diff --git a/src/messagetypes/message.py b/src/messagetypes/message.py
index f52c6b35..cd5bf762 100644
--- a/src/messagetypes/message.py
+++ b/src/messagetypes/message.py
@@ -1,24 +1,30 @@
+"""
+src/messagetypes/message.py
+===========================
+"""
 from debug import logger
 from messagetypes import MsgBase
 
 
 class Message(MsgBase):
-    def __init__(self):
-        return
+    """Encapsulate a message"""
+    # pylint: disable=attribute-defined-outside-init
 
     def decode(self, data):
+        """Decode a message"""
         # UTF-8 and variable type validator
-        if type(data["subject"]) is str:
+        if isinstance(data["subject"], str):
             self.subject = unicode(data["subject"], 'utf-8', 'replace')
         else:
             self.subject = unicode(str(data["subject"]), 'utf-8', 'replace')
-        if type(data["body"]) is str:
+        if isinstance(data["body"], str):
             self.body = unicode(data["body"], 'utf-8', 'replace')
         else:
             self.body = unicode(str(data["body"]), 'utf-8', 'replace')
 
     def encode(self, data):
-        super(Message, self).encode()
+        """Encode a message"""
+        super(Message, self).__init__()
         try:
             self.data["subject"] = data["subject"]
             self.data["body"] = data["body"]
@@ -27,5 +33,6 @@ class Message(MsgBase):
         return self.data
 
     def process(self):
+        """Process a message"""
         logger.debug("Subject: %i bytes", len(self.subject))
         logger.debug("Body: %i bytes", len(self.body))