![[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 1953602 LSRV01.PRETNEUCK.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 899325 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 784845 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 610451 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 453503 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 434887 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 387480 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 8 377634 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 375649 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.2.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 369341 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 368241 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 354535 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 324144 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 278483 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 274032 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 16 263538 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 17 246199 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 240332 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 239839 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 223682 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3732417 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2189623 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.8smp) 3 1467877 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 1452432 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1134357 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 7 1083786 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 8 1047860 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 9 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 936126 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 918143 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 752725 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 739032 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 14 731833 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.2.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 656660 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 17 652536 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 621146 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 19 586606 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 20 583926 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28278 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 26662 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 25494 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.8smp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 9914 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 6 8280 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 7 6002 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 5650 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 9 5304 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 10 5131 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 4788 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.2.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 4316 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 4270 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 4235 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 15 4068 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 16 3766 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 17 3726 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 18 3544 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 3361 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 2490 LISTS.VCU.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-5)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 822493 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 610495 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 390755 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 386684 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 382357 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 370596 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 357985 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.2.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 353590 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 345313 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 335298 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 324919 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 266614 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 13 239166 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 238014 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 232931 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 217547 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-27.7.xsmp) 17 208291 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 18 205915 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 5.2 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 187448 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 20 170780 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 343701 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 2 282485 GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 160651 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 4 142542 CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 124855 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 123519 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 7 122843 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 8 111227 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 80199 CL-ANNOUNCE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.5-7.151-smp) 10 75365 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 11 73279 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 12 65334 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 13 61663 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 14 58835 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 15 58737 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 16 58556 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 17 57911 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 18 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 52821 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 20 38997 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8)