diff --git a/doc/NERD_commenter.txt b/doc/NERD_commenter.txt
index d7493b1..4c295cc 100644
--- a/doc/NERD_commenter.txt
+++ b/doc/NERD_commenter.txt
@@ -429,6 +429,9 @@ then the script would do a sexy comment on the last visual selection.
                                       uncommenting.
 |'NERDCompactSexyComs'|               Specifies whether to use the compact
                                       style sexy comments.
+|'NERDDefaultAlign'|                  Specifies the default aligment to use,
+                                      one of 'none', 'left', 'start', or
+                                      'both'.
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4.3 Options details                                    *NERDComOptionsDetails*
@@ -602,6 +605,14 @@ Otherwise they would become: >
 If you want the spaces to be removed only if |'NERDSpaceDelims'| is set then
 set NERDRemoveExtraSpaces to 0.
 
+Note: When using 'start' as the default alignment, the enabling of
+NERDRemoveExtraSpaces will still result in the removal of a space after the
+delimiter.  This can be undesirable since aligning the delimiters at the very
+start of the line (index 0) will usually result in spaces between the comment
+delimiters and the text which probably shouldn't be removed.  So when using
+'start' as the default alignment, take care to also disable
+NERDRemoveExtraSpaces.
+
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   *'NERDLPlace'*
                                                                   *'NERDRPlace'*
@@ -658,7 +669,17 @@ as opposed to this: >
 <
 If you want spaces to be added then set NERDSpaceDelims to 1 in your vimrc.
 
-See also |'NERDRemoveExtraSpaces'|.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+                                                             *'NERDDefaultAlign'*
+Values: 'none', 'left', 'start', 'both'
+Default 'none'.
+
+Specifies the default alignment to use when inserting comments.
+
+Note: When using 'start' as the default alignment be sure to disable
+NERDRemoveExtraSpaces.  See the note at the bottom of |NERDRemoveExtraSpaces|
+for more details.
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          *'NERDCompactSexyComs'*
diff --git a/plugin/NERD_commenter.vim b/plugin/NERD_commenter.vim
index 982b140..83ed376 100644
--- a/plugin/NERD_commenter.vim
+++ b/plugin/NERD_commenter.vim
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ call s:InitVariable("g:NERDRemoveExtraSpaces", 1)
 call s:InitVariable("g:NERDRPlace", "<]")
 call s:InitVariable("g:NERDSpaceDelims", 0)
 call s:InitVariable("g:NERDDelimiterRequests", 1)
+call s:InitVariable("g:NERDDefaultAlign", "none")
 
 let s:NERDFileNameEscape="[]#*$%'\" ?`!&();<>\\"
 "vf ;;dA:hcs"'A {j^f(lyi(k$p0f{a A }0f{a 'left':jdd^
@@ -629,13 +630,13 @@ endfunction
 " Args:
 "   -forceNested: a flag indicating whether the called is requesting the comment
 "    to be nested if need be
-"   -align: should be "left" or "both" or "none"
+"   -align: should be "left", "start", "both" or "none"
 "   -firstLine/lastLine: the top and bottom lines to comment
 function s:CommentLines(forceNested, align, firstLine, lastLine)
     " we need to get the left and right indexes of the leftmost char in the
     " block of of lines and the right most char so that we can do alignment of
     " the delimiters if the user has specified
-    let leftAlignIndx = s:LeftMostIndx(a:forceNested, 0, a:firstLine, a:lastLine)
+    let leftAlignIndx = a:align == "start" ? 0 : s:LeftMostIndx(a:forceNested, 0, a:firstLine, a:lastLine)
     let rightAlignIndx = s:RightMostIndx(a:forceNested, 0, a:firstLine, a:lastLine)
 
     " gotta add the length of the left delimiter onto the rightAlignIndx cos
@@ -663,7 +664,7 @@ function s:CommentLines(forceNested, align, firstLine, lastLine)
 
