Macros are allowed. The problem is that there's a grey area on what they consider an action. These questions were posted to the forums as requested in a response to my ticket.
Things that are automated or exploit a game mechanic is what they are banning for. If they consider extracting items for profit as exploiting a game mechanic, then so be it. It wasn't made clear what they considered exploiting a game mechanic in the response.
The reason why the use cases I posted were posted is because if each of those steps is to be considered a separate action, then I can separate out those functions into separate keypresses just fine. If its considered that the action is extracting a single item or salvaging a single item, then a keypress to do that is fine. It's not made clear what is ok or not. If each step is to be considered a separate action, then there's some Blishhud modules that people need to be warned to not use as some of those follow the exact same processes.
It would be nice if they would just add an Extract All function to the Extractor like they added the Salvage All functions to the salvage kits. A Salvage All Exotics function would also be nice.
My support ticket specifically warned about macros with the intent for automation / exploiting a game mechanic. If the issue was just macros being used for automation, then the comment about exploiting a game mechanic wouldn't have needed to be mentioned. So something in the use cases I sent to Anet is considered exploiting a game mechanic (or was just included as part of a normal response).
Again, that's the question being asked. Are those considered multiple actions? Is it considered an action just went there's a game state change ie an item was extracted or is it just the act of moving your mouse?
As for what macros are allowed, their general policy is "Attended macro use is permitted as long as it is not exploitative, and as long as it does not provide the user with an unfair advantage over other players. Unattended macro use is prohibited under any circumstances." from Policy: Macros and Macro Use – Guild Wars 2 Support
Addons like Blishhud have a lot of different macros build into their modules so if its a case that things like moving your mouse and clicking your mouse are all considered separate actions, then some of the Blishhud modules either need to not be used or how they are used needs to be modified to require multiple keypresses.