![[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 7847733 LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 2178697 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 673188 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 571747 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 5 552334 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 466251 MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 444145 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 421607 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 357496 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 309591 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 299420 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 298758 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 13 294131 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 253570 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 237019 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 217709 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21) 17 214651 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 213866 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 19 210047 LISTSERV.CAMPBELLKITCHEN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 202269 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3080945 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 3067161 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 2020824 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1718988 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1313112 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 1053981 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 8 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 995822 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 10 967778 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 713031 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 13 696837 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-20.8smp) 14 609171 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 15 603286 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 578692 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.3.0) 17 553813 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 18 507924 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3) 19 504927 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4) 20 489112 LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 2 16741 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 15164 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-20.8smp) 4 14056 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 5 7043 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4) 6 5704 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 7 4548 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 4372 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 9 4345 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 4306 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 3852 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 12 3848 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 13 3830 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 3754 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 3587 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 16 3051 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 17 2911 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 2560 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 2206 LISTSERV.UNL.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp) 20 2098 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 934288 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 571781 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 3 547630 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 532735 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 527220 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 437928 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 7 313336 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 311488 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 302668 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21) 10 302545 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 281199 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 12 254353 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 13 205427 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 205127 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 15 204076 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 201949 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 17 180484 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows 2000 Server) 18 179755 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 179663 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.8) 20 179466 LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7)
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 281206 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 160651 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 83234 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 77660 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 73963 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-20.7smp) 14 65102 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 15 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 55649 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 17 54568 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 18 51262 CL-ANNOUNCE@LIST.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 41280 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 20 40699 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8)
