This is the last 'justification' post I'm going to contribute to this thread because it's completely unproductive. Any answer is a 'right' answer depending on individual miners wants and needs. That's why it's great having so many pools to choose from.
First, I wanted to thank you for providing some explanation. I am sorry if any of this discussion appeared to you as unproductive. I can assure you that I found it very interesting and informative.
I am particularly grateful for sharing with me the link
https://bitcoil.co.il/pool_analysis.pdf about the various pool reward systems -- it brings me back my kindest memories as an undergraduate student. I had a great professor for Probability Theory.
I wanted to toss out another, quote open-ended question (and again, none on this is directed against you or your pool in any way): Is there a "fair" way of rewarding miners without punishing those who may stop mining from time to time due to technical difficulties, faulty hardware, etc.?
No because the pool can't tell the difference between a hopper and one that is down due to technical difficulties on their side (at least that is what I would suspect)