diff --git a/lisp/org-exp.el b/lisp/org-exp.el
index 4be6b01..b3a848e 100644
--- a/lisp/org-exp.el
+++ b/lisp/org-exp.el
@@ -252,6 +252,11 @@ e.g. \"timestamp:nil\"."
   :group 'org-export-general
   :type 'boolean)
 
+(defcustom org-export-comment-blocks nil
+  "If non-nil, export comment blocks"
+  :group 'org-export-general
+  :type 'boolean)
+
 (defcustom org-export-with-tags 'not-in-toc
   "If nil, do not export tags, just remove them from headlines.
 If this is the symbol `not-in-toc', tags will be removed from table of
@@ -519,6 +524,7 @@ Org-mode file."
                                white-space:nowrap; }
   .org-info-js_search-highlight {background-color:#ffff00; color:#000000;
                                  font-weight:bold; }
+  .org-comment { background: #efefef; border: solid 1px; }
  ]]>
 </style>"
   "The default style specification for exported HTML files.
@@ -817,6 +823,7 @@ or if they are only using it locally."
     (:footnotes            . org-export-with-footnotes)
     (:drawers              . org-export-with-drawers)
     (:tags                 . org-export-with-tags)
+    (:comment-blocks       . org-export-comment-blocks)
     (:TeX-macros           . org-export-with-TeX-macros)
     (:LaTeX-fragments      . org-export-with-LaTeX-fragments)
     (:skip-before-1st-heading . org-export-skip-text-before-1st-heading)
@@ -962,7 +969,8 @@ modified) list.")
 		  ("skip"  . :skip-before-1st-heading)
 		  ("author" . :author-info)
 		  ("creator" . :creator-info)
-		  ("timestamp" . :time-stamp-file)))
+		  ("timestamp" . :time-stamp-file)
+		  ("comment-blocks" . :comment-blocks)))
 	    o)
 	(while (setq o (pop op))
 	  (if (string-match (concat (regexp-quote (car o))
@@ -1436,6 +1444,9 @@ on this string to produce the exported version."
 
       ;; Handle source code snippets
       (org-export-replace-src-segments)
+
+      ;; Handle comment environment and comment subtrees
+      (org-export-handle-comment-blocks-and-subtrees (plist-get parameters :comment-blocks))
       
       ;; Get rid of drawers
       (org-export-remove-or-extract-drawers drawers
@@ -1478,10 +1489,6 @@ on this string to produce the exported version."
       ;; Blockquotes and verse
       (org-export-mark-blockquote-and-verse)
 
-      ;; Remove comment environment and comment subtrees
-      (org-export-remove-comment-blocks-and-subtrees)
-
-
       ;; Find matches for radio targets and turn them into internal links
       (org-export-mark-radio-links)
 
@@ -1783,15 +1790,21 @@ These special cookies will later be interpreted by the backend."
 		       "ORG-VERSE-END" "ORG-VERSE-START")
 		   t t)))
 
-(defun org-export-remove-comment-blocks-and-subtrees ()
-  "Remove the comment environment, and also commented subtrees."
+(defun org-export-handle-comment-blocks-and-subtrees (comment-blocks)
+  "Prepare comment blocks and comment subtrees for export.  If
+COMMENT-BLOCKS is non-nil then format comment blocks using
+`org-export-format-comment', otherwise hide all comment blocks
+during export.  Hides all comment subtrees."
   (let ((re-commented (concat "^\\*+[ \t]+" org-comment-string "\\>"))
-        (case-fold-search nil))
+        (case-fold-search t))
     ;; Remove comment environment
     (goto-char (point-min))
     (while (re-search-forward
-	    "^#\\+BEGIN_COMMENT[ \t]*\n[^\000]*?^#\\+END_COMMENT\\>.*" nil t)
-      (replace-match "" t t))
+	    "^#\\+begin_comment\\([ \t]+\\(\\S-+\\)\\)?[ \t]*\\(.*\\)?[\r\n]\\([^\000]*?\\)#\\+end_comment"
+	    nil t)
+      (replace-match (if comment-blocks
+			 (org-export-format-comment (match-string 4) (match-string 2) (match-string 3))
+			 "") t t))
     ;; Remove subtrees that are commented
     (goto-char (point-min))
     (while (re-search-forward re-commented nil t)
@@ -2170,6 +2183,34 @@ backends, it converts the segment into an EXAMPLE segment."
 	      (if (string-match "\n\\'" code) "" "\n")
 	      "#+END_EXAMPLE\n")))))
 
+(defun org-export-format-comment (body &optional owner title)
+  "Format comment BODY by OWNER and return it formatted for export.
+Currently, this only does something for HTML export, for all
+other backends, it converts the comment into an EXAMPLE segment."
+  (save-match-data
+    (cond
+      (htmlp ;; We are exporting to HTML
+       (concat "#+BEGIN_HTML\n"
+	       "<div class=\"org-comment\" "
+	       (if owner (format "id=\"org-comment-%s\" " owner))
+	       ">\n"
+	       (if owner (concat "<b>" owner "</b> ") "")
+	       (if (and title (> (length title) 0)) (concat " -- " title "</br>\n") "</br>\n")
+	       "<p>\n"
+	       "#+END_HTML\n"
+	       body
+	       "#+BEGIN_HTML\n"
+	       "</p>\n"
+	       "</div>\n"
+	       "\n#+END_HTML\n"))
+      (t ;; This is not HTML, so just make it an example.
+       (concat "#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE\n"
+	       (if title (concat "Title:" title "\n") "")
+	       (if owner (concat "By:" owner "\n") "")
+	       body
+	       (if (string-match "\n\\'" body) "" "\n")
+	       "#+END_EXAMPLE\n")))))
+
 ;;; ASCII export
 
 (defvar org-last-level nil) ; dynamically scoped variable
@@ -2250,6 +2291,7 @@ underlined headlines.  The default is 3."
 		  :verbatim-multiline t
 		  :select-tags (plist-get opt-plist :select-tags)
 		  :exclude-tags (plist-get opt-plist :exclude-tags)
+		  :comment-blocks (plist-get opt-plist :comment-blocks)
 		  :archived-trees
 		  (plist-get opt-plist :archived-trees)
 		  :add-text (plist-get opt-plist :text))
@@ -2924,7 +2966,9 @@ PUB-DIR is set, use this as the publishing directory."
 	    :add-text
 	    (plist-get opt-plist :text)
 	    :LaTeX-fragments
-	    (plist-get opt-plist :LaTeX-fragments))
+	    (plist-get opt-plist :LaTeX-fragments)
+	    :comment-blocks
+	    (plist-get opt-plist :comment-blocks))
 	   "[\r\n]"))
 	 table-open type
 	 table-buffer table-orig-buffer