Second, this statement requires further consideration: “…the registrars of .cm were greedy when they priced their .cm domains and kept most people from registering names. Unfortunately, that left the big time scammers as the only ones that had enough to gain to financially justify the purchase.”

The problem is not price. The problem is the lack of awareness that’s typically involved in the launch of a new TLD, particularly one with very little global appeal – Yes, this problem will apply to ALL new TLDs. “Most people” don’t care about registering names during a launch (they never will), so the only ones that make it to the party are domainers (white hat or not) and the scammers. Therefore, in the absence of general public “awareness” the easiest thing that a new registry can do to keep the scammers away is to start with a high price and gradually reduce it as “most people” start registering the names for real use. Netcom and the registrars may have been greedy, but that was actually the smart thing to do even if that wasn’t their intention. Launching with a low price will only make the problem worse. Lower price = more scams available for scammers to profit from the space.

Finally, the lack of general awareness during the .CM launch was exacerbated by the lack of major distribution (with the exception of some big domainer centric outlets). That’s not Netcom’s fault, but rather the lack of general interest for the TLD. Why would a registrar support it? New TLDs should take note.

You are sorely mistaken if you think EVERYONE registered .cm domains to “hijack” traffic. I registered my first name .cm, which resolves to my personal homepage, which does not set out to deceive anyone. If someone lands on my page by mistake, they will not encounter malware or V1@gr@ ads, just info about me.

It was just an opportunity to get my first name domain. In retrospect, I realize I overpaid and to a ccTLD registrar that engages in shady practices, but that’s another issue.

It’s the ONLY .cm I have registered, and how others choose to use .cm is not my problem. I do agree that ICANN needs to take a look at how this TLD is operated, and, perhaps, step in to cyberslap them and make them comply with good business practices.

Before throwing stones, you should look inward at the way you conduct your own domaining business, for instance, unapologetically buying TM domains.

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About CMR, CRN, ROON. cctlds is always 2 characters and corresponding to ISO 3166-1 alpha-2.

Cameroon:
cm Cameroon
ca Canada
cn China
cr Costa Rica
co Colombia
ce It’s Free
cc Cocos Islands

Inform yourself about the cctlds rules and don’t make up rules.