If you want the indentation to work consistently, one indentation is 4 spaces, two is 8, etc. Remember to put a space after the * or it will not work either.

Word formatting will not directly translate to web formatting. If you want to copy the text without formatting, use ctrl+shift+v when pasting it. I recommend writing future texts in notepad, or disabling all formatting options in Word.

If you want to quickly try to edit the bullet points of this article in Word, you can use the "find and replace" option to find - and replace it with *^s.

http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Comment_formatting

they deepen comprehension while also forcing you to do something, (hopefully) providing you with a task more stimulating than just reading.

While I agree with this point, I think it applies to most of the techniques that you listed.