Well I would be able to read most stories I see and I don't mind downloading a story if it grabs my attention.

I woukd download a story, or read it off the page. It's all a matter of preference.

I prefer downloading a word document. You could always upload a word document and in the description area post the story for those who prefer reading it on the page or want to get a sampling before downloading.

I usually just write stories in the descriptions of my submissions. :3

But if I want to post a standalone story...I don't actually use FA typically. I post such on SoFurry, as it tends to get a lot more attention over there; FA peeps don't seem to care about reading too much without it being associated with an image.

Personally I prefer the read on FA. That way I don't forget to fav or comment when I get to the end of it. Plus the dark theme makes it easier to read imo.

I usually download the stories which I like the tags off. And leave the ones which I'm not sure of. Reading directly off of FA means I can skim through it to see if I was right to click on it.

However I don't use Microsoft Word I use open office so .doc files are started and ended by a bunch of garbage text and the story is in the middle. Not too much of a problem since it doesn't remove anything in the story but notable.

I do them in txt because everyone could read in txt. As for me, I don't mind downloading to read.

I usually do them in word as well, so I don't mind DLing either.

I usually like reading right off of FA, so I use textedit to upload stories to make that happen. I only download stories if they are quite long, however.

I'm usually either out a lot in the day or stuck with a horrible web browser at night, so anything else but txt won't work at all.