i always play -arsp with my friends in a Eurobatlenet, i have the original key for batlenet but i know more people in euro :P.
I play dota since 6.28b (actual map: 6.49c) and is very adictive :D

Favorite heros: drow ranger, tormented, meppo, necro and lina

I play DOTA om Warcraft III Reign Of Chaos my favorite Hero is Necr and Veno.

i always get kicked from games for some reason.

I play it sometimes ... but just on extremly rare ocasions ...

 You say its success is because it's accessible. Yet I'm afraid to try it because it seems laced with so many die hard veterans. I've got warcraft 3 and always wanted to try it but never have taken the chance.

For me, Team Fortress is my <3. 

There is a reson why more people in South East Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore etc...) have stopped playing DOTa and shifted over to DOTA altogether. Heck even WCG ASIA dropped 5v5 Counter Strike for 5v5 DOTA. ESWC'08 has included DOTA into its official games roster
DOTA has become a lot more stable in the past few years. Gone are the days of the crappy fatal-error's and random disconnects.
But backdooring, item pooling and chicken sharing remain a huge problem for tournament organizers who need to monitor the game all to attentively.
I usually play play -arsp during open games.
online i play on the global gaming league client.

DotA etiquette and playstyle varies vastly in different realms/regions.

I used to play all the time, but I've been off the smack that is DOTA for about a year now.