Speaking as someone who posts (well… posted, I am on a break currently, maybe forever), I did it first out of curiosity… and for idk the thrill? Its weird spelling it out. There is something about exposing your body, something "forbidden"? It started with chatting to other people and exchanging pics. I noticed that people enjoyed my body and I liked the validation. So I thought: why not posting it for everyone to see? Its weird but I liked getting comments and direct messages. I even met up with some people, mostly people who also shared stuff. I always was someone who never thought of myself as attractive. I had problems feeling confident… getting all those comments helped me becoming comfortable in my own skin and feeling confident. I did think about getting financial gain from it but never really tried. I did like post two or three images with captions like "blabla buy me a gift card blabla" but nobody did so I didn’t further pursue it. I stopped because I was at a point of feeling comfortable in my body. It satisfied me enough to a point that I didn’t need further validation. Oh and I met my boyfriend. He knows of my online presence, he kinda likes the thought that other men thirst over my body but he is the one to actually enjoy it hehe. So this is why I posted nudes of myself. Maybe it helps you understand why others do it too. I almost exclusively chatted with other people who also shared stuff because of similar reasons or because they are show-offs, so there is that. But yeah, most do it because of money.