![[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 1965364 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 412166 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 388135 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 372994 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 322661 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 289708 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 274200 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 273046 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 270028 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 268238 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 260284 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 236755 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 213245 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 205379 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 196066 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 16 195738 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 17 173784 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 166429 HEARNNT.NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 154409 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 20 138065 LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Ultrix 4.2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 1490742 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1068399 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 389070 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 235081 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 233972 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 6 118707 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 7 95280 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 8 91759 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 9 91563 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 87543 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 75667 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 74423 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 13 72220 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 14 71593 UMDD (VM/HPO 5.0) 15 67956 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 16 66689 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 17 66050 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 18 63271 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 19 60824 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 58880 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 3141 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1237 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 3 1214 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 4 1119 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 888 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 6 868 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 868 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 8 782 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 717 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 693 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 11 588 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 12 582 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 13 547 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 493 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 480 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 16 473 TEMPLEVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 473 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 472 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51) 19 453 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 445 NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 666226 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 503227 SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7) 3 435320 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 425761 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 348254 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 344738 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 7 329450 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 312417 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 298460 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 291850 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 284196 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 260614 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 245869 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 227457 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 205486 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 16 197774 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 165495 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 18 156484 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 19 151299 TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1) 20 140796 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 673872 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 209177 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 86353 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 60839 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 55871 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 53612 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 46176 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 42270 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 40892 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 39621 TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 36123 PC-GAMES-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 31772 MS-WINDOWS3X-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 31764 NETGUIDENOW-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 31449 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 15 28261 FUTURESUPERSTOCK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 27295 NETGIR-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 26219 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 26134 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 19 24557 MS-WINDOWS-ALL--NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 20 21957 MAC-FORUM-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a)
