It's more or less for a few reasons.
Firstly, because of the particularly family nature of the Superman myth, I believe that in the very early days of FoLCdom, those who set up such sites felt that they had a special responsiblity to ensure that minors couldn't access X-rated material, which didn't apply to the source material of most other fandoms.
Also, back in the day, things were very different than they are today. And nfic was the source of very intense friction in the fandom. Today, nfic is just one more genre in FoLCdom. Back then...well, it was the fic that dare not speak its name. The cause of many a flame war between those who wanted to read/write nfic and those who had some reason to not want it to be any part of the fandom and who viewed it as repugnant. Whether it was from a moral, religious or whatever perspective. Often, it was enough just to mention the
word nfic on a list or forum to provoke war. Nfic was tip-toed around in an effort to avoid such conflicts between the two camps and passwording was just one more means of keeping the peace.
And, so it has become tradition within the fandom, more or less.
Secondly, as Aria points out, there are actually legal ramifications to not passwording nfic sites because this forum is hosted in the US. We don't do it because we're prudes or trying to spoil anyone's fun, but because it protects
us and the forum from any trouble.
It hasn't been unknown in the past, for example, for the admins to be blasted with email from irate parents who have just discovered their little darlings reading nfic. (Although they have backed down sharply when we can show them proof - through the password/access application forms - that said little darlings lied their back teeth off about their age to gain access.
) So, you see, Arawn:
What exactly is that you think you are protecting minors from?
It's never been entirely about protecting minors. Partly it was to protect the fandom from splits and flame wars and general unpleasantness. And partly to protect
us from legal hassles.
At a personal level, I'm ambivulent about the segregation. It wouldn't matter to me one jot if the stories were all posted in one section and just labelled accordingly as to rating. And I'm especially grateful to websites in the past (Menolly's, Flakeydom's etc) which didn't password their sites. Because I probably wouldn't have read or written nfic if they had.
But within the fandom, I recognise why it's being done and have no quibble with the reasons for it.
ML, I don't know if we're able to grab that particularly info out of the stats. But if we can, we will.
LabRat
