The 5Nd ramp that everyone has to go through is basically you get paid based on the amount of shares submitted in the past 5 times the difficulty ( number of shares)  so right now it is about 10 days.  This gets shorter when the pool is bigger. and longer when the pool is smaller, or when difficulty goes up.   You get paid for all the shares, but they are delayed.  This prevents pool hopping.   On the flip side, if you ever stop mining, you will still get paid for the ramp down for the same reasons ( but declining )  If you lose internet connection for a bit, it doesnt really affect your earnings as much, becuase it is the average over the past 5Nd not just that last hour or so like other pools use.