only a certain amount of votes, and maybe only getting to vote every so often, and the process having a captcha or other anti-bot mechanism bolted on, etc.
The tiered quality system would probably work even better if it was organised along fandom lines as well. Say, you submit a fic to the normal pool, where everyone starts out. People rate it/vote it up, and it gets enough votes and comments or whatever to be in consideration for reviewing by people in the fandom. The reviewing process can be quick and straightforward - mostly rooted in form and, er, spelling instead of bringing people's opinions of plots and kinks into it - and then the fic goes into the 'fandom vetted' pool or something, and is then eligible for any contests or competitions or 'featured fic of the week' spots or whatever, just like every other fic out there.
What might also help (and god, I know this is long) is if all fics were pretty much treated equally. Except for being eligible for bigger contests and featured fic bylines or whatever, the fandom vetted pool of fics would be displayed and treated the same as everything else. There could even be columns for stories close to becoming fandom vetted or just starting out - like an undiscovered fic of the day, or something? And the authors wouldn't be treated differently (well, in theory) either - all fics could begin as non-fandom-vetted, with each author's work standing on its own merit in the process.
And I think I'll stop there :P.