![[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 2638666 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 555305 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 444505 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 4 437493 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 412056 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 6 406823 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 381859 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 381104 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 9 363039 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 341946 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 341563 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 317100 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 300597 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 265996 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 15 246464 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 218273 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 17 199158 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 196007 HEARNNT.NIC.SURFNET.NL (???) 19 175814 ISBLISTS.ZDNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 174571 LSV.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4421753 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 1843293 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 3 1068936 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 660438 ISBLISTS.ZDNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 609221 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 474094 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 323688 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 8 198984 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 170741 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 168038 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 146398 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 12 130020 SERVICES.WEB.AOL.COM (Solaris 2.4) 13 121569 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 14 117424 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 15 111592 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 16 109548 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 93118 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 18 92528 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 91062 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 84980 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 3548 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 1966 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 3 1692 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 4 1401 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 5 1381 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.2) 6 1371 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1231 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 8 1166 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 970 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 10 957 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 948 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 12 783 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 782 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 751 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 683 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 680 VM.TEMPLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0) 17 673 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 643 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 19 613 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.1.5) 20 605 ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 819873 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 698970 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 513761 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 506097 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 5 493651 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 490099 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 7 453979 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 8 443656 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 410061 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 394303 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 359076 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 301874 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 282555 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 264052 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 15 207733 CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.3.0) 16 207007 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 189797 LSV.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 187911 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.30) 19 182350 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 175814 ISBLISTS.ZDNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 882640 DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 332459 SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 319969 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 252012 GAMECENTER-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 239743 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 181086 NEWS-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 126122 BROWSER-ALERT-PC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 112754 DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 96087 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 75002 ANSWERMAN@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 11 74648 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 65962 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 13 53171 NEWS-DISPATCH-HTML@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 51769 ACTIVEX-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 49057 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 16 47342 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 17 45060 POLOCLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 41329 MEDIADOME-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 39800 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04 + LSMTP V1.0a) 20 39382 DOWNLOAD-DISPATCH-MAC@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
