** Update: I still haven't heard from any mod, but the user did get back to me though they weren't very receptive to the frustration. However, I did find out that you can remove others as mods but the option is hidden in having to click into one of their posts. So, this unique situation is resolved, but the appointing of a mod without checking if the current community is actually abandoned should still be addressed.**
A user posted on !community_requests claiming that a sub I'm a moderator of had no active mods despite the fact that I have actively been posting on there and holding a moderation discussion with the community this week. At the time of request the account was only a day old. Still, an admin proceeded to make them a mod in our community.
As far as I can tell, this was a mistake on both the user and admin's part.
Within an hour of the new mod appearing I responded to both the admin and the user politely asking them for answers about what happened. I also privately DMed the user on Matrix asking them to demod themselves and put a post up in the community petitioning to become a mod instead of just sidestepping the people who are already there.
It has now been nearly 8 hours and no admin has gotten back to me, and the user hasn't responded.
Even if this is a mistake, it gives me a lot of pause. The fact a one day old account could come and claim our community was abandoned, even though clearly it was not, and be given mod powers for hours upon hours after the mistake being reported is really scary.
Again, I think this was a mistake on both the admin and user's part, but there needs to be a better process to deal with this going forward. I'm really disappointed.___