![[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 571828 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 551046 EMAIL.EBGAMES.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 525948 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 4 438088 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 422473 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 6 415035 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 361106 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 8 341618 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 9 335247 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 10 331988 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 11 325016 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 306200 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 284061 EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 256703 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 15 242512 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 239012 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 17 229312 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 18 222958 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp) 19 221484 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 216049 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3787966 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2091260 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp) 3 1922845 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 4 1558720 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1031063 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 953762 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 8 878731 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 9 840937 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 10 814711 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 11 796614 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 769759 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 13 752450 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 14 752166 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp) 15 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 714685 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 703369 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 674469 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 19 627032 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 618123 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 47605 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 24895 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 18923 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp) 5 9411 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 6 7508 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 6469 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp) 8 6097 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 9 5997 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 10 5646 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 5181 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 12 5089 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 4715 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 14 4708 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 4587 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 16 4416 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 3984 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 3931 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 3045 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 2879 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 575806 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 506718 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 3 412921 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp) 4 409786 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 5 364002 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 363156 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 334871 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 321705 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 9 318782 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 10 290916 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 11 259500 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 12 239755 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 233203 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 14 224506 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 15 216049 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 215966 LISTS.AIESEC.NET (Linux 2.6.8-2-686) 17 215936 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 205889 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.ELsmp) 19 201391 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp) 20 180688 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 376781 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 139492 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 4 104050 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.11.4-21.12-smp) 5 80093 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 6 79818 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 7 67626 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 65102 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 9 63188 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 10 59103 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 11 53051 L-ADMISSIONS-WIRE-A@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 12 52908 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp) 13 52812 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 14 51870 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 15 48069 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 16 44149 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 17 44093 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 18 42470 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 41859 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 20 40062 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)