![[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 9660902 LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 1804753 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 584037 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 4 528741 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 425939 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 402804 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 361889 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 8 357048 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 333909 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 322014 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 304292 MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 269025 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.20-28.7smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 243675 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 14 229761 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 15 219955 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 16 214850 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 17 191296 LISTSERV.CAMPBELLKITCHEN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 180438 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.26) 19 161257 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 161055 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3902171 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2020824 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 1296218 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 4 1280158 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.4smp) 5 1211748 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 1061881 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 8 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 946859 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 914301 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 756692 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 12 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 642056 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 14 619543 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 15 609157 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 16 593304 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.26-grsec) 17 581155 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 18 535162 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 19 522119 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 20 507338 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.20-28.7smp + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 43065 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.4smp) 2 19983 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 18519 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 5 9724 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 6 7690 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.26-grsec) 7 4903 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 8 4664 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 9 4616 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 4548 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 4334 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 12 4202 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.20-28.7smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 4153 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 3970 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 3883 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 16 3295 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 17 2634 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 2546 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 19 2272 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp) 20 2269 LISTS.VCU.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-5)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 777725 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 584073 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0) 3 523644 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 442411 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 392358 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 376657 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 277261 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 8 265801 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.20-28.7smp + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 254612 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 10 246874 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.26) 11 241021 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 12 232036 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 207168 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 176390 MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 15 171191 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 169989 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 154334 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 153985 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp) 19 151945 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 138361 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 302943 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 80451 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 10 69715 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 11 67446 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-30.9smp) 12 65349 CL-ANNOUNCE@LIST.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 64369 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 14 58721 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 15 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 48898 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 17 47398 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 18 39417 ALUMNEWS@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 37877 CTWADVISORYBOARD-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 37663 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)