![[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 8765589 LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 2227950 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 702565 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 613389 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 5 490895 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 406389 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 389983 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 381369 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 379429 MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 352825 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 329800 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 307866 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 306889 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 14 302250 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 262931 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21) 16 245730 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 239915 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 221638 LISTSERV.DFN.DE (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 219564 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 20 210429 LISTSERV.CAMPBELLKITCHEN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3178806 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2020824 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 1816406 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1047897 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 6 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 1008062 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 8 956366 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 907180 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 723115 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 12 696153 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-20.8smp) 13 626357 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 14 616962 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 15 572311 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.3.0) 16 560430 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 17 530448 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 18 522971 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4) 19 514392 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3) 20 496330 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 2 18679 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-20.8smp) 3 17059 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 14118 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 5 8215 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 6 7100 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4) 7 4671 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 4589 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 9 4568 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 10 4276 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 3916 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 3907 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 13 3904 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 14 3856 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 3670 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 16 3083 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 17 2949 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 2589 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 2209 LISTSERV.UNL.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp) 20 2098 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 993495 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 602844 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 3 491113 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 487704 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 481765 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 445012 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 7 355549 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 354756 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21) 9 344698 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 335218 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 11 334608 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 261094 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 13 229540 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 223442 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 206458 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 196298 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 17 196070 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 194064 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 191872 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp) 20 187209 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 287786 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 2 282485 GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 222483 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 178297 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 160651 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 6 142542 CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 124855 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 111227 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 77632 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 10 71313 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-20.7smp) 11 65809 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 12 57129 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 13 56263 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 14 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 53566 CL-ANNOUNCE@LIST.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 42267 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 17 41611 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 18 37877 CTWADVISORYBOARD-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 37504 ALUMNEWS@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 36121 ISDNNEWS@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4)
