So, in the beginning - it was pretty easy to bot. I was able to get 99 hunter quickly and before a bunch of level 3s showed up at chinchompas. It was really fun having great things like full dragon and a blue partyhat, which at the time of the release was 1-2Million Coins. Eventually I started trying to max out, and I got banned by crafting astral runes. I thought that a moderator reported me or something, so I was stupid enough to actually runecraft astrals again a week later, and that was the end of that account.
I made several other accounts eventually. I got into the slayer hype with a slayer bot in time for the slayer updates that were being spewed out. 1 account had 78 slayer before the permanent ban. Another got up to 94 slayer before the permanent ban. Eventually, bans were coming much more often, until bans happened in mere weeks.
Eventually, I quit for a few months. When I came back shortly, I felt like making an account again. This time, I was struggling to make money so I naturally just mined a lot with a low combat level (which I couldn't get up easily without money). I got to around level 60 mining before getting banned. I should mention that I account share regularly, and this account was not account shared. This friend told me to bot on another account of his, which I did, and it got banned within 2 days - which made me feel shitty.
When f2p came out, I played the game like a new player should - without bots. I'm studying abroad in Austria, where the internet is ass. So, naturally - I couldn't bot even if I wanted to. The two weeks ran out and I felt like I had not accomplished anything. The two week f2p trial incentivized my come-back to bots. It angered me a little that f2p would have a restriction like that, so naturally, making the most of it through getting the most money possible to sustain a new account would make sense. One account got banned in a couple of hours. Another got banned in like 3 days after I got 70 fishing and cooking. And the most recent one got banned in 1 day after killing rats. Yes, rats(level -1).
Anyways, I've heard that the bans are not usually on the day that they catch you, as to not reveal the methods they use to ban you. It is very discouraging though. I was having so much fun back then, and although if I play devil's advocate, it can be seen as a good thing to have a reduced amount of bots - I think that free to play shouldn't have a 2 week restriction as it just makes people want to bot.