diff --git a/pkg/commands/run.go b/pkg/commands/run.go
index 17f0f3fb..434b85d5 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/run.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/run.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func getDefaultIssueExcludeHelp() string {
 	parts := []string{"Use or not use default excludes:"}
 	for _, ep := range config.DefaultExcludePatterns {
 		parts = append(parts,
-			fmt.Sprintf("  # %s: %s", ep.Linter, ep.Why),
+			fmt.Sprintf("  # %s %s: %s", ep.ID, ep.Linter, ep.Why),
 			fmt.Sprintf("  - %s", color.YellowString(ep.Pattern)),
 			"",
 		)
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 2b3048cb..f5cf3b4c 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ var OutFormats = []string{
 }
 
 type ExcludePattern struct {
+	ID      string
 	Pattern string
 	Linter  string
 	Why     string
@@ -37,63 +38,80 @@ type ExcludePattern struct {
 
 var DefaultExcludePatterns = []ExcludePattern{
 	{
+		ID: "EXC0001",
 		Pattern: "Error return value of .((os\\.)?std(out|err)\\..*|.*Close" +
 			"|.*Flush|os\\.Remove(All)?|.*printf?|os\\.(Un)?Setenv). is not checked",
 		Linter: "errcheck",
 		Why:    "Almost all programs ignore errors on these functions and in most cases it's ok",
 	},
 	{
+		ID: "EXC0002",
 		Pattern: "(comment on exported (method|function|type|const)|" +
 			"should have( a package)? comment|comment should be of the form)",
 		Linter: "golint",
 		Why:    "Annoying issue about not having a comment. The rare codebase has such comments",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0003",
 		Pattern: "func name will be used as test\\.Test.* by other packages, and that stutters; consider calling this",
 		Linter:  "golint",
 		Why:     "False positive when tests are defined in package 'test'",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0004",
 		Pattern: "(possible misuse of unsafe.Pointer|should have signature)",
 		Linter:  "govet",
 		Why:     "Common false positives",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0005",
 		Pattern: "ineffective break statement. Did you mean to break out of the outer loop",
 		Linter:  "staticcheck",
 		Why:     "Developers tend to write in C-style with an explicit 'break' in a 'switch', so it's ok to ignore",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0006",
 		Pattern: "Use of unsafe calls should be audited",
 		Linter:  "gosec",
 		Why:     "Too many false-positives on 'unsafe' usage",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0007",
 		Pattern: "Subprocess launch(ed with variable|ing should be audited)",
 		Linter:  "gosec",
 		Why:     "Too many false-positives for parametrized shell calls",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0008",
 		Pattern: "G104",
 		Linter:  "gosec",
 		Why:     "Duplicated errcheck checks",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0009",
 		Pattern: "(Expect directory permissions to be 0750 or less|Expect file permissions to be 0600 or less)",
 		Linter:  "gosec",
 		Why:     "Too many issues in popular repos",
 	},
 	{
+		ID:      "EXC0010",
 		Pattern: "Potential file inclusion via variable",
 		Linter:  "gosec",
 		Why:     "False positive is triggered by 'src, err := ioutil.ReadFile(filename)'",
 	},
 }
 
-func GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings() []string {
+func GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings(include []string) []string {
+	includeMap := make(map[string]bool, len(include))
+	for _, inc := range include {
+		includeMap[inc] = true
+	}
+
 	var ret []string
 	for _, p := range DefaultExcludePatterns {
-		ret = append(ret, p.Pattern)
+		if !includeMap[p.ID] {
+			ret = append(ret, p.Pattern)
+		}
 	}
 
 	return ret
@@ -411,10 +429,11 @@ func (e ExcludeRule) Validate() error {
 }
 
 type Issues struct {
-	ExcludeCaseSensitive bool          `mapstructure:"exclude-case-sensitive"`
-	ExcludePatterns      []string      `mapstructure:"exclude"`
-	ExcludeRules         []ExcludeRule `mapstructure:"exclude-rules"`
-	UseDefaultExcludes   bool          `mapstructure:"exclude-use-default"`
+	IncludeDefaultExcludes []string      `mapstructure:"include"`
+	ExcludeCaseSensitive   bool          `mapstructure:"exclude-case-sensitive"`
+	ExcludePatterns        []string      `mapstructure:"exclude"`
+	ExcludeRules           []ExcludeRule `mapstructure:"exclude-rules"`
+	UseDefaultExcludes     bool          `mapstructure:"exclude-use-default"`
 
 	MaxIssuesPerLinter int `mapstructure:"max-issues-per-linter"`
 	MaxSameIssues      int `mapstructure:"max-same-issues"`
diff --git a/pkg/lint/runner.go b/pkg/lint/runner.go
index dd9e6946..3be2700a 100644
--- a/pkg/lint/runner.go
+++ b/pkg/lint/runner.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func NewRunner(cfg *config.Config, log logutils.Log, goenv *goutil.Env,
 	icfg := cfg.Issues
 	excludePatterns := icfg.ExcludePatterns
 	if icfg.UseDefaultExcludes {
-		excludePatterns = append(excludePatterns, config.GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings()...)
+		excludePatterns = append(excludePatterns, config.GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings(icfg.IncludeDefaultExcludes)...)
 	}
 
 	var excludeTotalPattern string
diff --git a/test/bench/bench_test.go b/test/bench/bench_test.go
index 42caffd7..5084ee96 100644
--- a/test/bench/bench_test.go
+++ b/test/bench/bench_test.go
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ func getGometalinterCommonArgs() []string {
 		"--vendor",
 		"--cyclo-over=30",
 		"--dupl-threshold=150",
-		"--exclude", fmt.Sprintf("(%s)", strings.Join(config.GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings(), "|")),
+		"--exclude", fmt.Sprintf("(%s)", strings.Join(config.GetDefaultExcludePatternsStrings(nil), "|")),
 		"--disable-all",
 		"--enable=vet",
 		"--enable=vetshadow",