Well at least he gave a pretty detailed explanation of his reasoning and the science behind it which is more detail than other postings on the matter.
Jerry Meislik for example states his methodology for speeding up a small or weaker branch is to leave that branch alone and defoliate the rest of the tree which is another contradiction to what Adam says and both methods are seemingly in contradiction to what other people say too. Jerry is much more vague, at least on his defoliation page but he also states "
Outdoor tropical growers are lucky and with healthy trees can defoliate even more frequently."
Without expanding on why they are lucky or why they would want to defoliate more frequently. His approach seems much more conservative.
http://www.bonsaihunk.us/Defoliatingfigs.html
So what are we to make of it, I could probably find another bunch of people saying differing things for differing reasons too. And for what it is worth if it works for them to get the results they desire then I can't see what the issue is. Both Adam and Jerry have the pudding to prove it as well as do many posters. here and elsewhere.
For me I want to see the results first hand, learn by doing. I want to take these contradictions and see if there is a reason to prefer one way over another although I suspect the results could indeed be negligible enough to not come out with a clearer answer.
You are right though, people will do it no matter what, some swear by it and others don't. I know the people who can and do do it 3 or 4 times a year have their reasons and it's not just to get a tree ready for a show. But it is ficus and many F sp. can handle it, repeatedly and without death.
But that is all really a digression, I want to see if certain claims hold up or not and the best way to check it is to do it for myself then I can say one thing or another and not claim "he said this" or "he does that". And when all is said and done after a few years I'm going to way too many ficus for my needs