problem solved, sort of. The account we use for the emails had been re-created, some how that old account was added to the Jira user directory from our AD. We just disabled that account and it stopped getting added automatically to the request participants box. Which for some reason when it was added as a requested participant it would add a blank comment when someone commented on an issue. Still unsure why it was automatically being added to the request participants field or why when in that filed it was auto adding a comment. Since the account was not used or needed, disabling it stopped the undesired behavior.
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