Yes, totally normal.
The standard node client isn't impressed unless you've got a valid hash that meets the current difficulty target. For most people, this will be never.
The pools, however, accept hashes that only meet a much easier target, so that they can allocate shares to the miners.
The pool does not allocate shares. You do them. If they meet the needed criteria they get inserted in the database as a valid share(bit might not meet the target).The standard node client isn't impressed unless you've got a valid hash that meets the current difficulty target. For most people, this will be never.
The pools, however, accept hashes that only meet a much easier target, so that they can allocate shares to the miners.
No, you do hashes. The pool does shares, and I'm pretty sure the right word for that process is allocation.
