I’ve always wondered who “they” were, apparently it is me. So here is the official word: “They” definitely approves of fiddling with free software. In fact “they” approves of tinkering with almost anything. “They” also approves of anyone who has made neat graphics for Same GNOME, and wants to share, sending him their work.
For the record, while I certainly wrote the current version of Same GNOME, I believe Miguel and company wrote the first GNOME version which in turn was copying the KDE version and so on back into deepest, darkest, history.