While you are somewhat right in saying that (semi) afk ppl being put on B will make the starting positions for B somewhat less than optimal than I'f they'd remained on A.
It is not always B that is hindered more by the (semi) afk.

Also a better solution would be to rearrange BOTH A and B upon split and not let A remain in place. That way both are hindered as much by the semi afk. Whether ppl are then put in spots as they are now, or more distributed over the map is not important then.

The one thing that B does have a disadvantage in, no matter how alert the players are, is the map.
NWO1 has B starting slightly more north than A. For the first few minutes A will have the slight south advantage. I don't know about the other maps btw.

"2) Randomize the split forces on Bravo side or pre-arrange the hierarchy into two subsets, north and south."

With randomize it that should be enough i think.

what about rearrangeing both teams, alpha and bravo, with the same systematic. and arrange them vertically instead of horizontally. i saw splits where alpha had the disadvantage as well. all players waiting in the south were moved to bravo and no alpha player recognized that...all in all i think this is not very important as it is a problem that players can solve on their own by using the brain and checking the spread of ships over the starting positions. there are a lot of problems that are much more urgent like the aircraft desynch! this should be fixed, cos its game breaking actually.

Instead of just spliting them randomly, why not make it so they mirror split. Incase they don't stay on Alpha, they will be in the mirrored position in Bravo.

i wonder if there is a stat that shows wins by team?