Hint for spray basing and pin basting. It is very important to get all the wrinkles out before you baste. I use clamps, like these to hold the backing really flat then sptray the backing, layer the batting and top. For me, this never fails.
But to answer your questions, yes. Folks do pin baste, I helpd a gal yesterday while we were at a quilting retreat with her pin basting. We still used the clamps to get all really tight and smooth, then pinned away!. BYW, the clamps can be found at any of the big box hardware stores, I got a collection of small, medium and large for about $10. The small/medium work just as well as the large.
Yikes, I needed to resize the photo, but you get the idea! Tee-Hee-Hee