If this is true (i.e. it makes sense), then it could be argued that what I have wished for (i.e. silently setting new variable to anonymous list value at east when it was not yet set to anything in particular by a user (in other words, when it is still set to 0), when using the "ADD item TO" block as suggested here, would not make such a non-sense.
Thanks for putting this discussion (and my wish within it) into a context/a bigger picture of other people's wishes that I was not aware all want something from you and Jens. Acknowledging this, however, I still have an impression that my wish is a tiny and the least 'disruptive' one in comparison to other people's wishes.
But maybe I am wrong.