John, as always great diagram to help explain a situation. Now for the tricky part which is better and why? All answers are welcomed.
I have always thought that the combination of runoff's are what make a board aceptable, irrespective of the type of cut. Such as, a flat sawn board without any runoffs on the back would be just like a stave and thus desireable. However a 1/4 sawn board is all runoffs on the back but if it doesn't have many on the edge it will also be a good candidate.