![[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 431682 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 401639 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 3 331286 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 330418 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 5 303468 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 298602 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 285450 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 252272 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 9 221049 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 184223 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 11 181403 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 179112 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 173439 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 172657 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 152438 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 16 150530 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 17 150229 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 18 145568 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 19 140755 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 140503 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2665426 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 2310293 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1231315 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1105074 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 6 1073183 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 1057436 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 8 1016611 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 837112 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 10 830697 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 11 794704 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 771648 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 13 761305 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 754402 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 16 707416 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 671160 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 18 664866 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 19 650863 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 20 632085 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27204 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 23226 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 10850 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 5 9909 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 6 9908 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 8746 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 8 7295 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 7197 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 10 6568 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 11 5717 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5615 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 14 4987 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 4937 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 4716 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4586 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 18 4425 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 3818 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 417939 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 321906 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 3 321364 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 290263 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 281249 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 6 221876 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 7 217746 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 8 176933 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 9 176163 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 176102 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 173493 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 171550 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 147854 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 145568 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 15 143982 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 16 135425 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 17 131774 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 131342 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 122244 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 121909 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
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 87873 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 77288 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 6 70748 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 64663 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64179 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 47293 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 11 44833 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 44613 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 13 42109 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 38345 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 15 36838 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 36671 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36323 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 35516 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 19 34582 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 34474 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10)