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If I have Honey From a Lion active, an animal is in my discard pile, and my opponent has Hezekiah's Signet Ring active, am I able to use Honey From a Lion when my opponent attacks me?  Do I have to search my discard pile to "prove" an animal in in my discard?

Honey From a Lion - "Once per turn, while you are being attacked and an animal is in your discard pile, look at the top 6 cards of deck: Add an evil card to hand. Underdeck the rest."

Good question! This is one we discussed in detail. The conclusion is that no search is required because no card in the discard pile is targeted.

Good.  That is what I assumed as well. 

This is implying that the discard pile is known contents. Someone explain why I can't look at my discard pile at any time.

That is a potential rule change that is being considered.

I mean, it has to happen before the ruling in this thread is consistent. And we also seem to be inventing more and more verbiage and convolution by the minute to keep this stupid implied abilities gravy train rolling.

*EDIT* I'm ok with Redoubter's downvote this time because he's not also involved in the thread. Mod etiquette, super simple stuff.

It's worse than I think it is, because I'm constantly coming up with new reasons it's bad and I know there are more.

The problem is the unintuitive part.

-Why is Heal a search ability?
~Because you're physically searching (the English word) your discard pile.
-Ah, ok, so any time I have to look through my Discard pile it's a search?
~Well, no, only if it's actually targeting a card in the Discard Pile.
-Ok, well I can search my deck for a card type I know isn't in there, so I can do that and shuffle my deck even if HSR is up? (I honestly don't know how this question gets answered, but the elders have been fine with the Evil Spawn situation for years so I guess we just do like in that case and make it up each game)
~No, because you still searched your deck, you just didn't find anything.
-Well, no, I didn't target anything because there wasn't anything in there to target. Why does it work differently than the Discard pile? 
~Because sometimes...
-And before you say "sometimes you have to look through it to prove things," you also have to do that with the new Confusion (don't you?) even though it doesn't have a Search ability.

Option A:
~Well the Discard pile is now a known location, so you're not actually "searching" it when you look through it to heal or add card in discard to battle or whatever.
-Ah! Ok, that makes sense, you can look through your Discard Pile normally but not your deck so I'm ok with them having different definitions of searching.

Option B: (the one being purported in this thread)
~Shut up, implied abilities is a bottom-up rule and we're sticking to our guns. It's just different, ok?

*EDIT* I'm ok with Redoubter's downvote this time because he's not also involved in the thread. Mod etiquette, super simple stuff.
*EDIT 2*
Option C: ~Actually, the target is the card you named or card of a card type that doesn't actually exist. It's a theoretical target with no real-world correlation, but you still targeted something.
This option would also work kind of, but is indicative of yet more obtuse concepts for no benefit.

That's not a compromise, that's the status quo with a change to how the Discard is treated and no addressing of implied silliness whatsoever.

My feelings on AutO are known far and wide, and as much as I hate to say it, AutO isn't a big deal after Cloud of Witnesses, certainly not the meta-warper he once was. Furthermore, "but then this or that card would be better or worse" is about the worst possible criteria for making rules if you want them to be sleek.

I get lost on how an implied search is a search ability and does not just qualify as the action

This quote basically sums up the issue. TheHobbit, a tenured player of many years who actively keeps up with and participates in rulings threads, can't even grasp the first principles of implied v. real v. targeting v. non-targeting search and search abilities.

-Ok, well I can search my deck for a card type I know isn't in there, so I can do that and shuffle my deck even if HSR is up? (I honestly don't know how this question gets answered, but the elders have been fine with the Evil Spawn situation for years so I guess we just do like in that case and make it up each game)
~No, because you still searched your deck, you just didn't find anything.
-Well, no, I didn't target anything because there wasn't anything in there to target. Why does it work differently than the Discard pile? 
~Because sometimes...

For this case, you are still attempting to target a card in your deck. To do that, you have to search, which is being restricted. I think of targeting kind of like some hypothetical sight that is aimed at a card. When you try to line up the sights on something in your deck, it's a search. Even if it isn't there.

And it isn't as bad as you say, since you say it is unintuitive and inconsistent. I say that it is consistent, but unintuitive.

I'm not a huge fan of removing implied abilities, because it would break several cards. I'd rather have some slightly (I personally don't find it that hard to comprehend) complicated rules than broken cards.

Kind of a slippery slope with this card not being a search, AND still not allowing discard pile to be open information.  Because otherwise even if I know I have no animals in my discard pile, I can activate Honey from a Lion to look through it every time I'm attacked.  Right?

Kind of a slippery slope with this card not being a search, AND still not allowing discard pile to be open information.  Because otherwise even if I know I have no animals in my discard pile, I can activate Honey from a Lion to look through it every time I'm attacked.  Right?

Sure. How is that a problem?

Not really sure what you're getting at.

Cards like Honey From a Lion would see a huge boost if the discard pile is able to be searched at will. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but it is a change and therefore it will be discussed and vetted properly before any potential change is made.