![[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 2451052 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 510334 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 419874 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 386317 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 352878 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 330757 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 321033 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 308892 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 283320 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 280858 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 275543 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 259717 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 258307 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 215626 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 200221 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 16 178175 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 169409 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 18 168426 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 162057 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 20 161766 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 1726165 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1239316 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 400353 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 284756 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 272704 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 6 124050 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 7 112363 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 99526 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 9 97659 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 10 95835 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 11 92867 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 90034 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 76988 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 75455 UMDD (VM/HPO 5.0) 15 73419 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 16 70954 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 70794 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 18 70428 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 19 68655 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 66813 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 3155 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1367 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 3 1310 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 4 1173 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 1066 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 994 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 7 914 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 909 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 9 829 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 810 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 752 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 12 637 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 623 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 14 586 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 534 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 16 516 NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 512 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 508 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 500 TEMPLEVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 481 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 688996 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 633434 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 450983 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 4 441587 PSUVM.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 397565 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 6 395809 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 377200 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 373114 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 359698 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 311816 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 309990 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 288672 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 257050 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 240845 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 209203 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 16 188094 MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1) 17 180368 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 18 173233 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 19 166105 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 157937 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 744776 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 210424 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 129760 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 101984 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 95624 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 92367 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 84923 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 59573 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 44147 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 40011 TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 36552 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 35968 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 31688 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 14 29157 NETGUIDENOW-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 26206 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 16 25631 FUTURESUPERSTOCK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 21977 UCSMON@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 18 21472 HECKLERS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 19 21241 FIRSTNEWS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 19132 NETGIR-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a)
