![[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 461956 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 461711 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 437228 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 412088 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 5 393626 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 359029 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 287144 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 270629 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 268812 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 10 253340 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 252588 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.316-s390x) 12 244448 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 13 244338 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 241098 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 15 231490 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 222538 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 17 219137 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 18 214648 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 200103 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 198930 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2429242 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2326906 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 3 1482639 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1124840 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 6 1066220 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1014641 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 991444 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 9 964874 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 10 907529 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 906902 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 830697 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 13 795884 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 14 774474 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 16 751743 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 17 736965 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 730967 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 19 687483 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 644755 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28031 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 22533 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 13338 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 5 11054 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 6 8640 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 7586 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 7295 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 6716 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 10 6006 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 5788 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 13 5149 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5141 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 4966 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 4863 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 17 4441 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3865 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3432 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 456316 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 446715 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 428526 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 381027 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 348275 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 285188 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 268857 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 263669 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 9 252055 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.316-s390x) 10 248255 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 242049 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 241100 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 13 240605 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 231955 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 211520 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 200628 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 196040 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 195219 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 190390 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 20 185002 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp)
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 89347 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 84502 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 77302 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 7 71929 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 65541 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 64650 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 45043 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 44584 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 13 44288 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 14 42109 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 15 36845 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 36809 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36641 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36612 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 35950 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 35516 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0)