![[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 472142 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 438735 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 435324 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 420802 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 405082 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 404942 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 310745 MAESTRO.INDEPENDENTTRAVELER.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 265799 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 240676 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 238014 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 229179 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 228726 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 13 224369 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 14 217345 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 194783 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 194679 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 17 183404 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 179315 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 172449 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 170750 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2611507 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2212313 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 1273680 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1180762 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 1138920 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1040957 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 965258 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 903163 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 880879 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 11 870623 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 12 853737 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 13 852652 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 14 798834 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 764072 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 16 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 17 751872 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 714198 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 19 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 678297 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 29321 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 25980 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 19425 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 10950 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 6 10689 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 7 8629 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 8455 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 9 6796 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 5832 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5724 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5391 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5187 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 15 5185 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 4441 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3923 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3603 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 426182 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 415793 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 414216 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 393718 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 5 392621 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 262995 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 237885 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 235419 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 226159 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 224424 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 11 212190 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 195030 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 13 194687 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 14 182722 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 173448 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 173010 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 17 168981 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 18 167293 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 19 166092 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 157769 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 192600 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 87206 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 77612 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 73589 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 67237 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 64826 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 45286 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 43938 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 10 43397 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 11 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 12 42369 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 38618 MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 14 37141 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36950 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36778 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36704 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 36605 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36094 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 20 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)