I pretty much ignore all that now that I winter sow. My containers are constantly moist so I figure they will absorb the water naturally. I also don't worry about light requirements. Most of my seeds are just sprinkled on the surface and then watered in before I seal up the container.
Joann

Same here. I don't nick/soak anything and sprinkle most tiny seeds on the surface. Larger ones, like zinnia, I might stick in individually.

Karen

Ditto.

Ditto here :-)

There are some seeds that have tough covering and need soaking. If you start such seeds lets say now- they will probably undergo several times freezing and thawing cycles therefore breaking tough outer shell.
Now if I start such seeds at the end of April I would definetly pre-soak them because they won't get same weather treatment.
But some seeds won't benefit from started now in zone 5 for me so I will have to wait until later time.
Sometimes I receive seeds that need several cycles/warm-cold-warm/ to go on or should be started early fall and I receive them in the middle of winter. I will pre-soak them and change water frequently for several days to wash out germination inhibitors thus cutting firs warm period and then placing seeds outside.
Winter sowing/read cold stratification/ is not necessary for many of seeds. Only certain seeds do need certain length of cold weather to germinate properly. Marigolds will sprout in warm weather but they also will reseed if given chance but by no means seeds need cold weather to germinate properly.
OTOH seeds of hellebore will not germinate unless they given sufficient periods of cold and warm cycles and if they not long enough they could go for another round of cycles.
When it comes to darkness requirements there are some seeds they will go into second dormancy if they exposed to light while germinating. There are only few of such seeds, majority of seeds only need lightly pressed into soil to germinate well and improve with light exposure.
In my experience cyclamen and pansies/violas do need darkness to germinate well. They will germinate with light too, but it might take longer and germination will be prolonged.

When I wintersowed large seeds in early winter they sometimes rotted in the jug. But I have successfully done some large, hard seeds (nasties, sweet peas, moon vine) in spring and they germinated and grew well without any nicking or soaking.

Karen

Last year, I sowed a couple of varieties that needed darkness. I took the lazy way. I sowed in a black nursery gallon container, and then put a slightly larger container sown with different seeds on top. When I watered the top one, the bottom one got the runoff. When I got sprouts in the bottom container, I took off the top container. It was kind of a two for one. I think I did this as it was warming up and it only took a week or two.

For me:
tiny & small seeds, sprinkle on top and pat tight.
larger seeds, sprinkle on top and sprinkle some soil on them, pat tight.

General rule of thumb I think about - "cover with soil to half the distance of the widest part of the seed" remembering that the freeze and thaw cycle will heave the soil up and down and do some covering process on its own. So the seed has to be about zinnia/borage/baptisia width before I'll cover it any. This is only my second year, so I'm still feeling this out too.