![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](https://www.lsoft.com/images/HDR-LISTSERV-sm.gif)
There are many possible ways to measure the relative "importance" or "size" of LISTSERV sites: number of lists, number of subscribers, number of messages delivered, etc. In most cases, the number of messages delivered is used to rank mailing list managers, because it is the most accurate measurement of the amount of activity on the server. But, depending on what you are looking for, other variables may be more appropriate. There are currently three LISTSERV "Top 20" lists, ranking the various servers according to:
In addition, you can view a list of the Top 20 lists in the network (by number of subscribers).
The statistics are gathered daily by a monitor at L-Soft which polls all the LISTSERV sites that participate in the "open" LISTSERV network over the worldwide Internet. Corporate servers operating in a "closed" environment are not included.
The statistics are organized in monthly reports. The message volume figures are a flat average of the accumulated traffic for the entire month. Thus, a server that delivers 300,000 messages per month will show a daily average of 10,000 messages. In practice, there is a lot less traffic during the weekend, and even during business days there can be significant fluctuations (~30%). The list statistics (number of lists, number of subscribers, largest lists in the network) are measured as of the last day in the month.
For the current month, the message volume figures are averaged based on the number of days that have elapsed. In practice, the figures are not very meaningful in the first few days, especially if the month starts on a weekend. In that case it is best to refer to the previous month for more accurate figures.
A fourth "Top 20" list is available for the more technically oriented: Number of messages generated by the server. This corresponds to the number of mail messages created by the server while processing postings to its mailing lists. LISTSERV delivers its mail using an intelligent mail delivery function called DISTRIBUTE, which improves mail delivery times and reduces bandwidth usage by spreading the delivery chore over scores of participating servers. Each of these servers processes the recipients for its service area (typically its organization or campus). In most cases, DISTRIBUTE simply alters the manner in which the mail is delivered, and the number of messages forwarded to other sites for optimized delivery is roughly equal to the number of messages received by other sites for the same purpose. In some cases, however, this is not the case, either because the server elected to serve a much wider service area than its own organization, or because it is explicitly forwarding all its deliveries to another machine (for instance, many mainframe-based servers forward their mail to a workstation or PC for delivery).
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1399757 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 321940 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 316767 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 4 281980 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 5 217325 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 193381 UGA (VM/ESA 2.2) 7 188270 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 8 186560 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 9 176649 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 169504 LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Ultrix 4.2) 11 142735 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 12 132523 OBSLAVE.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (HP-UX A.09.05) 13 129058 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 14 125454 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 15 122091 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 16 118208 HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2) 17 108122 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5) 18 102855 LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 19 101660 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 20 101177 LISTMAIL.SUNET.SE (BSD/OS 2.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 354411 UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 2 351494 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 3 349752 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 341349 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 5 288942 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 6 241926 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 7 226364 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 202779 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 9 189075 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 10 180072 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 179316 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 12 164173 UGA (VM/ESA 2.2) 13 155104 TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0) 14 145361 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 15 141614 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 16 139536 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 17 136304 IUBVM (VM/SP 7) 18 122301 TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1) 19 112173 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 105370 LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 920 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1) 2 851 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 3 796 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 644 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 566 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 6 464 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5) 7 459 UGA (VM/ESA 2.2) 8 404 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 9 396 UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 10 391 ULIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 11 388 IRISHVMA (VM/ESA 1.1) 12 386 HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2) 13 385 TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0) 14 359 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 15 354 EMUVM1 (VM/ESA 1.1) 16 354 ULKYVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 17 352 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 341 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.1) 19 339 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51) 20 323 NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 363198 UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 2 359178 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 3 354678 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 345457 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 5 293181 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 6 242719 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 7 230839 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 205531 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 9 194671 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 10 190239 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 11 184492 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 166913 UGA (VM/ESA 2.2) 13 158051 TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0) 14 148346 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 15 144356 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 16 143100 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 17 140058 IUBVM (VM/SP 7) 18 125355 TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1) 19 113446 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 105701 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 454286 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 107320 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 72732 IN-TOUCH@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 44481 MS-WINDOWS95-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 41758 TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 38246 TIDBITS@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 7 33578 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 8 32132 PC-GAMES-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 28465 MS-WINDOWS3X-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 28124 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 11 27342 MS-WINDOWS95-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 21652 MS-WINDOWS-ALL--NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 18492 NEW-LIST@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 18297 MS-WINDOWS3X-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 17682 DOS-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 16 15374 NETGIR-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 17 14817 ONLINE-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 14197 OMRI-L@UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 19 13387 MAC_ED-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04) 20 13280 TESL-L@CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
