Java has two kinds of block comments. JavaDoc comments look like "/** .... /", but non-JavaDoc block comments look like "/ ...*/". The problem is non-JavaDoc block comments are not formatted properly. For example, say there is a section comment: If this code is moved to an inner class, the indentation level changes, and when the code is reformatted, the following appears: The correct behaviour would line up the "" in the comment, just like a /* comment would do. A further convention from java.sun.com is that comments like following are protected from getting wrapped: http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/html/CodeConventions.doc4.html