diff --git a/src/helper_msgcoding.py b/src/helper_msgcoding.py
index 04c03fed..99d617f8 100644
--- a/src/helper_msgcoding.py
+++ b/src/helper_msgcoding.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python2.7
 
-import string
 import msgpack
+import string
 import zlib
 
-from debug import logger
+import shared
 import messagetypes
 
 BITMESSAGE_ENCODING_IGNORE = 0
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ BITMESSAGE_ENCODING_TRIVIAL = 1
 BITMESSAGE_ENCODING_SIMPLE = 2
 BITMESSAGE_ENCODING_EXTENDED = 3
 
-
 class MsgEncode(object):
     def __init__(self, message, encoding=BITMESSAGE_ENCODING_SIMPLE):
         self.data = None
@@ -27,7 +26,8 @@ class MsgEncode(object):
 
     def encodeExtended(self, message):
         try:
-            self.data = zlib.compress(msgpack.dumps({"": "message", "subject": message['subject'], "message": ['body']}), 9)
+            msgObj = messagetypes.message.Message()
+            self.data = zlib.compress(msgpack.dumps(msgObj.encode(message)), 9)
         except zlib.error:
             logger.error("Error compressing message")
             raise
@@ -70,14 +70,14 @@ class MsgDecode(object):
             logger.error("Message type missing")
             raise
 
-        msgObj = messagetypes.constructObject(data)
+        msgObj = messagetypes.constructObject(tmp)
         if msgObj is None:
             raise ValueError("Malformed message")
         try:
             msgObj.process()
         except:
             raise ValueError("Malformed message")
-        if msgType[""] == "message":
+        if msgType == "message":
             self.subject = msgObj.subject
             self.body = msgObj.body
 
@@ -96,4 +96,25 @@ class MsgDecode(object):
         if subject:
             subject = subject.splitlines()[0]
         self.subject = subject
-        self.message = body
+        self.body = body
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import random
+    messageData = {
+        "subject": ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_lowercase + string.digits) for _ in range(40)),
+        "body": ''.join(random.choice(string.ascii_lowercase + string.digits) for _ in range(10000))
+    }
+    obj1 = MsgEncode(messageData, 1)
+    obj2 = MsgEncode(messageData, 2)
+    obj3 = MsgEncode(messageData, 3)
+    print "1:%i 2:%i 3:%i" %(len(obj1.data), len(obj2.data), len(obj3.data))
+
+    obj1e = MsgDecode(1, obj1.data)
+    # no subject in trivial encoding
+    assert messageData["body"] == obj1e.body
+    obj2e = MsgDecode(2, obj2.data)
+    assert messageData["subject"] == obj2e.subject
+    assert messageData["body"] == obj2e.body
+    obj3e = MsgDecode(3, obj3.data)
+    assert messageData["subject"] == obj3e.subject
+    assert messageData["body"] == obj3e.body
diff --git a/src/messagetypes/__init__.py b/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
index 9b5c5a05..0b63519d 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,13 @@
 from importlib import import_module
-from pprint import pprint
 from os import path, listdir
-import sys
+from string import lower
+
+from debug import logger
+
+
+class MsgBase(object):
+    def encode(self):
+        self.data = {"": lower(type(self).__name__)}
 
 
 def constructObject(data):
@@ -11,13 +17,13 @@ def constructObject(data):
         print "Don't know how to handle message type: \"%s\"" % (data[""])
         return None
     try:
-        returnObj = classBase(data)
+        returnObj = classBase()
+        returnObj.decode(data)
     except KeyError as e:
-        print "Missing mandatory key %s" % (e)
+        logger.error("Missing mandatory key %s", e)
         return None
     except:
-        print "classBase fail:"
-        pprint(sys.exc_info())
+        logger.error("classBase fail", exc_info=True)
         return None
     else:
         return returnObj
@@ -31,7 +37,6 @@ for mod in listdir(path.dirname(__file__)):
     try:
         import_module("." + splitted[0], "messagetypes")
     except ImportError:
-        print "Error importing %s" % (mod)
-        pprint(sys.exc_info())
+        logger.error("Error importing %s", mod, exc_info=True)
     else:
-        print "Imported %s" % (mod)
+        logger.debug("Imported message type module %s", mod)
diff --git a/src/messagetypes/message.py b/src/messagetypes/message.py
index 654e6d6b..aea621cc 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/message.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/message.py
@@ -1,8 +1,23 @@
-class Message:
-    def __init__(self, data):
+from debug import logger
+from messagetypes import MsgBase
+
+class Message(MsgBase):
+    def __init__(self):
+        return
+
+    def decode(self, data):
         self.subject = data["subject"]
         self.body = data["body"]
 
+    def encode(self, data):
+        super(Message, self).encode()
+        try:
+            self.data["subject"] = data["subject"]
+            self.data["body"] = data["body"]
+        except KeyError as e:
+            logger.error("Missing key ", e.name)
+        return self.data
+
     def process(self):
-        print "Subject: %s" % (self.subject)
-        print "Body: %s" % (self.body)
+        logger.debug("Subject: %i bytes", len(self.subject))
+        logger.debug("Body: %i bytes", len(self.body))
diff --git a/src/messagetypes/vote.py b/src/messagetypes/vote.py
index 5b692eb2..539aed8a 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/vote.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/vote.py
@@ -1,8 +1,23 @@
-class Vote:
-    def __init__(self, data):
+from debug import logger
+from messagetypes import MsgBase
+
+class Vote(MsgBase):
+    def __init__(self):
+        return
+
+    def decode(self, data):
         self.msgid = data["msgid"]
         self.vote = data["vote"]
 
+    def encode(self, data):
+        super(Vote, self).encode()
+        try:
+            self.data["msgid"] = data["msgid"]
+            self.data["vote"] = data["vote"]
+        except KeyError as e:
+            logger.error("Missing key ", e.name)
+        return self.data
+
     def process(self):
-        print "msgid: %s" % (self.msgid)
-        print "vote: %s" % (self.vote)
+        logger.debug("msgid: %s", self.msgid)
+        logger.debug("vote: %s", self.vote)