I agree with Japan, he merely suggested doing an experiment with 2 plants. Isn't that how lab experiments are done, do it different ways and see which is best? Duh, seems like a no brainer to me...
Anyways... I grow scrog (traditional scrog with chicken wire) and I ALWAYS cut my fans, and in fact, ANY leaf that interferes with another bud. Each bud site has it's own space and when things start intruding, they get cut back. Sometimes that means 1/4 of a leaf, 1/2 a leaf, the whole thing, whatever it takes. This gives me the best light penetration, and maximizes my production. And as Japan said, for some of the people he knows, defoliation has increased their yield...this is exactly the case for me, and with my small scrog grow I could NEVER get the same yield when I let the leaves grow as they wanted.
GS