My company does something similar. The double opt-in is something that you're doing on your end to ensure that you have valid results, not an email sent in by the user's enemy wanted to load up their account with spam. The theory goes that if someone is going to be malicious like that, they wouldn't have actual read access and time/means to respond to the second opt-in, making it about as fail proof as possible.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.