I think you are all right but the whole issue goes deeper than this. Next to the options described you also have, for example, the "NOKICK" level (default set to 1, "never get kicked by the bot"), PROTECT or PROTECTME (default set to a higher value), etc.
Its most likely not a specific setting but a combination. However, in this case my bet goes out to NOKICK (this is on 1.7.12 by the way).