.htaccess - how do I?

I want to add a feature to my news site that allows members of my
organisation to add articles in a message board format. I have made the
message board and that's sorted, but I need a way to allow certain usernames
into the directory with the scripts that enable them to post the articles.
At present I get sent about 10 Word files a day to put on the site manually,
so i think this will make it a great deal easier.

Here's my question:
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I beleive this can be done with .htaccess files in the directories. Does
anyone have any information as to how you can do this?
What the hell is all this .htaccess stuff?
I have cgi access and SSI - what can i do?
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Thanks in advance.

Thankyou
Ben Bradley UK
Creative Director of The Net Zone

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