Interesting that this thread has gained so much traction. I created an "Ask HN" submission this morning asking about people's experiences with the monthly "Freelancer? Seeking freelancer?" threads, which got ignored and promptly burried!
The freelancing threads (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7162201, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5803767, etc) are popular, appear to be well-received and reliably receive a number of up-votes.
For some reason, me asking for people's experiences in that thread is attracting a number of down-votes. Odd.