![[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 492349 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 2 448698 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 441912 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 424622 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 404035 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 6 348968 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 307386 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.316-s390x) 8 284034 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 9 264050 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 257017 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 255122 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 253857 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 253086 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 251179 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 15 245676 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 16 244600 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 237389 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 216153 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 196255 LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 20 195651 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2967234 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 2526060 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1380721 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 1321385 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1166238 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 7 1061210 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 8 1022079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 9 1019835 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 882056 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 11 831936 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 826009 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 13 804220 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 755359 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 749571 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 748055 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 17 711819 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 711224 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 19 682885 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 20 670284 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28397 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 27105 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 25758 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11389 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 6 10792 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 7 9132 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 8 7906 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 9 6546 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.1.el5) 10 5561 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5380 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 12 5299 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 5148 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 14 4930 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 4888 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 4635 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4385 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4242 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 3819 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3463 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 480319 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 2 443908 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 428346 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 410671 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 339537 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 306795 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.316-s390x) 7 261574 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 254729 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 251331 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 10 249323 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 11 248291 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 12 240542 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 13 238654 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 238399 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 233817 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 16 195822 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 194724 LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 18 193169 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 19 192527 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 189468 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
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 81158 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 79968 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 5 77475 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 7 69869 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64770 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 63321 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 46421 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 12 46144 SURFSPOT@NIC.SURFNET.NL (Windows Enterprise Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 46003 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 44798 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 42109 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-55.0.2.ELsmp) 16 38358 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 17 37378 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 37197 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 19 36850 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36684 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)