diff --git a/pylint/checkers/base_checker.py b/pylint/checkers/base_checker.py
index 5c3d52909..809694398 100644
--- a/pylint/checkers/base_checker.py
+++ b/pylint/checkers/base_checker.py
@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@
 from typing import Any
 
 from pylint.config import OptionsProviderMixIn
+from pylint.constants import WarningScope
 from pylint.exceptions import InvalidMessageError
-from pylint.interfaces import UNDEFINED
-from pylint.message import build_message_definition
+from pylint.interfaces import UNDEFINED, IRawChecker, ITokenChecker, implements
+from pylint.message.message_definition import MessageDefinition
 
 
 class BaseChecker(OptionsProviderMixIn):
@@ -55,14 +56,10 @@ class BaseChecker(OptionsProviderMixIn):
         return "{} '{}' responsible for {}".format(status, self.name, ", ".join(msgids))
 
     def add_message(
-        self,
-        msgid,
-        line=None,
-        node=None,
-        args=None,
-        confidence=UNDEFINED,
-        col_offset=None,
+        self, msgid, line=None, node=None, args=None, confidence=None, col_offset=None
     ):
+        if not confidence:
+            confidence = UNDEFINED
         self.linter.add_message(msgid, line, node, args, confidence, col_offset)
 
     def check_consistency(self) -> None:
@@ -89,10 +86,34 @@ class BaseChecker(OptionsProviderMixIn):
             checker_id = message.msgid[1:3]
             existing_ids.append(message.msgid)
 
+    def create_message_definition_from_tuple(self, msgid, msg_tuple):
+        if implements(self, (IRawChecker, ITokenChecker)):
+            default_scope = WarningScope.LINE
+        else:
+            default_scope = WarningScope.NODE
+        options = {}
+        if len(msg_tuple) > 3:
+            (msg, symbol, descr, options) = msg_tuple
+        elif len(msg_tuple) > 2:
+            (msg, symbol, descr) = msg_tuple
+        else:
+            error_msg = """Messages should have a msgid and a symbol. Something like this :
+
+"W1234": (
+    "message",
+    "message-symbol",
+    "Message description with detail.",
+    ...
+),
+"""
+            raise InvalidMessageError(error_msg)
+        options.setdefault("scope", default_scope)
+        return MessageDefinition(self, msgid, msg, descr, symbol, **options)
+
     @property
     def messages(self) -> list:
         return [
-            build_message_definition(self, msgid, msg_tuple)
+            self.create_message_definition_from_tuple(msgid, msg_tuple)
             for msgid, msg_tuple in sorted(self.msgs.items())
         ]
 
diff --git a/pylint/message/__init__.py b/pylint/message/__init__.py
index 430d06653..1616eeea0 100644
--- a/pylint/message/__init__.py
+++ b/pylint/message/__init__.py
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@
 
 """All the classes related to Message handling."""
 
-from pylint.message.build_message_definition import build_message_definition
 from pylint.message.message import Message
 from pylint.message.message_definition import MessageDefinition
 from pylint.message.message_handler_mix_in import MessagesHandlerMixIn
diff --git a/pylint/message/build_message_definition.py b/pylint/message/build_message_definition.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 4de204d04..000000000
--- a/pylint/message/build_message_definition.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-
-# Licensed under the GPL: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
-# For details: https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint/blob/master/COPYING
-
-import warnings
-
-from pylint.constants import WarningScope
-from pylint.interfaces import IRawChecker, ITokenChecker, implements
-from pylint.message.message_definition import MessageDefinition
-
-
-def build_message_definition(checker, msgid, msg_tuple):
-    if implements(checker, (IRawChecker, ITokenChecker)):
-        default_scope = WarningScope.LINE
-    else:
-        default_scope = WarningScope.NODE
-    options = {}
-    if len(msg_tuple) > 3:
-        (msg, symbol, descr, options) = msg_tuple
-    elif len(msg_tuple) > 2:
-        (msg, symbol, descr) = msg_tuple
-    else:
-        # messages should have a symbol, but for backward compatibility
-        # they may not.
-        (msg, descr) = msg_tuple
-        warnings.warn(
-            "[pylint 0.26] description of message %s doesn't include "
-            "a symbolic name" % msgid,
-            DeprecationWarning,
-        )
-        symbol = None
-    options.setdefault("scope", default_scope)
-    return MessageDefinition(checker, msgid, msg, descr, symbol, **options)
diff --git a/pylint/message/message_handler_mix_in.py b/pylint/message/message_handler_mix_in.py
index 942b5ec4b..388054897 100644
--- a/pylint/message/message_handler_mix_in.py
+++ b/pylint/message/message_handler_mix_in.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ from pylint.constants import (
 )
 from pylint.exceptions import InvalidMessageError, UnknownMessageError
 from pylint.interfaces import UNDEFINED
-from pylint.message.build_message_definition import build_message_definition
 from pylint.message.message import Message
 from pylint.utils.utils import (
     _format_option_value,
@@ -442,7 +441,7 @@ Below is a list of all checkers and their features.
             for msgid, msg in sorted(
                 msgs.items(), key=lambda kv: (_MSG_ORDER.index(kv[0][0]), kv[1])
             ):
-                msg = build_message_definition(checker.name, msgid, msg)
+                msg = checker.create_message_definition_from_tuple(msgid, msg)
                 result += "%s\n" % msg.format_help(checkerref=False)
             result += "\n"
         if reports: