![[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 565124 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 412343 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp) 3 393881 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 392204 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 374066 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 371092 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 7 361075 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 8 337901 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 9 330575 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 328730 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 285742 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 284555 MAILSENDER2.ZOOMERANG.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 273108 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 251455 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 15 250057 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 237576 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 17 226695 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 223646 EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 209602 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 209521 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4234220 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2243340 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 3 2041944 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp) 4 1560331 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1008019 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 945408 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp) 8 915643 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 864021 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 10 814328 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 767981 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.17.13-grsec2.1.9-vs2.0.2.1) 12 763758 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 747892 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 715015 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 16 714494 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 712631 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 700496 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 687969 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 20 683212 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 56297 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 24720 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19436 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 10113 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 6 9802 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 9609 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.17.13-grsec2.1.9-vs2.0.2.1) 8 6540 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 6196 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 10 5873 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 11 5236 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5205 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5016 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 4744 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp) 15 4552 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 16 4548 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 4084 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 4080 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4022 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 3171 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 568739 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 471765 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 400775 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.3.ELsmp) 4 388713 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 345405 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 331158 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 329225 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 8 328804 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server) 9 325235 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 270049 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 263771 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 254435 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 13 243609 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 231675 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 15 211606 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 16 204667 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 17 200987 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 193959 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 189849 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows Server 2003) 20 188266 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 378232 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 140081 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 4 110361 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.11.4-21.14-smp) 5 81528 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 6 79705 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 7 69752 L-ADMISSIONS-WIRE-A@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 69024 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 9 68972 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 10 67052 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 65144 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 12 63127 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 13 56895 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 14 55642 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 15 52810 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 16 50388 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 17 49286 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.17.13-grsec2.1.9-vs2.0.2.1) 18 47636 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 19 44402 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 20 43626 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)