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Writer's workshops, with consistent membership over time and constructive participation guidelines, seem to work well. I've had very positive experiences with them face-to-face, and I'd be willing to try an online version. It's actually quite helpful to have people who don't share your tastes read your work, too. (One fellow writer at a workshop told me he really didn't like my story, but he was sure there was a market for it, and was still able to offer helpful suggestions to improve it further. As he put it, "Not everybody likes everything. Don't ask me for recipes for asparagus, either.")
So I wouldn't propose putting ms into a giant slushpile for everyone to pick at, but at some point, the work has to go out to a wider audience or there's not much point in having written it, and when it does, it's going to get criticized (even if only by people who "don't like asparagus, either"). Better to develop a thick skin about your writing while still in the safety of a workshop group before sending it out to the public, but eventually you're going to have to deal with public criticism.
Regarding the plagiarism problem, there are numerous automated ways to check for that these days, and putting your work into a database that feeds into TurnItIn or another plagiarism-checking system is probably one of the best ways to protect your work.
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