most every one of my bans were because i got sloppy. running the same profile for days, botting in a public area. telling a friend i botted, got greedy and thought i NEEDED a new 200k mount. trading f2f, selling to the trade chat spammers[yes, there are people that spam WTB in trade chat then report you once they get their goods] even to the point i think some may be a trap as ive been banned instantly after trading to a trade chat spammer on a couple accounts. i can count 'for sure' bans in the above mentioned. tested, with repeat bans.
one instance, on illidan-many accounts ago- i sold to a trade chat spammer for cod. i mailed 50+ stacks to them. whispered, with a quick 'mailed, check in about an hour'. i got the response 'thanks, enjoy your ban'. and was instantly kicked offline and banned.
thought it was odd, so i picked up a second farmer, different account, found the spammer about an hour later, offered to sell 50 stacks. and the same exact conversation ensued. 'thanks, enjoy your ban'
either a blizz employee setting a trap, or an asshole buyer who enjoyed reporting people. see it however you want.
now on illidan-horde, I NO LONGER BOT THERE, i enjoy screwing with 3 spammers in particular, you know who they are if you have toons on illidan. i report them all three for spamming, and i get dc'd about 1 in 3 attempts. ive even got my guildies doing the same thing. they thought i was crazy till they repeated the experiment and get dc'd as well.
the lesson here is, enjoy the game, bot if you want, but remember , its only a damn game. if you treat your account like you would your first-born, then you might now want to bot on it.