be careful here:

```python
>>> 'omg@org.yes, h@y.fr'.split(r',')
['omg@org.yes', ' h@y.fr']
>>> [x.strip() for x in 'omg@org.yes, h@y.fr'.split(',')]
['omg@org.yes', 'h@y.fr']
```

we probably need to do this `.split(',')` elsewhere too, right?