Bob,
I think you just explained it. If you stick with a strain and keep fine tuning and getting better, then you learn what is the right way and what is the wrong way.
If you have been growing a strain for several runs and then you pluck off all the fan leaves early in flowering and you don't yield nearly as much, then YOU KNOW that is the wrong way, if it increases it, then it's the right way. It is that simple. I don't know the answer, cuz I have never experimented with it. I, like many others, have always plucked them when they looked half dead (or worse obviously). I think this is one debate that does have a right answer, and I sure am curious. It is a concept that I don't think would vary greatly between strains either.
Very Interesting I think.