I have a difficult time understanding how curation trails and splitting votes can actually benefit anyone. If a person is getting very little from their actions here on Steemit already, how can they earn more by giving away 50% of what they earn? And how does PH benefit from buying/renting SP? Would the whales leasing the SP not be better off using it themselves? Why would they charge PH less than what they would get if they simply used it to vote on 10 posts per day?

Perhaps if I understood how the algorithm is gamified, all this would make sense, but for now it seems very convoluted and confusing.

Similarly, if I have only 10 votes per day and I join a curation trail, I could be making 100 votes per day and not know it. My votes would be practically worthless when divided so many times. With negligible VP, I would get back 50% of nothing as my curation reward. Again, I don't understand how anyone actually benefits from these programs. I must be missing some key points of information. If you could enlighten me, I would be grateful.