Variable Reference with a space in it does work.

Things like @{Joe Blacks|Dexterity} or #{Ship A Maneuverability} does not work. It can be overcome by doing Joe_Black , Joe-Black; but this is just plain inconvenient for any proper names. like NPC Dr. Joe Black Junior. Plus I wish you would fix Nesting so we can nest using logic for macros as an example below. ?{Choose an Attack | Divert Auxiliary Power (Helm),/em diverts power to engines with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] giving a +2 to speed. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Science Station),/em diverts power to the science station with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] giving a +2 to the science station. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Tactical Station),/em diverts power to the tactical station with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] all weapons treat each damage die that rolls a 1 this round as having rolled a 2 instead. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Engineering Station),/em diverts power to with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] to add [[@{Joe Black|PCU}*.05]] shield points up to the shields' maximum value, evenly distributing restored shield points to all four quadrants. (Excess points go in the forward quadrant) | Hold it Together,/em uses whatever she can to jury-rig up the ?{System |core|engines|life support|sensors|weapons|minor systems} with an engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] and treating it as if its critical damage condition were two steps less severe for the rest of the round. This check isn't modified by penalties from critical damage to the power core. | Patch System,/em patches up the ?{System |core|engines|life support|sensors|weapons|minor systems} with an engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] to patch a system to reduce the effects of a critical damage condition. This may take more than one round. | Glide,/em moves the star-ship at half its normal speed. The star-ship can take turns during this movement but the star-ship's distance between turns increases by 2. Add @{Joe Black|Pilot} to the star-ship's AC and TL for this round with a pilot override check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Pilot} +@{Joe Black|ShipPilotBonus} + ?{Mod|0} ]] | Snap Shot,/em fires one of your star-ship's weapons with gunnery override check of [[1d20cs>20 + {@{Joe Black|Pilot},@{Joe Black|BAB}}kh1 - 2 + ?{Mod|0}]] }

I have never had a problem with spaces in a character's name with regards to being able to call attributes. However I did notice in your first example you use @{Joe Black s |Dexterity} but everywhere else you reference this character is @{Joe Black|XXX} without the s on the name. Could that be your issue? Secondly, you can nest within queries but you need be mindful of the  Advanced Usage for Roll Queries section in the wiki.

sorry about the typo in the example but... I have double checked with many different macros it is not a typo issue causing it

I know about replacing with "& # 123 ;" ect.. and it works sometimes, but other time it does not work due to order of operations issues. But I hope they implement a better parsing to allow for real nesting not by breaking the parser to find a loop hole to "Make it work" sometimes

Try changing the name of Joe Black's Character; it's possible that an extra space or a similar insidious character was accidentally input into his name. I would try changing it back from Joe-Black to Joe Black, and then test using @{Joe Black|Engineering}. Also, here is your macro with the HTML entities in place, in case it helps: /em ?{Choose an Attack| Divert Auxiliary Power (Helm), diverts power to engines with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] giving a +2 to speed. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Science Station), diverts power to the science station with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] giving a +2 to the science station. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Tactical Station), diverts power to the tactical station with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] all weapons treat each damage die that rolls a 1 this round as having rolled a 2 instead. | Divert Auxiliary Power (Engineering Station), diverts power to with a engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] to add [[@{Joe Black|PCU}*.05]] shield points up to the shields' maximum value, evenly distributing restored shield points to all four quadrants. (Excess points go in the forward quadrant) | Hold it Together, uses whatever she can to jury-rig up the ?{System|core|engines|life support|sensors|weapons|minor systems} with an engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] and treating it as if its critical damage condition were two steps less severe for the rest of the round. This check isn't modified by penalties from critical damage to the power core. | Patch System, patches up the ?{System|core|engines|life support|sensors|weapons|minor systems} with an engineering check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Engineering} +?{Mod|0} ]] to patch a system to reduce the effects of a critical damage condition. This may take more than one round. | Glide, moves the star-ship at half its normal speed. The star-ship can take turns during this movement but the star-ship's distance between turns increases by 2. Add @{Joe Black|Pilot} to the star-ship's AC and TL for this round with a pilot override check of [[1d20cs>20 +@{Joe Black|Pilot} +@{Joe Black|ShipPilotBonus} + ?{Mod|0} ]] | Snap Shot, fires one of your star-ship's weapons with gunnery override check of [[1d20cs>20 + {@{Joe Black|Pilot},@{Joe Black|BAB}}kh1 - 2 + ?{Mod|0}]] }