             " check if we can comment this line
             if !isCommented || g:NERDUsePlaceHolders || s:Multipart()
-                if a:align == "left" || a:align == "both"
+                if a:align == "left" || a:align == "start" || a:align == "both"
                     let theLine = s:AddLeftDelimAligned(s:Left({'space': 1}), theLine, leftAlignIndx)
                 else
                     let theLine = s:AddLeftDelim(s:Left({'space': 1}), theLine)
@@ -867,6 +868,12 @@ endfunction
 "   -firstLine/lastLine: the top and bottom lines to comment
 function s:CommentLinesToggle(forceNested, firstLine, lastLine)
     let currentLine = a:firstLine
+
+    let align = g:NERDDefaultAlign
+    let leftAlignIndx = align == "start" ? 0 : s:LeftMostIndx(a:forceNested, 0, a:firstLine, a:lastLine)
+    let rightAlignIndx = s:RightMostIndx(a:forceNested, 0, a:firstLine, a:lastLine)
+    let rightAlignIndx = rightAlignIndx + strlen(s:Left({'space': 1}))
+
     while currentLine <= a:lastLine
 
         " get the next line, check commentability and convert spaces to tabs
@@ -881,8 +888,16 @@ function s:CommentLinesToggle(forceNested, firstLine, lastLine)
                 let theLine = s:SwapOutterMultiPartDelimsForPlaceHolders(theLine)
             endif
 
-            let theLine = s:AddLeftDelim(s:Left({'space': 1}), theLine)
-            let theLine = s:AddRightDelim(s:Right({'space': 1}), theLine)
+            if align == 'left' || align == 'start' || align == 'both'
+                let theLine = s:AddLeftDelimAligned(s:Left({'space': 1}), theLine, leftAlignIndx)
+            else
+                let theLine = s:AddLeftDelim(s:Left({'space': 1}), theLine)
+            endif
+            if align == "both"
+                let theLine = s:AddRightDelimAligned(s:Right({'space': 1}), theLine, rightAlignIndx)
+            else
+                let theLine = s:AddRightDelim(s:Right({'space': 1}), theLine)
+            endif
         endif
 
         " restore leading tabs if appropriate
@@ -929,7 +944,7 @@ function s:CommentRegion(topLine, topCol, bottomLine, bottomCol, forceNested)
         let topOfRange = a:topLine+1
         let bottomOfRange = a:bottomLine-1
         if topOfRange <= bottomOfRange
-            call s:CommentLines(a:forceNested, "none", topOfRange, bottomOfRange)
+            call s:CommentLines(a:forceNested, g:NERDDefaultAlign, topOfRange, bottomOfRange)
         endif
 
         "comment the bottom line
@@ -1021,7 +1036,7 @@ function! NERDComment(isVisual, type) range
         elseif a:isVisual && visualmode() == "v" && (g:NERDCommentWholeLinesInVMode==0 || (g:NERDCommentWholeLinesInVMode==2 && s:HasMultipartDelims()))
             call s:CommentRegion(firstLine, firstCol, lastLine, lastCol, forceNested)
         else
-            call s:CommentLines(forceNested, "none", firstLine, lastLine)
+            call s:CommentLines(forceNested, g:NERDDefaultAlign, firstLine, lastLine)
         endif
 
     elseif a:type == 'alignLeft' || a:type == 'alignBoth'
@@ -1040,7 +1055,7 @@ function! NERDComment(isVisual, type) range
         try
             call s:CommentLinesSexy(firstLine, lastLine)
         catch /NERDCommenter.Delimiters/
-            call s:CommentLines(forceNested, "none", firstLine, lastLine)
+            call s:CommentLines(forceNested, g:NERDDefaultAlign, firstLine, lastLine)
         catch /NERDCommenter.Nesting/
             call s:NerdEcho("Sexy comment aborted. Nested sexy cannot be nested", 0)
         endtry