![[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 471359 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 464072 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 453450 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 436390 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 5 428504 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 356679 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 309327 MAESTRO.INDEPENDENTTRAVELER.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 279063 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 268731 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 261231 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 250646 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 249123 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 13 237664 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 237513 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 234441 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 16 221757 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 17 209489 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 18 201325 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 200371 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 198161 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2519069 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2374986 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 3 1444284 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1176518 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 6 1056334 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1042579 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 1027928 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 993316 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 911929 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 851951 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 12 832083 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 13 830697 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 784470 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 15 783939 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 766014 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 18 703634 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 19 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 658836 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28115 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 26528 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23345 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 13112 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 6 10130 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 7 8662 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 7295 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 6748 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 10 6269 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 5818 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 13 5202 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5047 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 16 5028 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4441 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3872 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3561 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 465350 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 445904 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 443996 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 415202 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 345773 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 276263 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 266657 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 258667 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 245802 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 10 243858 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 238942 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 234443 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 13 233551 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 218522 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 15 195381 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 193859 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 17 191798 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.316-s390x) 18 185870 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 185485 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 20 183965 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 187293 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 89963 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 77464 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 6 72442 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 66289 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 65322 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 64727 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 45963 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 12 45118 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 44140 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 14 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 15 42109 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 16 36950 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36799 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36793 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 36723 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 36630 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)