I've generally come to the conclusion that it's a combination of that, and because Edelgard's reform intentions are pretty vague. She says a lot about what she intends to get rid of, but not that much about what specifically she wants to replace it with and how. We get the general outline - people 'rise and fall on their own merits' and such - but that's about it. She's not the only character this applies to ('and then Claude solved racism! How? Idk, he just did'), but this has, for whatever reason, lead to people filling in the blanks with whatever they figure sounds good and assuming that's what she meant.

Which is how you end up with people insisting that she, say, disbands the nobility, even though the epilogues make it pretty unambigious that she doesn't. You get people insisting she introduces free education for all, even though the most she has to say about the idea when introduced is that it's interesting and it's never mentioned again. Hell I've seen people deadass argue she introduces communism. It sounds good to whoever says it, so it's true.