There are many issues with pools and mining, first does it mean that your hash rates is not showing, it is not accurate or you have not seen any coin in your account since you have been mining ?
no .. not at all .. i was just trying to figure out how the pools (or mining in general) work ... thats all
although, i thought i would run a node and try solo mining (mining on my local node) and selected EXP for that, so i downloaded the blockchain and started mining and after a few hours i found a block, only to discover that the address i used on the node (ethbase) its keystore file disappeared and i cant figure out how to open that wallet ... so i created a new address and now its been two days and nothing!! not a single block ... a bit frustrating, but it might have been beginners luck
Your best bet when starting off is to join a pool to see how things work. Most of what you have described so far should be left until after you have mastered the basics and have a bit more understanding in how it all works.
Mining boiled down to its simplest is your computer is guessing to come up with a magic number, or hash. This number needs to meet certain requirements to be accepted by the network and if it passes you are credited with mining a new block and get the block reward and any mining fees. Only on dead or very low interest coins will you have much of a chance at solo mining. This is because as more miners join in, the network difficulty increase to keep up with the increasing hash-rate. This process is automatic and is intended to keep block generation on a steady pace as set out in the coins specifications.
With most popular coins, and all coins that net more profit than their cost in electricity to mine, you will need to join a pool with only one GPU in order to be profitable. You can mine as long as you want solo if you are simply curious, but if you want to earn any income you will need to increase your chances of finding a block. To do this you will need to join a mining pool.
A mining pool is simply what it sounds like. You "pool" your mining resources with other users to increase the chance you will find a block in a more reasonable time frame. Of course this means you also share in the profits and will receive less than a whole block reward, usually proportional to your hash-rate versus the pools. While this may sound bad, most pools typically find enough blocks in a day that you will receive a steady income.
Shares are simply a way to track your progress while you mine on a pool. The pool will assign you work at less than the actual difficulty of the network so that you can earn credit toward the reward. There is a very slim chance you might actually be the discoverer of the next block, but even so since you are now part of the pool, the reward will be split proportionally according to your hash rate. In the past some pools did offer a blockfinder bonus, but most of them now are straight up proportional payouts in one form or another.
If you switch to an Ethereum pool, you should earn around 0.15 ETH per day with your card. This will equate to around $1.50 per day in income after subtracting your electricity costs. The actual amount may be higher or lower depending on your electrical rates, but I am trying to keep these examples simple.
