[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

What may well be my least favorite rule in the entire SR5 core rulebook involves matrix perception checks on silent running icons:

"Note that if there are multiple silent running icons in
the vicinity, you have to pick randomly which one you’re
going to look at through the Opposed Test."

Has this been errata'd or clarified to not mean what it says at any point?  Hell, a Shadowrun team can make themselves for all practical purposes hack-proof by carrying around two or three dozen activated stealth tags.  The odds of a police or corp or hit-team decker randomly picking someone's useful gear is highly improbable.

Even without abusing the rule, a PC decker will take so long to find something worth bricking among all the silent running signals among the oppositions' gear that it makes bricking an unviable combat option.

[firebug]

It's without a doubt a terrible rule.  I do recall it being mentioned in errata, but if anything has been decided I can't say for sure.  Matrix Perception is a very poorly done mechanic, being split into different sections of the book (probably written by different people) all explaining it slightly differently.  As written it takes at least 2 Complex Actions to find anything silent.  The first to confirm there's a silent icon, the second to make the opposed roll against it.

Personally, when I play, I focus on the line on page 235 that says "If you know at least one feature of an icon running silent, you can spot the icon."
Along with the line just above yours that says "If you’re trying to find an icon that’s running silent (or if you’re running silent and someone’s looking for you), the first thing you need to do is have some idea that a hidden icon is out there."

I GM that as "if you can tell me what you're trying to find, clearly you know a feature of it".  If you say "I try to find that ganger's pistol" then you know you're looking for a pistol's ARO, and that's a feature.  "That samurai's cybereyes" is the same kind of thing.  As long as they have a clear idea of what they're looking for, they can roll to find it.  Of course, they can still be wrong (it could just not be wireless rather than silent) but that's a risk they have to take.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

So, a synthesis could be the decker is looking for a gun or for cybereyes running silent, and would then roll randomly between the cybereyes/guns if more than one was in range and running silent?  The 100 stealth tag defense would fail on account that the hostile decker isn't looking (technically, doesn't know to look) for stealth tags running silent?

[firebug]

Maybe?  I'm not sure.  I just allow players to roll directly to find whatever they're trying to find, I never make what they're analyzing random.  Stealth tags would do nothing to foil a MP test when I'm GM because their job is to be hard to find.  It doesn't make sense that you're somehow not sensing or detecting them, but they're still somehow "cluttering" the area.  It'd be like saying "I can't find the card I dropped in this room, all the invisible ethereal and silent ghosts are getting in my way somehow."

[忍]

"I can't find the card I dropped in this room, all the invisible ethereal and silent ghosts are getting in my way somehow."

Life as a TM would difficult, though humorous to others

[firebug]

You ever seen the anime Moyashimon?  In it the protagonist has the "ability" to see microbes as like...  Floating 2-inch chibi creatures, and can somehow physically interact with them as he sees them, and that somehow actually affects the actual microbes.  Like if he brushes all the floating chibis off of you, the fungus causing your athlete's foot is removed too.  It has a scene where he goes into a room and the air is full of yeast or something, and he has to put his arms up and push everything out of the way because it's actually blinding and blocking him from entering.  It even cuts to everyone else's perspective to show how this makes absolutely no sense and is just confusing to everyone else involved.

Maybe stealth tags are something like that for TMs.

[PiXeL01]

I would let my players look for specific silent icons from the get go even without “hunches”, so “Are there any silent running weapons?” and the player wins then he sees those etc.

[Finstersang]

It'd be like saying "I can't find the card I dropped in this room, all the invisible ethereal and silent ghosts are getting in my way somehow."

This sums up pretty well how absurd this rule is 

[Marcus]

As I understand it You need something with the sleaze matrix attribute to run silent, so you can't actually have your gun or cyber eyes running silent.
The wording of that rule is problematic but what are the other options. You're fairly sure there is at-least one ninja hiding in the all concealing shadows,
So you go looking in the all concealing shadows, and in fact there are 4 ninja's there. It seems unfair if you always happen to find the ninja you were looking for?

