![[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 2500856 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 494541 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 392815 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 365276 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 361539 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 6 338252 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 332485 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 332430 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 330188 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 320504 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 274652 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 265729 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 222777 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 209937 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 191247 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 190097 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 17 169288 HEARNNT.NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 156782 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 145998 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.26) 20 142933 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2121205 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1571977 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 780599 MICROSOFT.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 479936 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 334339 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 149099 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 137472 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 8 127953 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 9 122130 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 10 101613 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 11 97227 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 12 88108 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 80248 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 75127 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 73368 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 16 71601 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 71023 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 65580 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 19 65226 CC1.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (VM/ESA 2.2) 20 63401 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 1525 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 2 1211 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 3 1133 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 4 1090 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 913 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 893 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 7 870 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 867 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 805 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 10 698 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 671 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 12 627 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 609 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 593 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 15 584 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 566 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 547 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 18 540 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 19 537 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.1.5) 20 512 VM.TEMPLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 763517 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 617834 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 472462 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 4 428895 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5) 5 423134 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 398217 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 395844 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 395654 MAIL.EWORLD.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 378944 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 10 370006 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 309726 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 249460 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 228821 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 14 228510 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 225884 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 195313 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.26) 17 176512 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 151637 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 19 147687 UGA (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 138331 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 822539 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 737835 IEUSERS@MICROSOFT.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 257771 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 230339 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 213768 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 173457 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 113385 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 101937 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 74827 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 65170 BROWSER-ALERT-PC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 53843 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 46168 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 46060 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 42764 MSDN@MICROSOFT.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 35801 POLOCLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 31754 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (Solaris 2.5.1) 17 31620 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 28741 FIRSTNEWS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 27770 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH-MAC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 20 27054 NETGUIDENOW-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
