Rake concerns

From looking upon another thread I've just opened up pokertracker to see how much rakeback I've paid and I'm absolutely god smacked..

From 31,000 hands tracked I've paid out $382.51 in RAKEBACK :O

Majority of it has come from the lowest limits lol. I'm now beginning to wonder if there is any point in the lowest limits? Seems sickness like...wow I'm shocked.

Here are two screenshots. Can someone explain why the first one shows massive amounts of rake yet the second doesn't? Or is it based on winnings/rakeback too?

You mean, rake, not rakeback. Rakeback is the amount of rake you get paid back. It's usually based on the MGR (average rake at the table) but Fullt Tilt just switched to the actual rake paid. So if you paid $382.51 in rake (at FT) you'd get about $103 in rakeback deposited to your account. Pokerstars does not give you rakeback, but you pay significantly less in rake in those micro games. You do get VPP's though, which can be used to purchase items or bonuses or tournament tickets, but they're not as good as rakeback. You've spent about 80 hours playing, so they're still making less than $5 an hour in rake from you. This is pretty standard, and isn't super expensive. They have millions of dollars in staff and equipment to support.

Yeah I meant RAKE not rakeback. I don't know why I said rakeback. So that's standard then? So, what's your opinion on 2NL and playing there as opposed to 5NL? Maybe it might be more worth playing the 5NL in terms of what I'm paying out in rake.

IMO,

Anthing below 10nl is impossible to beat the rake for a decent amount. Play really only starts to get difficult at 50nl anyway. I would aim for 25nl as soon as your bankroll can take it. Micros are just a money maker for the sites.

You've just discovered why it is uber-important to get rakeback if you're going to be playing anything more than recreationally. I've stopped looking at the rake paid stats as they only serve to make me nauseous.