![[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 1677294 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 441220 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 3 356877 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 294040 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 279342 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 246578 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 236752 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 232605 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 200632 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 10 183941 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 181930 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 181156 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 13 176457 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 157056 OBSLAVE.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (HP-UX A.09.05) 15 156176 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 16 155691 MAILHUB.UARK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 153614 LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Ultrix 4.2) 18 149962 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 19 148923 LISTMAIL.SUNET.SE (BSD/OS 2.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 145842 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 1131285 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 729383 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 336599 LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 4 266720 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 183167 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 6 156595 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 109409 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 8 98644 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 82462 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 78609 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 11 74120 UMDD (VM/HPO 5.0) 12 72402 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 13 70706 UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 14 69113 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 15 64769 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 16 61000 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 58902 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 58122 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5) 19 57294 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1) 20 53932 ASUACAD (VM/ESA 2.2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 3134 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1182 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1) 3 1044 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 840 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5) 5 805 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 6 757 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 733 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 552 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 534 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 10 455 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 453 TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0) 12 442 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 435 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 14 435 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 15 427 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 16 426 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 425 NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 420 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51) 19 406 HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2) 20 406 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 437582 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 426786 PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 3 401348 UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 375006 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 5 359144 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 6 304000 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 278842 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 238422 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 235958 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 230883 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 203010 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 12 200975 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 195618 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 194914 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 176396 TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0) 16 172455 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 169411 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 18 169324 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 19 168159 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 20 161295 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 562006 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 193923 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 40033 TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 38806 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 36173 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 35935 PC-GAMES-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 33193 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 31728 MS-WINDOWS3X-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 31007 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 10 26373 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 24653 NETGIR-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 24445 MS-WINDOWS-ALL--NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 23747 WEEKS-WORTH@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 21600 MS-WINDOWS3X-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 21042 UCSMON@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 16 20702 DOS-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 18590 INBUSINESS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 18032 ONLINE-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 17796 NEW-LIST@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 17213 CYBERSPACE-LAW@PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
