![[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 720887 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 627233 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 593785 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 4 438729 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 5 414391 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 367318 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 364965 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 8 363429 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 9 355830 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 333819 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 331997 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 306644 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 297148 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 260627 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 15 226366 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 224346 EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 224233 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 221787 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 19 213599 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 202457 GSPOT-MAIL01.IBILL.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3970950 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2079401 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-32.0.1.ELsmp) 3 1665598 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 4 1241016 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1164805 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 1074755 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 986486 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 9 982705 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 797762 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 11 797206 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 12 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 709988 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 14 703639 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp) 15 686230 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 16 662760 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 657188 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 18 581215 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 544497 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 20 491680 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 39248 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 26320 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19742 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-32.0.1.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 8920 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 6 6234 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 7 5805 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp) 8 5640 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 9 5581 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 10 5480 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 11 5174 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 5118 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 4641 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 14 4231 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 15 4173 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 16 3969 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 17 3896 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 3700 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 3664 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 2756 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 706364 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 593834 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 3 442204 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 376078 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 365956 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 358955 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 358487 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 344793 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 9 340132 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 334644 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 296624 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 12 263738 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 13 221962 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 214548 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 15 214391 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 207406 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 202457 GSPOT-MAIL01.IBILL.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 180134 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows 2000 Server) 19 170737 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp) 20 170442 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-27.7.xsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 364239 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 2 122843 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 119152 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 4 85492 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.5-7.201-smp) 5 79588 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 6 78400 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 7 68032 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 64619 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 9 64397 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 10 63750 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 11 55785 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp) 12 52817 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 13 41873 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 14 40896 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 15 40016 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 16 34702 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 17 34488 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 18 34393 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 19 33866 MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 20 31418 TESL-L@CUNYVM (VM/SP 4.0)