Comment: Supporting multiple communities?

Adivo: If you have an intranet of some sort, you may want to avoid creating silos between your own staff. My advice to you would be to have one single user database (that may evolve to LDAP or AD in the future, if someone shows me how to proceed) and sections specialized by content. If you provide links to your users that let them jump in directly within sections that interest them, you have done.

For me the assumption you are making is that people are browsing a web site top down, starting from the front page. Therefore the need to mask areas of poor interest to them.

But actually the most straightforward way to drive people at the right place may be to send them an e-mail message with a link to click.

With this in mind, cross-section visibility at the front page is not a threat, but a strength.

Lastly, if you have provided confidential information throug a very special training, you can list attendees as editors of the related section to ensure only them will be gated in.