I tended to use them for finding good movies, by looking at all the ones they were heavily warning against...

I will say that I sometimes find the modern website versions quite useful for content warnings -- they're pretty consistent about warning for violence, and most can tell the difference between consensual sex and rape these days.

Oh boy would I be angry if someone recommended The Expanse to me based on its optimism and hopefullness. I've read the first book - for me, that series is the definition of grimdark.

Yeah, the optimistic and hopeful elements, to me, come in around the third book and beyond. Which is also, by coincidence, around the time the treatment of women becomes MUCH better.