![[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 537261 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 433075 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 416821 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 414608 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 384200 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 383896 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 355134 MAESTRO.INDEPENDENTTRAVELER.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 242987 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 9 233632 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 231005 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 229363 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 218039 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 13 209568 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 208346 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 15 201364 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 200496 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 17 195521 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 18 194375 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 19 193713 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 183776 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2568545 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 2399207 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1315718 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1211157 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1056334 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1033422 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 992157 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 9 940970 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 915517 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 880879 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 12 853737 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 13 851720 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 14 806008 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 15 791973 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 774551 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 18 708270 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 19 695311 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28141 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 26658 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23357 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 10245 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 6 9178 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 8680 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 8455 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 6765 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 10 5853 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5521 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 13 5268 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5110 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 16 5078 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4441 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3869 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3568 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 415483 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 409941 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 402731 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 372524 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 5 372271 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 242992 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 7 230543 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 228751 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 226874 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 214843 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 11 204874 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 12 203912 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 201942 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 196953 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 15 195058 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 16 184635 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 181526 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.319-s390x) 18 176706 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 175510 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 170045 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 189861 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 90092 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 85985 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 77495 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 7 72862 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 66517 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 64721 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 48278 MARKETPLACE@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 46973 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 13 45171 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 43444 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 15 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 16 42467 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36950 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36798 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36776 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 36762 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.9)