I grew up with a fetish of getting tickled with long nails and thought they were the only things that could tickle me terribly.. oh man was I wrong.
It definitely is all about technique. I've been tied up and tickled by girls with long, french manicured nails and they can tickle me senseless because they know how to glide them lightly in certain areas and squeeze into my stomach and sides, like they were meant to tickle with their nails. On the other hand, there are those long-nailed ladies who aren't so used to them, or just aren't that great of ticklers. Seems like the only sure-fire ticklish spots for me with long nails, no matter how good or bad the tickler, are my feet.
My girlfriend has short nails (completely down to the stub) and she is the best tickler I have ever met. Her fingertips move so quickly and lightly and can squeeze into my ribs and way-upper inner thights without scratching me. She also gets long fake nails sometimes, but can't tickle as well with them, so those are more for sensual slow tickling sessions.
So for me, the long nails no matter what are always way more intimidating looking, but it depends on the tickler.
