![[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 502094 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen) 2 393367 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 341167 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 339564 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 308358 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 6 300886 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 7 219111 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 215674 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 9 212885 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 10 210646 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 203938 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 12 193410 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 183518 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 173238 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 168689 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 167368 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 162892 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 159454 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 19 158266 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 155475 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2681203 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2635223 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 1197195 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 5 1113157 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 6 1110187 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 7 1046799 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 8 968960 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 9 934438 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 10 918246 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 871295 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 849296 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 13 829298 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 818158 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 15 808252 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 723752 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 707361 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 699873 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 19 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 20 690143 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 30359 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 20945 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 10877 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 5 8715 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 6 8369 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 7 8152 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 8080 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 9 6975 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 5961 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5764 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 5676 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 5597 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5413 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5378 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5342 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 17 4490 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4326 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 3994 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3727 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 381377 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 330190 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 3 322984 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 303330 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 291662 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 216364 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 206227 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 203956 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 9 193408 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 187748 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 11 187178 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 12 180741 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 13 171201 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 162532 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 15 162377 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 158086 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 157047 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 18 154445 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 154037 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 139780 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 200051 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 86920 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76736 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 73212 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66788 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 64056 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48811 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 9 44797 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 11 42888 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 12 37521 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 13 37053 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 36949 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 36767 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 36589 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 18 34477 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 19 34170 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 33857 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)