![[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 2529481 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 529141 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 441552 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 425216 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 405611 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 6 336288 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 335495 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 321809 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 309306 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 295971 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 286185 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 283626 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 281466 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 265973 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 236702 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 16 193536 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 186449 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 177820 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 19 176378 HEARNNT.NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 165486 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3106322 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1337325 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 397442 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 304653 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 274895 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 6 126323 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 122502 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 8 105267 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 9 99569 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 10 93411 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 88735 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 76781 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 73985 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 14 73454 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 15 73138 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 16 72597 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 17 70423 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 67310 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 66233 IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 20 63236 CC1.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (VM/ESA 2.2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 3166 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1468 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 3 1361 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 4 1188 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 1029 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 6 991 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 7 867 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 849 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 847 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 773 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 11 650 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 12 649 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 13 598 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 547 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 532 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 525 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 524 NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 507 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 500 TEMPLEVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 20 481 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 732226 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 651875 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 493321 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 4 448913 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 429799 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 6 411590 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 391823 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 8 378986 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 371561 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 357066 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 317993 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 317826 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 313181 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 281617 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 231466 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 16 205283 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 17 204962 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.26) 18 185895 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 184450 TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1) 20 178539 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 769058 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 245405 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 161626 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 144301 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 122293 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 94767 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 94697 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 67510 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 44616 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 42069 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 39970 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 31754 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4) 13 29192 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 28381 NETGUIDENOW-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 26086 POLOCLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 24860 FUTURESUPERSTOCK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 23349 FIRSTNEWS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 21990 HECKLERS-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 19 21942 UCSMON@IUBVM.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (VM/SP 7) 20 20844 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH-MAC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
