![[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 2486299 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 483728 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 443355 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 387066 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 351901 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 348839 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 317872 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 316510 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 9 313198 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 299335 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 282673 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 263319 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 256932 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 241489 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 218773 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 184729 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 183787 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 18 163587 HEARNNT.NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 143759 DIST.LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 141198 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4129837 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 1796721 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 1191987 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 475425 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 451335 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 281209 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 7 155197 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 130593 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 127444 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 10 124277 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 104853 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 12 98680 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 13 86932 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 83621 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 83211 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 77375 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 17 75472 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 72202 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 67856 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 67074 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 1689 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 2 1480 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 3 1336 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 1310 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 1053 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 6 1034 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1011 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 8 930 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 906 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 724 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 11 718 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 664 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 630 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 600 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 584 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 16 576 VM.TEMPLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 571 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 570 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.1.5) 19 533 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 20 501 WVNVM.WVNET.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 820744 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 612259 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 502010 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 4 466482 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 451850 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 445233 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 392016 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 375656 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 9 371476 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 317674 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 304536 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 12 271725 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 254405 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 218688 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 204263 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 181056 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.26) 17 171671 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 18 152815 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 148140 BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1) 20 137319 UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 855630 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 2 737889 IEUSERS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 295896 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 270486 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 5 237432 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 6 210257 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 7 143537 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 107839 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 9 88706 BROWSER-ALERT-PC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 75012 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 60226 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 49658 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 47812 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 14 43307 POLOCLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 37400 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 16 35977 ACTIVEX-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 34742 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 18 34729 FIRSTNEWS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 33379 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH-MAC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 20 31754 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (Solaris 2.5.1)
