![[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 3867940 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 983620 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 778045 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 755708 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 687671 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 537916 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 530103 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 8 485164 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 404939 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 10 355091 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 336034 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 308382 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 13 288979 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 286266 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 262616 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 16 260276 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 238396 LISTSERV-MAIL.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 234060 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 232120 STOCKPLAYER.COM (???) 20 229592 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 6130743 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 4952679 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 3226115 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 3130331 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 2048229 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1432746 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 655141 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 8 610660 MM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 603982 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 10 476000 LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 462042 LISTSERV.OFFICEMAX.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 457099 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 401757 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 334215 MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 15 269775 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 249806 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 17 225971 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 199991 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 19 199424 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 20 161987 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 7533 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 2 4797 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 2735 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 4 2267 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 5 2210 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 6 1800 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1696 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 1684 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 9 1598 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 1309 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 1217 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 1177 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 1156 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 1141 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 1098 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 16 1086 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2) 17 1054 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 18 958 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 946 VM.SC.EDU (VM/ESA 2.3.0) 20 893 HERMES.CIRC.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1177745 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 1007223 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 993749 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 991278 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 696332 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 695484 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 626192 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 8 512100 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 9 429120 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 10 423927 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 396817 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 12 335648 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 318912 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 14 313742 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 305442 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 297256 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 284565 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 18 271915 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 227338 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 200693 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 231379 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 227927 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 172449 JAVASCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 163810 DIETCITY-AOL@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 124544 DIETCITY@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 96307 SUBSCRIBERS-JAVASCRIPTS-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 95792 DEVELOPER-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 94797 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 94537 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 91636 MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 86508 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 12 84990 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 72928 BVDAILYNOTE@MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 14 71466 BVNEWSLETTER@MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 15 68718 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 66652 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 60855 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 60492 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 56324 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 50464 MONEYDAILY@LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
