Hey DSers, wonder if anyone out there has a solution to this little inconsistency.

If negative modifiers reduce the DP to less than 1 then it's an authomatic fail, but it doesn't stop the character going through the motions. Indeed, once the player had declared the intention and the modifiers applied, I'd say the character was committed to the action having not anticipated beforehand that it was a no-hoper. So a poorly-skilled shot in the dark simply misses by a mile, a heavily injured observer with no perception skill is too preoccupied to notice anything and a negotiator who's churning out faux pas after faux pas (thus losing x dice by GM fiat) simply loses all bargaining power. However, in all such cases there should be scope for things to go horribly wrong just as there is for those with a chance of success.

With a DP of 1 you can critically glitch and it won't be that rare an outcome, but if you don't roll any dice at all ...?

My instinct would be to consider all diceless rolls to be critical glitches, since 0 is half of 0 (and more than half and less than half ...) so there are theoretically enough 1s 'rolled', but that seems extreme. Perhaps the long-shot rule should be enforced in this circumstance, but that will only work if the player has Edge points to spend and also seems a bit harsh.

Maybe roll an Edge (1) test and no hits = a glitch, while a glitch on the edge test = a Crit Glitch.

I'm fond of the edge test idea.

There's a difference between failing, failing miserably, and failing catastrophically.

Like the injured observer thing. Failure means that she just doesn't notice, right? A glitch could be anything from misidentification, to further injury from strain, to drawing the enemies attention to yourself.

Louis: Failed perception check, followed by a miserably failed dodge check, followed by a critically failed tumble check
(Smoker: critical success on the attack)

Edge Test is win. Nice one, Tommy.

I like the Edge Test, too.

But...I just can't seeing this happening at a table.

Player: I have one bullet left, so I'll shoot in the last direction I heard him fire from.
GM: Ok, well, you can't see anything, so you'll be shooting blind, plus you have a ton of wounds.
Player: <<grabs a couple of dice>>
GM: Take another -2 to that. Looks like you have no dice left.
Player: Damn, guess I won't be shooting.
GM: No, you sure as hell will be. I've spent the time to add up these mods, so you are going to fire that pistol. And since you have no dice, its basically an automatic fail. And I just rolled and its a critical glitch on top of that. Your party is now dead.
Player: Yeah, now I know why I'm the only one that shows up for your sessions...

Even if the situation will not evolve quite as bad as deek showed it could, I think the whole idea is bad because it will bog down the game.
Something like this is going to happen:

GM: Well, Jim, its your turn, whats your character going to do ?
Jim: *frantically calculating* errr... what ?
GM: Its your turn Jim, tell me what your character is going to do.
Jim: Well... I... erm, I am going to... or maybe... what was that darkness modifier again for my termographic vision ?
GM: You're at -2 currently.
Jim: Ok, there's the cover, my penalty, I got these wounds and got that spell on me *frantically calculating again*
GM: Well, your character doesnt have a lot of time to think about what he's doing, so tell me now or spend that action thinking.
Jim: What ? Oh no, your're not going to get a cheap critical glitch in YET AGAIN. My character needs indeed time to think so I delay my action by 1 initiative increment. Oops, come to think of it, I need to visit the bathroom again, strange how that always happens when there's a lot of negative modifiers around... *gathers up SR books and runs to the bathroom*
Other Players: Here we go again *everyone looking for their own excuse to get enough time to completely calculate their modifiers before announcing their actions*

Actually, this is already covered in the rulebook. (Page 55)

If the dice modifier is less than 1, the character cannot take the action at all unless they spend a point of edge. Then they make a long shot roll.

If they insist on taking the action anyway, they just fail.

Spending that point of edge is the equivalent of taking a leap of faith. You'll either just barely make it, or you'll fail catastrophically. Most sane players wouldn't take the action if they weren't willing to spend a point of edge.