The Elance is going to be shut down soon and merged into oDesk aka Upwork. And Upwork is an absolute disaster.
The messaging system doesn't work. The stats don't work. The search barely works. The ranking system is a joke. The invoices they send to clients are illegal in Europe.[https://community.upwork.com/t5/Clients/Name-on-a-received-invoice/m-p/92225#U92225]
And for the last few days, the job application system -- arguably, the most important thing on the whole website -- stopped working.
If you want to appreciate the full extend of the disaster, just visit their forum and see what their freelancers and clients have to say about it: https://community.upwork.com
They are already loosing people and the only reason anyone's still using them is the lack of a better alternative.
This is the perfect chance for a new platform.