Like I said, I'm no expert...

A little further reading determines that opinions vary widely. Some advocate removing *some* fan leaves so that light reaches further down the plant, some advocate training them down, some advocate cutting them in half (i.e. cutting off the tips), and some advocate leaving them alone.

I can see the merits of getting them out of the way so that the light better reaches the the lower parts of the plant. That way the lower leaves can do the work needed to feed bud sites further down the plant thereby increasing yield. That said, I can definitely see the argument for not removing them. Of course, scrog deals with this issue quite nicely.

I'm learning all the time.