![[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 3170690 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 1040972 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 724228 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 596465 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 563464 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 518002 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 416384 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 414295 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 384164 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 10 351997 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 336735 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 292306 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 274268 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 255282 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 245614 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 243740 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 240987 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 239732 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 237518 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.32) 20 226603 LISTSERV.15SECONDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3605000 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 3285278 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 2341769 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 1664071 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 1591442 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 802301 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 465769 LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 463801 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 401419 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 365816 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 11 211458 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a) 12 203367 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 202407 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 189570 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 15 156132 LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 154668 LISTS.DISCOVERY.COM (IRIX 6.2) 17 140190 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 18 121575 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 19 121342 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 20 112248 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 2208 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 2 1899 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 3 1692 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 4 1456 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 5 1436 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 1384 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1332 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 1160 TC.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.4) 9 1116 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 1084 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 907 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 12 900 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 829 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 790 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4) 15 779 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 758 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.1.5) 17 755 VENUS.VCU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 18 747 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 736 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 20 689 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1040972 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 923231 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 920362 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 725680 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 634703 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 602902 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 571433 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 8 518047 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 455428 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 10 379144 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 375469 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 332779 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 312104 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.32) 14 298754 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 279858 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 266152 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 263383 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 256439 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 19 254108 LISTSERV.15SECONDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 229771 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 274516 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 94939 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 74761 DEVELOPER-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 68442 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 68083 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 64244 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 51007 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 39425 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 38785 SNACKS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 34633 CHRISTIANITY-ONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 33544 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 33029 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 32873 NEW-KEYWORDS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 31754 SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (Solaris 2.5.1) 15 31623 SAGEONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 31190 WEBREFERENCE-UPDATE@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 29949 PC-WEBOPAEDIA-NEWS@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 29139 SEARCH-ENGINE-REPORT@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 27326 UCSMON@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 27278 SCOUT-REPORT@HYPATIA.CS.WISC.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
