![[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 5875097 LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 2377275 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 1410991 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1076321 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 535261 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 508442 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 7 438902 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 418737 MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 411209 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 404319 RLY1.YOUWINMAIL.COM (Windows NT 5.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 403276 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 316716 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 311361 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 14 279056 JAGGEDMAIL.JAGGEDMIND.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 264848 LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7) 16 258184 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 231995 MAIL.ABANET.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 230110 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 228988 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.20pre11) 20 228211 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 6445542 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 3067161 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 2398644 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 4 2020824 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1967399 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1480526 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 1037104 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 1019221 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 10 899203 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 863675 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 12 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 627714 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 14 586681 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 585951 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 543661 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3) 17 525230 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 18 489112 LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 473345 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 463255 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 9606 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 9323 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 3 5651 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.18-18.7.x) 4 5408 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 5 4769 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 6 4161 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 4134 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 8 3903 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 9 3870 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 3773 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 11 3569 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 3463 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 13 3385 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 3115 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 15 2604 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 16 2423 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4) 17 2316 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 2098 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp) 19 2063 LISTSERV.UNL.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp) 20 1820 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (OSF/1 V4.0f)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1067029 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 1023996 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 540774 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 525793 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 5 520945 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 517499 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 349868 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 8 328362 LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6) 9 327921 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 310589 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 302109 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.20pre11) 12 262527 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 247657 LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7) 14 238865 LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.4.20) 15 236291 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.8) 16 230172 MAIL.ABANET.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 223244 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 18 216406 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 202161 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0) 20 201894 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 472934 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 282485 GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 246804 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 4 222483 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 178297 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 158130 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 7 142542 CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 124855 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 116874 WINCDR@LISTSERV.ADAPTEC.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 111227 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 106909 OLISPLITALERTS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 84803 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 83189 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 79138 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 15 65161 THEONLINEINVESTOR@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 60916 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 17 58017 PLIMAIL@LISTSERV.PLI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 52945 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 20 46975 GOURMET-ECLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
