![[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 4490818 CHEWBACCA1.YESMAIL.NET (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 3203113 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 2448795 LISTSERV.EDIETS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1487774 LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (SunOS 5.7) 5 1306936 LISTSERV.ELOTTONET.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1009715 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 704373 LS.OPTHOST.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 632018 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 506853 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 457822 JAVA.SUN.COM (SunOS 5.6) 11 448830 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 432264 LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7) 13 407133 LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 362450 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 15 357904 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2) 16 325269 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.16) 17 312348 LISTS.MSTAR.NET (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 276291 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 275040 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.2.16) 20 265342 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 6086770 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 4866051 LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 4843000 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 3067161 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 2245517 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 2134405 LISTAS.STARMEDIA.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 2020824 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 1490398 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 9 1296688 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 853382 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 11 614271 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 12 560769 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 550677 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 14 483180 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 471441 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 471241 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3) 17 440068 ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 424233 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 313778 DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 301834 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 8613 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 4138 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 3 4034 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.6) 4 3480 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 5 3108 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 6 2950 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.3) 7 2818 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 2644 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 2638 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 2593 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2) 11 2004 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 1984 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.0.34) 13 1879 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 1861 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 15 1828 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2) 16 1741 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 1689 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 18 1686 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 19 1616 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 20 1590 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 2331220 LISTSERV.EDIETS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 1482562 LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (SunOS 5.7) 3 1006301 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1000546 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 794606 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 672256 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 559132 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 452883 JAVA.SUN.COM (SunOS 5.6) 9 432264 LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7) 10 417482 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 11 392391 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.16) 12 376026 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 365654 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0) 14 348835 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 339025 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 16 315381 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.2.16) 17 312041 LISTS.MSTAR.NET (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 262145 ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 262026 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 248078 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.7 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 447493 HPJ2@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 287017 HPJ@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 272865 GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 258338 REGARDS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 256215 SKIMAPS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 237877 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 226384 FOODTV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 222483 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 178297 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 159414 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 11 145798 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.7) 12 139594 MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 128329 OLISPLITALERTS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 127671 VULNTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTSECURITY.NET (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 126680 THE-SCIENTIST-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 124819 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 116874 WINCDR@LISTSERV.ADAPTEC.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 112562 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 111367 CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 94074 MONEYDAILY@LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
