Sorry folks - newbie question:
I've got a few block erupters pointed here, so pretty much the minimum hashpower one is allowed to participate with while I figure out the intricacies of mining before I point some more hash power at it. I love the idea of solo mining and using a pool like this is great for those of us who can't figure out how to run our own full node and do it independently. My total shares are over 100K at this point, but my best ever is only 30K - which seems a bit of a difference from expected based on the explanation above, and I'm not sure I can attribute this to pure luck.
My difficulty is being assigned by the pool as a 1/1, and I only occasionally break through with a higher number. I've seen multiple times on this thread that this is merely for confirmation that one is mining and doesn't actually change your chances of finding a block. Its still based on overall hashpower. My question is if difficulty is the TARGET (ie, the correct mining solution must be a number above the target difficulty), how can difficulty be assigned to a miner from the pool? Is it merely a representation of my successful hash's difficulty level (ie, most of my successful hashes are difficulty 1)? Is my difference between total shares and best ever share a reflection of my low hash power and random variance, or my allocation of work by the pool?
There are two targets - the one that the pool accepts and the one the network accepts as a valid block.
Your 1 if the difficulty that the pool will accept. It recognizes you have a lowered powered machine, and it'll let you submit at that minimum level. As long as your erupters submit a share with difficulty of 1 or higher, the pool will accept it.
Now, the network difficulty is much, much, much higher. Your miners are essentially trying random numbers, mixing them with some other data, and hashing that. It is possible (but unlikely) and of your shares will actually be high enough for the network difficulty. It'd be over 1, so it'd be accepted, and it'd be over the difficulty target, so it'd solve for a block.
Thing of it like rolling dice.
Imagine you get a block if you roll 2 trillion dice and they all land on 6. For every dice that lands on 6, you get a point.
Your 1 share is proof that you're rolling the dice. If three of those land on 6, you get 3 points. (your share would be 3/1 in this example).
If all of them land on six, you get 2 trillion points, and you find a block.
Now there's a lot more nuance than that in mining, but hopefully it explains the concept.