diff --git a/swh/lister/core/models.py b/swh/lister/core/models.py
index 589918d..15a1441 100644
--- a/swh/lister/core/models.py
+++ b/swh/lister/core/models.py
@@ -1,82 +1,50 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2015-2017 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import abc
 from datetime import datetime
 
 from sqlalchemy import Column, DateTime, Integer, String
 from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base, DeclarativeMeta
 
 from .abstractattribute import AbstractAttribute
 
 SQLBase = declarative_base()
 
 
 class ABCSQLMeta(abc.ABCMeta, DeclarativeMeta):
     pass
 
 
 class ModelBase(SQLBase, metaclass=ABCSQLMeta):
     """a common repository"""
     __abstract__ = True
     __tablename__ = AbstractAttribute
 
     uid = AbstractAttribute('Column(<uid_type>, primary_key=True)')
 
     name = Column(String, index=True)
     full_name = Column(String, index=True)
     html_url = Column(String)
     origin_url = Column(String)
     origin_type = Column(String)
     description = Column(String)
 
     last_seen = Column(DateTime, nullable=False)
 
     task_id = Column(Integer)
     origin_id = Column(Integer)
 
-    def __init__(self, uid=None, name=None, full_name=None,
-                 html_url=None, origin_url=None, origin_type=None,
-                 description=None, task_id=None, origin_id=None):
-        self.uid = uid
-        self.last_seen = datetime.now()
-
-        if name is not None:
-            self.name = name
-        if full_name is not None:
-            self.full_name = full_name
-        if html_url is not None:
-            self.html_url = html_url
-        if origin_url is not None:
-            self.origin_url = origin_url
-        if origin_type is not None:
-            self.origin_type = origin_type
-        if description is not None:
-            self.description = description
-
-        if task_id is not None:
-            self.task_id = task_id
-        if origin_id is not None:
-            self.origin_id = origin_id
+    def __init__(self, **kw):
+        kw['last_seen'] = datetime.now()
+        super().__init__(**kw)
 
 
 class IndexingModelBase(ModelBase, metaclass=ABCSQLMeta):
     __abstract__ = True
     __tablename__ = AbstractAttribute
 
     # The value used for sorting, segmenting, or api query paging,
     # because uids aren't always sequential.
     indexable = AbstractAttribute('Column(<indexable_type>, index=True)')
-
-    def __init__(self, uid=None, name=None, full_name=None,
-                 html_url=None, origin_url=None, origin_type=None,
-                 description=None, task_id=None, origin_id=None,
-                 indexable=None):
-        super().__init__(
-            uid=uid, name=name, full_name=full_name, html_url=html_url,
-            origin_url=origin_url, origin_type=origin_type,
-            description=description, task_id=task_id, origin_id=origin_id)
-
-        if indexable is not None:
-            self.indexable = indexable
diff --git a/swh/lister/github/models.py b/swh/lister/github/models.py
index 2cb429f..6584b34 100644
--- a/swh/lister/github/models.py
+++ b/swh/lister/github/models.py
@@ -1,20 +1,16 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2017-2018 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 from sqlalchemy import Column, Boolean, Integer
 
 from swh.lister.core.models import IndexingModelBase
 
 
 class GitHubModel(IndexingModelBase):
     """a GitHub repository"""
     __tablename__ = 'github_repos'
 
     uid = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
     indexable = Column(Integer, index=True)
-    fork = Column(Boolean)
-
-    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        self.fork = kwargs.pop('fork', False)
-        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+    fork = Column(Boolean, default=False)
diff --git a/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py b/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
index 2b045a3..1302e67 100644
--- a/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
+++ b/swh/lister/gitlab/models.py
@@ -1,28 +1,17 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2018 the Software Heritage developers
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 from sqlalchemy import Column, String
 
 from ..core.models import ModelBase
 
 
 class GitLabModel(ModelBase):
     """a Gitlab repository from a gitlab instance
 
     """
     __tablename__ = 'gitlab_repo'
 
     uid = Column(String, primary_key=True)
     instance = Column(String, index=True)
-
-    def __init__(self, uid=None, indexable=None, name=None,
-                 full_name=None, html_url=None, origin_url=None,
-                 origin_type=None, description=None, task_id=None,
-                 origin_id=None, instance=None):
-        super().__init__(uid=uid, name=name,
-                         full_name=full_name, html_url=html_url,
-                         origin_url=origin_url, origin_type=origin_type,
-                         description=description, task_id=task_id,
-                         origin_id=origin_id)
-        self.instance = instance