I would certainly accept the argument if you have eyes on a target in "real life" their should be some sort of bonus in finding it matrix.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

As I understand it You need something with the sleaze matrix attribute to run silent, so you can't actually have your gun or cyber eyes running silent.

That's actually a very interesting point to ponder.  Pretty sure by RAW it's not true as there's all kinds of in-universe advice about setting your basic commlinks to run silent, but it may be intended to be true for things that aren't commlinks.  Certainly it's an elegant idea about cutting down on silent running shenanigans.

I would certainly accept the argument if you have eyes on a target in "real life" their should be some sort of bonus in finding it matrix.

Ehh perhaps... but that's stepping on the I.C.U. quality.  Can't go giving the quality away for free to everyone.

Honestly I think the whole concept of running silent is a poor addition to the rules.  Most things that enjoy wireless bonuses should be set to be silent running from a pure rules optimization mechanic.  -2 dice to tests you never take in exchange for lots of benefits?  Bad design. (assuming they even CAN run silent, as Marcus excellently questions)

Then there's the hackers and other criminals of the world who don't want their physical location broadcast to every policeman on the planet: sure there's a thematic element of appropriateness in running silent.  But should you REALLY run silent 24/7?  I mean it's the matrix equivalent of running around physically in an-all black ninja suit 24/7.  Yeah it'll help you not be spotted some of the time, but eventually you're gonna be spotted and have no excuse for why you're acting so suspicious.  Honestly just seems the game would be better off without silent running as a rules concept.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Shit.

You can switch your commlink, deck, other device,
or persona (including your living persona, technomancers)
to silent running.

(bolded for emphasis)

No sleaze=no silent running would be an excellent House rule, I agree.  But it appears it'd have to be a house rule.

EDIT:  Actually, I suppose "other device" could be read to mean "similar matrix comm devices" and therefore provide an inclusion for unlisted devices such as RCCs and tags/beacons but not devices which lack a similar primary function of matrix communications like guns/cyberware.  This tack may have some solid merit... it certainly allows for combat bricking to be viable (such as it is at 2+ complex actions to even attempt on a non-silent running target)

[Marcus]

Your quote is of course correct but the test from the same page is Opposed Computer + Intuition [Data Processing] v. Logic + Sleaze Test. If you get more hits, you perceive
the icon as normal; on a tie or more hits by the defender, it stays hidden and out of reach.
Clearly without Sleaze your gonna suck at it, but I would really question if it's possible at all.

[PiXeL01]

It has always been possible. Think of it as a default skill test though without the penalty for doing so. Running Silent is naturally frowned upon by the corps And security would interpret that as if you are up to something.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Yeah part of the problem with silent running is that everything is on the matrix post Crash 2.0.  Your hammer, your chisel, even your socks and underwear all have matrix icons and can be bricked.  If you're going to go through the bother of running your commlink, guns, and cyberware silent surely you'd turn everything silent so your mundane gear doesn't announce your presence and just draw attention to the fact that you're not broadcasting a SIN.  (assuming you even can turn those things silent... having thought about Marcus' idea for half a day I'm kind of fond of deciding that only "matrix communications" devices can run silent rather than all devices)

Even if you run it so that everything can run silent, "everything" being wireless makes the quote in my OP make matrix perception in combat/time critical circumstances essentially impossible.  Everyone literally has an indefinite number of devices at pretty much all times.  (are your socks two devices, or one device as a pair? etc...)  Rolling randomly between an indefinite number is sheer insanity.

I like Firebug's idea of ruling the line she referenced is both contradicting and superseding that quoted line.

[HP15BS]

The way I've always seen it played is that whenever you roll to spot a silent icon, you specify some feature of the icon you're trying to find.  So if you're trying to find an enemy hacker, you look for "Some icon with a Sleaze rating."

Speaking of which, there's nothing saying you need Sleaze in order to run silent (it would really suck if your... um... everything automatically gave away your infiltration).  You're just gonna defend (← keyword there) against people's matrix perception with ~ 1/2 of their dicepool.