Well, not so many issuers have both combined on the very same offer. Usually it's either just "$x spend in y months" (x and y might be different), OR initial purchase. And there are some which offer one bonus for "$x spend in y months" and then an additional bonus for $z spend in the first year" or something like that.

Not many people necessary have experience will all of these combinations, and not all of that experience will be recent enough to be certain to still be valid today. So I'm not sure how it's worth generalizing.

For every generality, there might be an exception. And the exception might not have existed last year, but have come up recently!

Not with regards to exactly your issue, but with regards to many other things, all the "rules" about how do stuff with Citi credit card applications changed radically, in several steps, during spring of this year. Very little that someone might have learned about applying for multiple Citi cards as recently as this January still applies today! And very little that applies about apply for Citi cards works the same for Chase, and vice versa, for example.

Oh, and the rules may vary from specific offer to specific offer (not just as "simply" as from issuer to issuer!).