Abandoned games end automatically after a couple of minutes or so, and then you are prompted by the game that your opponent "may have violated" such and such rules about fair play. At least that's what I get when people do that. Also, I used to recommend just playing another game simultaneously, but it seems chess.com no longer allows this, as I now get "another login..." prompt.
About the second issue, being move 1, I bet it's people who were going to abandon the game already, and didn't want to hit their early abandonment cap before "fair play" rules kick in, and so they wait until their opponent loses patience and abandons as you have. Until "live" games give players the option to choose between Black, White, or Random, people will always find ways to work around these automated rules. The policy doesn't work because it doesn't address the major cause of the problem.
I can say this with absolute confidence that in the games I've played, 99% of the time when people abandon games in move one, they are playing Black. That's no longer coincidence, that's a trend.
I have to say It irks me to sit and wait five minutes while a clock runs down on an abandoned game. Is there anything to be done about this?
On the other hand, If I ditch a game after my opponent wont make a first move for 20 seconds, I get a warning not to abandon games. This is a bad policy.
S