![[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 508135 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 467134 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 444629 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 4 443850 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 417479 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 414059 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 362662 MAESTRO.INDEPENDENTTRAVELER.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 296646 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 273213 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 259896 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 252023 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 12 249301 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 248860 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 238804 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.319-s390x) 15 227833 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 226805 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 17 223003 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 18 219477 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 219101 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 216122 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2347487 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2196863 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 1196085 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 1131571 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1055499 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 949912 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 912984 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 881686 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 11 877292 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 821808 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 14 796894 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 791185 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 16 779464 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 18 737048 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 735625 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 20 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 30183 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 26054 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 19436 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 10745 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 7 8652 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 8409 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 9 6913 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6098 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 5878 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5391 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5236 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 15 5224 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 3942 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3642 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 461239 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 433625 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 3 427975 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 405461 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 5 402424 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 293873 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 270189 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 253204 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 246798 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 10 246787 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 245746 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 12 238285 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.319-s390x) 13 219262 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 14 217961 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 216133 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 16 215543 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 213969 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 212334 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 19 199029 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 198413 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 193146 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 126259 MARKETPLACE@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 87887 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 77478 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 74005 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 67692 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 64699 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 45187 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 44610 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 43152 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 12 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 13 38579 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 37128 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36950 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36772 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36598 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36585 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 19 34889 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 34582 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)