![[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 450429 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 402111 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 3 399873 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 4 363196 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 5 313572 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 6 301036 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 7 293132 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 8 280060 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 9 241879 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 234906 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 231966 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 12 177794 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 176468 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 14 165715 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 15 162496 SPECIALNEEDS.HOSTING.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 160791 EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 156895 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 153830 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 19 144446 LISTS.LDS.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 142816 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3862096 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2218704 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 3 1919259 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 4 1397135 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1088605 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 855471 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 854609 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 9 806988 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 10 803798 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 11 769763 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 757734 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 13 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 719971 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 15 715666 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 16 672460 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 17 666855 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 645111 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 628817 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 611901 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 54628 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 19442 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 18657 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 5 10102 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 6 8998 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 7 6554 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 8 5863 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 9 5508 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 10 5325 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 11 4800 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 4518 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 13 4304 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 4204 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 15 4198 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 4119 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 17 4084 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 18 3881 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 3796 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 2969 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 405519 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 373793 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 3 322242 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 4 317839 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 5 289634 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 6 289172 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 265136 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 8 241967 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 234504 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 10 231041 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 177794 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 159982 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 13 159573 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 14 157439 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 154410 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 150559 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 17 144440 LISTS.LDS.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 136498 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 132472 LISTS.AIESEC.NET (Linux 2.6.8-2-686) 20 126451 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows 2000 Server)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 375283 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 138535 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 122841 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 4 100393 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.11.4-21.12-smp) 5 81397 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 6 76694 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 7 75632 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 69134 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 66583 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 10 63505 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 11 54608 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 12 52928 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 13 52813 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 14 51804 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 15 47565 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 16 45656 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 17 44992 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 18 41737 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 39959 QCIINT@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 20 38420 SURFSPOT@NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows Enterprise Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)