I decided to put myself back out there after a few years of freelancing and, among other avenues, posted in a "Who wants to be hired". I had psychologically prepared myself for a long and frustrating search as I wasn't in a particular hurry and promised myself to be selective about where I landed, making sure it was a genuinely good fit.
I got three responses through HN, one from a company in the city I live in, one from a fully distributed team, and one from a holy s__t SV company I had fantasized about in years past.
All three were amazing opportunities and the people I spoke with were so awesome--genuine, authentic, enthusiastic, and of an altogether different caliber than what I had been anticipating.
I interviewed for a few weeks with all three and was honestly agonizing about what I'd do if I got an offer from more than one. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but what I was not expecting was to feel so much like I was in the driver's seat of my job search experience. It was almost like I was interviewing them for the job, or more accurately, it was as if we were on an equal footing (I don't delude myself that that was actually the case, but it's how it felt dealing with such awesome point's of contact).
I wound up accepting a completely different offer from a co. in my city that I connected with through a different channel and that really ticked all the boxes for me--I mean--I feel really lucky, I truly love my job. It would have been an insane opportunity to take the role at the SV unicorn (had they extended me an offer, I'll never know) but at the end of the day I just wasn't ready to pick up my whole life and move cross country in my 30's.
Wow did I ever get derailed. The moral of the story is, while I didn't technically get hired through a "Who wants to be hired" thread, I did have an altogether highly positive experience, and I imagine, if anyone else's experience is like mine, that lot's of people get hooked up with awesome opportunities through that channel.