if we mine ltc and then switch to another coin without finding a block, will the shares count or are they gone after a while?
they "count" but the shares go away after a short while. I think this is a major problem with the pool.
Flound I thought you said minimum 10 mins on each coin eveyr time there is a switch. I swear it switches more than that.
It's a little more complicated than that now.
Without going into too much detail, some coins have a minimum of 10 minutes, others have less than that. When some coins drop in difficulty, it's important to switch to them right away. Others not as much.
As far as the time-based PPLNS, the question is how rewards are split between dedicated miners and multiport miners. Since the three "big" coins have a tiny amount of dedicated hashrate, the impact of the time-based PPLNS is very low at the moment. Remember that if you switch from LTC to a fast coin you are earning payouts the entire time you're off LTC, the people who stay on LTC are not.