I guess it comes down to why you like to tape live shows, or maybe more significantly, why you like to share them on ETree. If you're sharing on ETree to share the most enjoyable version of a live show from an artist you like, then bring on the whole paintbox of possibility. If you're sharing to compare technical field recording skill, then by all means keep it sparse. As long as you're clear what you did, the purists don't have to download your stuff.
My gear is mid-low (although getting better), and I usually tape friends' bands and small bands playing in mid-small venues (approx. 400-800 capacity). Now I don't know why, but it seems most of those venues sound like your mics are at the bottom of a tub of Creamed Wheat - heavy, thudding bass, muddy mids, and highs that are too dependent on mic placement. Given those factors (bad gear and bad venues), I'm pretty reliant on post- to get my recordings to come out well, although I try to limit it to some EQ and a little compression. Of course, when I share my recordings with the artists themselves, THEY are happy I did a lot of post work. They're just looking for a good sound, not some abstract idea of purity. If the venue sounds like crud because the sound guy overamped the lows to give the crowd a pulsing dance feel, that's not what the artisits want to hear - they want to hear a clean recording.
Personally, I record for me and my friends. I'm not interested in some junk-measuring contest where an elitist snob with 5x the $$ worth of gear I have is crying foul because my recording sounds better than his due to me doing some modification to the sound in post.
Ever look at a soundboard? Plenty of EQ options there - any band has to be "tuned" to the venue and some sound guys do better than others. I'm never going to compromse my enjoyment of a tape because the sound guy's idea of "good sound" is radically different than mine.
I guess I won't be posting to ETree any time soon, if that's their policy. And are you seriously suggesting the majority of people who download from ETree want an archival pure copy of the feed because they have a copy of Audacity or Soundforge and want to apply their custom post-editing? I may just suck at it, but it takes me a couple hours of experimentation between different compressors, EQ settings, etc. before I find what I think works best. I for one prefer not having to muck about with anything I download from ETree - I only invest that time and effort into my own creations.
Just one man's opinion, I may be wrong...
ps. I've never actually put my mics in a tub of Creamed Wheat...<grin>
pps. If you can use VST plugins, check out Digitalfishphone's Endorphin compressor - great for cleaning up muddy venues, and it's free!
http://www.digitalfishphones.com/main.php?item=2&subItem=3