diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 84d7d518f52d..0ee600667691 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -106,9 +106,18 @@ install_command = pip install -U --force-reinstall {opts} {packages}
 commands = bash -c tools/releasenotes_tox.sh
 
 [flake8]
-# E125 is deliberately excluded. See https://github.com/jcrocholl/pep8/issues/126
-# The rest of the ignores are TODOs
-# New from hacking 0.9: E129, E131, H407, H405
+# E125 is deliberately excluded. See
+# https://github.com/jcrocholl/pep8/issues/126. It's just wrong.
+#
+# Most of the whitespace related rules (E12* and E131) are excluded
+# because while they are often useful guidelines, strict adherence to
+# them ends up causing some really odd code formatting and forced
+# extra line breaks. Updating code to enforce these will be a hard sell.
+#
+# H405 is another one that is good as a guideline, but sometimes
+# multiline doc strings just don't have a natural summary
+# line. Rejecting code for this reason is wrong.
+#
 # E251 Skipped due to https://github.com/jcrocholl/pep8/issues/301
 
 ignore = E121,E122,E123,E124,E125,E126,E127,E128,E129,E131,E251,H405