As i remember, timer will return $nick(#,0) NOT updated, it will always be same (as when timer started). You need to make an alias, where $nick(#,0) is used, and timer will use this alias, so $nick(#,0) will be real-time updated.
And to exclude some nicks, you can make "%exNicks botnick1 yournick botnick2" and use $istok(%exnicks,$nick(#,%x),32).