I don't know what Fanfiction.net does, but I assume you mean uploading .doc files. Since web browsers can't read or render those, it would probably be rather useless as the reader would have to download it then have a proper reader program installed to even open the file. PDF file uploads are supported and those retain any formatting the original file had, although they too have to be downloaded to be read.

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_{Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
-- Louis Hector Berlioz}

No, it translates it into a text page. You upload a document and then you add it as a chapter to your story. Everything appears in normal text (no funky fonts), italics, bold, spacing, underline, and alignment are all in place. If Fanfiction.net can do it, I don't see why dA can't.

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-Aegis Runestone-
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That would be awesome.

--
_{Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
-- Louis Hector Berlioz}

Hence why I'm suggesting it. ^_^

Thank you!

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-Aegis Runestone-
Come and visit my gallery, please! [link]
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Spacing and alignment is hard to keep in HTML. It can be done, but it needs some tricks.
Italics, Bold and Underline are already possible, you just have to export your code in simple HTML using the i, b and u tags.

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That would take me hours to put up one chapter of a story. I *do not* have the time for that.

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-Aegis Runestone-
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Formatting is admittedly a pain on this site.
I personally would LOVE to be able to copy and paste my story and keep, at least, the italisized bits. I took a bit of HTML last year so I know the spacing and indentations would be a bit difficult to implement, though it would be nice.
Up until now, I have resigned to just spending the time to go through and type in the < i > and < / i > tags, or whatever formatting was required. I don't know if dA can support these things like the site you were hinting at (never been there) but if it's possible, I am for it 100%. ^.^

There are tools to do that.
For example, after googling briefly, I found DocFrag (free, for Windows and Linux) which does a simple job (I tested it briefly) which seem suited for pasting in dA.

--
82% of statistics in signatures are made up. (This is a recursive signature...)
Spreading them is un-original and sheepish. If you agree, copy this in your... wait, no!
No to signature clichés! You are on an art site, be creative!

I think if Fanfiction.net could do it, so can dA. The current setup is good for poetry, but not for prose/stories.

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-Aegis Runestone-
Come and visit my gallery, please! [link]
Come visit and join the Gaming Universe: [link]