Note to self (and others who might come across this):
Do not use log.nsf if you are trying to find multiple blanks by sending messageboxes to the server console. The lines are trimmed and multiple blanks will never show up (while they do in the live console of the admin client).
On the other hand, the live console in the admin client will not show certain characters like the pipe sign “|” (which displays in log.nsf just fine).
Subject: Note: Log entries are trimmed
use openlog from openntf 
Subject: Note: Log entries are trimmed
use openlog from openntf
Subject: RE: Note: Log entries are trimmed
I do, but it doesn’t help with logical errors (and that’s what a leading blank in an email address is).
In fact, it didn’t even byte me (this time), because I’ve been watching the live console (thank you IBM for not fixing the remote debugger on Linux). It was just afterwards, that I discovered that the output written to the log was different from what was displayed on screen.