![[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 3405572 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 704743 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 689401 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 663524 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 455286 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 434063 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 390638 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 8 367241 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 9 345681 LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (???) 10 335450 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 329655 LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 326486 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 319502 JAVA.SUN.COM (???) 14 275731 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 255296 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.12) 16 241308 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 220401 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 216953 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 202654 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 195409 DIST.LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.3)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4953204 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 3607663 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 2730387 LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 2574018 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1907714 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1856143 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 1667192 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 1258525 LISTSERV.OFFICEMAX.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 730826 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 10 655847 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 11 610653 MM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 607020 LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 591232 EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 14 557399 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 370773 LISTS.EMAILDIRECT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 325042 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 17 298563 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 18 292942 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 19 260638 SMULTRON.EASE.ALGONET.SE (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 239411 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 8123 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 2 4985 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 3145 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 4 2655 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 5 2570 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.3) 6 2080 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 2005 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 1816 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 9 1726 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 1505 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 1344 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 12 1329 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2) 13 1321 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 1280 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 1207 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 1173 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 17 1118 HERMES.CIRC.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 18 1080 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 19 1074 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 1062 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 949989 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 907650 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 864685 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 704297 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 591618 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 459430 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 7 399591 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 388691 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 9 387453 LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 387282 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 11 365214 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 354413 JAVA.SUN.COM (???) 13 344429 LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (???) 14 308178 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.12) 15 283219 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 268364 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 267890 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 258534 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 226243 NEWSHOST.NYTIMES.COM (???) 20 224205 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 369604 VALUE-MAIL@LISTS.EMAILDIRECT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 334183 DIETCITY-AOL@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 307227 DIETCITY@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 222234 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 178318 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 133256 BVTESTLIST@EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 7 132738 JAVASCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 130660 GARTNERGROUP_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 126604 BVNEWSLETTER@EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 10 119477 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 118193 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 12 113091 MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 104762 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 96522 SUBSCRIBERS-JAVASCRIPTS-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 94968 SCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 90953 REGARDS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 83950 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 72957 BVDAILYNOTE@EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 19 70747 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 69742 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
