To address your question; Why such complex responses for a basic planting task? I think some enjoy the mystique of gardening, the fact that no matter how much experience one has, you can be contradicted and dramatically humbled by the course of natural events.
Gardening is part science/ botany, part methodical thinking, and part an Artistic Expression, that says; Hells Bells, throw the bucket of seeds up in the air, where it lands, I don’t even care. Let it grow, let it grow!”
Last answer, many gardeners want to be known as The Plant Expert Who KNOWS How to Make Things Happen, so they tend to ‘embroider’ their routine a little bit, hoping to make it so impossible for you, that almost no one could reproduce their result, this would ‘prove’ to that Plant Expert that they were right all along, it is this person alone who has the GREEN THUMB!! (them, not you-yet).
Just because I happen to be thinking of it, here's a short cheat sheet for growing herbs (that's all I grow, except for a little plot of pimentones which basically grow themselves once the bleep-bleep seeds germinate).
I suspect, but cannot prove, that the following is valid for anywhere S of Mexico.
First, be wary of the instruction "full sun" (sol pleno) on a seed packet. In Panama -- and I'm in the hills where the weather is consistently temperate, not hot -- "full sun" many times translates to "dead seedlings". At 3000 feet and just 9 degress Lat. N of the equator, the sun is simply more intense here (Lord knows what it must be like in Panama's Arco Seco, where the weather is uniformly hot and dry!) Dill, sweet and Greek basil, and oregano (vulgaris) do much better with about half sun. Dill grows like a bloody weed here; I've one plot that's 6 inches high, from seed, in just 7 weeks.
Second, most of Latin America, esp Panama, has a rainy season. This is called the rainy season because, fr/Apr-May to Nov-Dec, it usually rains a boatload. 5-6 days a week, a shower or storm in the afternoon is typical. Thus, if you plant ANYTHING that is subject to root rot -- lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme and so forth -- you WILL plant them in or transplant them into raised beds, or they will -- not may, but will -- die, along about August or September.
Third, I've much better success planting seeds in small plastic cups in a mix of potting soil, local soil (volcanic, very rich) and sand. When ready to transplant into the garden, wet down the soil pretty well, dig the appropriate-sized hole, cut the plastic cup away with scissorts or shears, and take the whole cupful and put it in the hole. Even for an amateur like SAJ, this works almost every time, except for cilantro, which REALLY doesn't like being transplanted at all.
Happy gardening, mate!