Any server that delete botters will always have a higher amount of players at launch and 1-2 weeks after that because those who do cheat with rune maker, giant MC farms and the like will try to do so but when they realize they're all getting deleted for it including their main chars, they'll become scared and stop cheating. Then there will be less rune makers, less cavebotters online 24/7 and what's left are the real players.
This small decrease of players is a good thing. It means we're very successful in eliminated the cheaters.
The problem with deleting this much cheaters is that many people actually think the real player base is decreasing and thus some players leave because of it. But we're willing to accept that risk because you know, fuck botters.