I use talkfreelance similarly to you, to engage others, help / advise where and when I can. The marketplace is like a bonus tool. Years ago I used to use it to sell pre-designed psd's etc, but now that I've grown up a little bit and got a better understanding of the industry etc, I will only ever post to offer my services.
A recent post to the market place offering my services and saying that i've got availability, has proven to work this week as I received 4 new clients. Although sometimes I may post and not get any response. But even though that happens, it is still worth doing.
Talkfreelance, word of mouth leads, are the only type of new clients I get. I don't advertise anywhere else, I don't know anywhere else better. I do get clients coming back for more which is a great thing to have.
Other than that, I agree that the 'community' is about engaging with each other, helping each other out in a non-dribbble commentary fashion. It is also good to build long term relationships with fellow designers and developers.
90% of the people that I met from here, have dissapeared - literally.
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