![[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 632043 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 479856 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 374040 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 4 348472 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 5 344326 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 315171 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 7 278656 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 8 245222 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 9 219600 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 210009 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 183550 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 173583 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 13 160274 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 158021 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 15 150923 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 150162 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 149876 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 18 139092 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 136334 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 132702 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2571926 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 1967492 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1351377 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 1315401 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1161568 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 7 1014670 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 8 978168 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 954065 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 10 865787 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 11 782016 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 766038 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 13 741464 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 14 734340 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 730783 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 16 710729 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 705934 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 18 701060 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 19 662151 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 657670 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 24277 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 19796 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 11117 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 5 10332 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 6 10054 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 7838 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 8 6995 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 9 6392 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.10.el5) 10 5568 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 5534 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5470 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 5404 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5262 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 15 4972 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 16 4775 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 4750 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4289 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3756 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3361 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 359849 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 2 336144 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 3 330767 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 310150 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 271506 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 216270 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 7 214325 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 8 207227 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 177676 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 171986 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 153699 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 152010 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 143963 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 14 143636 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 15 136919 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 136805 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 17 131837 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 126311 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 19 125512 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 123845 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 127083 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 79287 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 78352 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 77019 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 74040 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 7 68217 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64131 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 61430 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 47459 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 12 46441 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 13 46144 SURFSPOT@NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows Enterprise Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 44175 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 42110 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 16 39466 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36871 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36709 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 35313 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34616 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)