There's no other stat anywhere they're keeping an eye on/evaluating, or even gambling on?
They got very good payouts because we had a bunch of lucky blocks in a row.
But that's only due to luck. And you can't predict future luck. So yes, gambling is the right word. But there are no stats or anything at all to improve your gambling odds.
Some people do believe that if you are lucky today then you will be lucky tomorrow as well.
Other people believe that if you are lucky today then you have to be unlucky tomorrow because it has to even out. It makes no sense at all. But I guess people have their superstitions.
No probs re: the luck side. What I meant, but could've done a better job of explaining (and which I think the OP meant!) is...
The 10 shifts/PPLNS isn't perfect. An example - the 2018-09-08 to 2019-01-21 dry spell where nothing came in... That was a 136 day run, but the first 96 days were wiped out.
So if a single person had provided 100% of the computational power for those first 96 days only, they wouldn't have seen a payment despite having done the vast majority of the work.
Assumption is that it all about balances out.. Say, A does 10%, B does 40%, and C does 50%, so long as those ratios are maintained for the 136 days, they get the payments they deserve. Otherwise, it'll wiggle around a little though, as people come and go etc, obviously.
On that 136 day block, I seem to remember some bigger players landing towards the end.. Perhaps thinking "It's gotta go soon!"..
Now C from above, might've provided 50% of the power for the first 96 days, but when the big fellas roll up, that percentage reduces and continues to with every shift.
So I think what myself and the OP meant was, are there any loopholes/weaknesses/cheats (whatever you'd want to call them), that may not be obvious to the layman, but which he could be using to give himself an (entirely legal!) little advantage?
It just seems peculiar he points his flamethrower over, but not all the time!