@lhutton There’s nothing wrong with clipping if you know what you’re getting and you’re achieving the artistic results you want. As long as you don’t expect the software to magically recover data for you. By not clipping the data you’re just giving yourself more options in post-production and avoiding any troublesome colour casts that the clipping creates.
@anon41087856’s new filmic module should go some way to getting you better results if you do expose to the right. Certainly darktable has moved on leaps and bounds since 5-6 years ago.