Mining pays by luck over time. None of this is unique to ctrl, but we would rather you read it here than find out from a dashboard.
TIDES pays only when the pool finds a block. How often that happens depends on the pool's share of the network, and on BTC a pool this size can go a long time between blocks. The Pool page shows the real history; we publish no estimate. SHA-256 Autoswitch mines a chain where blocks come faster and pays once a day.
The window holds about eight blocks' worth of work, so a share is normally paid by several blocks. If you stop mining and your work has left the window before the next block, what is left of it is not paid.
Two pools with the same hashrate find different numbers of blocks in a month. Luck above 100% means the block came early; below means late. Over many blocks it settles to your share of the window.
Two miners can find a block at the same height and the network keeps one. An orphaned block pays nobody; it shows crossed out on the Pool page and on your payouts.
Most of the XBT network holds new coinbase outputs for 6,480 blocks, about 45 days. XBT paid to you shows as paid after 100 confirmations but cannot be spent until then. XBT has no replay protection: mine it to a fresh wallet, never a seed that holds real Bitcoin, and keep its coins apart from BTC inputs when you spend.
ZEC, SC and Autoswitch pay from the pool wallet after maturity. Until the transaction is sent, your credit is a promise, not coins. BTC and LTC do not have this risk: the block pays you.
A typo fails its checksum and the dashboard says so, but shares already sent cannot be paid. An exchange deposit address will not credit XBT. A testnet address is paid nothing. Check the first line of your dashboard before you walk away.
Stale (the block changed before the share arrived), duplicate, low difficulty, or invalid. A few per thousand is normal; more means a bad connection or a firmware problem. Your worker table shows the rate.
Set a backup pool in your miner. Blocks already found on BTC and LTC pay in their own coinbase whatever happens to us. XBT is paid by the DATUM pool directly.
Rewards are paid in the coin mined. ctrl converts nothing except Autoswitch BCH to BTC for Bitcoin addresses, and you receive exactly the BTC that arrives, with no conversion fee.
Everything above is visible on the Pool page and in the API, and Pool Police shows who really pays your hashrate.