Plants benefit from pruning, it is common horticultural knowledge. Pruning promotes new growth. Pruning helps to prevent diseases and insects, and it allows the plant to respirate better. It also allows the whole plant to receive light, if it is done correctly. We aren't discussing guerilla grows and it only takes a second to clip a leaf. My personal belief is, if it is blocking a growth tip from stretching up due to shading, cut it off. If needed, the plant will replace it. In fact, I sometimes have to clip fan leaves more than once for the same growth tip. With enough light, they'll grow up to the same or near height as the other colas.
Yes everyone does stuff differently. But to have the mentality that you can't remove a single leaf to benefit an entire branch is just not thinking. I do not prune after week 3 of flower. I never cut bud leaf, only fan leaves.
everyones got there own methods. i wouldnt cut shit off an apple tree so the apple can be like the other ones. because u dont need to . wwhen u do a guerilla grow and dont have the time to sweat the small stuff. it's a plant. it mus be there for some reason. usually there shouldn't be many reasons to cut parts off.