A very experienced test pilot, who became a flying instructor, referred to this in my hearing as "conducting the orchestra" - where pilots, instead of holding the controls firmly and initially in the pro-spin / initial condition, kept moving the stick around, and often didn't keep the rudder on the stop either. As you say, it creates interesting and inconsistent recoveries.
I agree that correct actions in the early incipient stage of the spin are not the same as those from a developed spin. Historically that basically was throttle closed/controls centralised. Interestingly, I explored that during some refresher aerobatic training last year, and the very experienced ex-military aerobatic instructor teaching me insisted that in his opinion whilst that worked consistently, he preferred the UPRT drill of unload in pitch / roll wings parallel with the horizon / pitch to level flight attitude.
So, what else could we do? We went and set up some deliberate gross mishandling upsets, and tried the two different recoveries with identical entries.
The result? Both worked first time every time, but his preferred UPRT approach gave us consistently about half the height loss. I am a convert!
G