![[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 582265 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 365757 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 348215 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 337402 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 315088 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 6 287723 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 264754 MAESTRO.INDEPENDENTTRAVELER.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 235827 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 9 220554 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 10 203313 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 11 184771 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 181829 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 176975 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 172717 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 15 171682 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 171133 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 161714 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 159925 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 128833 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 20 127733 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2847779 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 2768054 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1285469 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1219639 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1138920 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1043349 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 996310 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 9 946260 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 905302 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 807072 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 15 802138 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 759320 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 18 711511 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 19 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 688121 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28865 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 28167 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 26698 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 10245 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 6 8686 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 8681 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 8 8455 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 6787 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 10 5866 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5613 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 13 5342 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5152 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 16 5105 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4441 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3870 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3608 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 354139 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 332920 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 332760 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 304893 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 5 278019 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 235835 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 7 199980 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 8 192418 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 9 183038 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 10 182258 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 175034 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 169254 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 13 167927 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 167711 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 154114 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 143965 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 17 125618 LIST.SENIORWEB.NL (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 125127 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 124277 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 20 121917 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 190998 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 90408 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 86598 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 77574 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 7 73213 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 66858 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 64781 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 46759 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 12 45278 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43428 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 14 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 15 42369 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 37003 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36950 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36785 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36749 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 36613 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)