basically i look at it like this...
the leaves on the plant are what absorb the light we use.... the more leaves that there are the more light that gets absorbed...
the plant uses light and turns it into energy for itself.. the more light it can absorb the more energy it can make...
the plant uses that energy to grow.. be it more foliage in the veg stage or flowers during the flowering stage...
now we already know that during flowering the plants need more light anyways than in veg... so it seems counterproductive to add more light, which supplies more energy for the plant, but then remove fan leaves which absorb that light....
in my humble opinion it is crazy to remove foliage... the flowers themselves dont absorb much light until the fan leaves start falling off... thats when the little calyx leaves start doing their job...
also think of it like this.. which would absorb more light.. 1 large ass fan leaf.. or a bunch of tiny little flower leaves??
now im not saying that the calyx leaves dont absorb light... just that they dont absorb near as much... so essentially removing leaves strips potential energy from your plant...
this is what i believe to be true.. or at least what i have noticed in my grows.. i always get bigger thicker nicer buds from plants that are thick with foliage than those that have a smaller amount of foliage...
this also assumes that everything else (watering needs, co2, air, nutes, ect) are all up to par with what the heavier foliage plants needs are...