then why not have that var as a set var and have it as an on load
like
on *:load:{ set %Quote.list nick1,nick2,nick3 }
then on ur read for that just use
if ($istok(%Quote.list,$nick,44))
or you could add an option to add or remove nicks from that var maybe useing an alias like
alias Anick { set %Quote.list $addtok(%Quote.list,$1,44) }
alias Rnick { set %Quote.list $remtok(%Quote.list,$1,1,44) }