Ola,
Yes, we never alter the user's input before storing it in the DB, only on output.
Regarding a multitude of formats, sure, but we might as well try to come up with one that we think is probably the best, the one that we'd use on openacs.org, say.
Btw, right now I'm trying to figure out what to do with links. I added the turning URLs into links, but now it conflicts with your own manual links: If you write <a href="http://foo.bar">link</a>, it's translated into <a href="<a href="http://foo.bar">http://foo.bar</a>">link</a> ...
Anyway, will keep hacking on this a bit.
/Lars