![[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 3521411 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 732300 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 727902 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 720576 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 693144 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 563246 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 450655 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 449206 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 9 377569 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 10 360915 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 329371 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 310242 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 298560 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 260387 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 247994 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 222797 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 215753 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 212149 LISTSERV-MAIL.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 211791 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 20 195202 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5508369 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 4952612 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 3000319 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 2934865 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1945178 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1181672 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 610663 MM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 576000 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 9 457351 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 415787 LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 402661 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 376875 LISTSERV.OFFICEMAX.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 268343 LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 254358 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 229574 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 16 217400 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 211555 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 18 210594 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 174875 MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 20 156230 LISTS.DISCOVERY.COM (IRIX 6.2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 7362 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 2 2398 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 3 2296 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 4 2139 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 5 1820 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 6 1723 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1567 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 1521 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 1352 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 10 1236 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 1165 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 1125 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 1112 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 1057 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 1016 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2) 16 980 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 17 928 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 921 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.2) 19 907 VM.SC.EDU (VM/ESA 2) 20 852 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 961829 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 931084 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 905539 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 900278 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 728934 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 697055 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 532008 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 8 531309 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 9 486535 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 10 383452 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 380406 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 314954 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 306432 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 293430 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 260311 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 16 256984 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 17 240372 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 18 233919 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 223283 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 222088 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 249132 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 214190 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 140853 DIETCITY-AOL@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 128951 JAVASCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 115097 DIETCITY@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 102171 SUBSCRIBERS-JAVASCRIPTS-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 95187 DEVELOPER-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 94610 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 85644 MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 84969 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 74105 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 12 68681 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 66601 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 62527 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 56926 WEBREFERENCE-UPDATE@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 55215 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 51934 SEARCH-ENGINE-REPORT@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 50784 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 46980 DATAMATION-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 40381 MOMSONLINE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
