I can't say why I tuned into this thread, or why I read through it, since I don't know anything about Mr Puckett, but it has been an interesting thread none-the-less.

Maybe I read through the pathos and the passion because I use my nails when I play. I do not regularly 'flat pick' much with my nails, except occasionally on Bass, but I do use my nails for finger picking (with a thumb pick) and exclusively on the banjo (no thumb pick).

I have also found nails useful at cracking a string (forward), flat pick style, while you are finger picking. It makes a sharp percussive "flat picked" sound in the midst of an otherwise finger picked pattern (does that make sense?). I use it for accent on bass runs, and sometimes for a snap of two or three note chords. I also know that I can use the nail of my index, held as if it were a flat pick, to sound just like a flat pick. I have been accused of using a flat pick on new guitars in the store while doing this ... I know it can be done.

So now that this discussion has caught my attention, maybe I need go and listen to Riley's music - party music, I gather?