![[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 742275 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 379747 MAILSENDER2.ZOOMERANG.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 357348 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 344305 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 332240 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 6 328195 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 7 299110 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 8 281124 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 278260 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 234474 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 11 233458 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 12 213164 EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 204347 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 202601 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 15 202028 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 191344 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Linux 2.4.27-2-686-smp) 17 185983 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 184476 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 19 161251 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 157407 SPECIALNEEDS.HOSTING.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3768980 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2622630 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 3 1977214 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 4 1736778 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 1539921 LISTSERV.CMICH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 1019922 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 8 938246 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 835594 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 10 832125 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 801835 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 12 795127 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.19.7-grsec2.1.10-vs2.2.0) 13 773499 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 14 747889 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 15 736471 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp) 16 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 730440 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 714494 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 679299 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 679135 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 70030 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 24877 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 19243 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 5 10235 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.10.ELsmp) 6 9697 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.19.7-grsec2.1.10-vs2.2.0) 7 7956 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 8 7909 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 9 6918 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 10 6301 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 11 6003 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 12 5306 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5054 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 4969 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 4861 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 16 4709 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 4674 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 18 4112 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4060 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 4031 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 359974 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 328907 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 319322 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 4 301225 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 294553 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 6 291167 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 7 273887 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 8 236247 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 9 233168 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 10 204347 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 200940 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 197160 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 13 191339 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Linux 2.4.27-2-686-smp) 14 178631 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 15 166327 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 16 159799 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 158466 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 150046 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows Server 2003) 19 146573 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 143126 LISTS.LDS.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 378965 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 120835 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 118868 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.3-default) 5 83382 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 6 80234 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 7 74038 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 8 73896 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 9 68368 L-ADMISSIONS-WIRE-A@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 10 67074 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 65713 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 12 61976 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 13 60973 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 14 56363 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.19.7-grsec2.1.10-vs2.2.0) 15 52811 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 16 51977 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 17 49712 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.ELsmp) 18 45385 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 19 44854 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 20 43163 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)