![[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 488775 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen) 2 392082 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 366708 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 4 356045 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 341919 LSERVT1.NRAMEDIA.ORG (Windows Server "Longhorn" ServerStandard Server) 6 307049 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 268892 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 8 243000 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 232420 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 222906 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 11 205063 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 203920 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 13 195068 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 14 192855 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 15 182008 LIST.SA.GOV.AU (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 16 180421 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 17 175898 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 18 174643 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 174102 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 154182 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2907421 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 2 2586640 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1253784 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1198050 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 1154837 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 7 1085001 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 8 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 9 1037835 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 960379 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 922949 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 12 872060 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 854540 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 14 827952 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 780662 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 777563 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 17 762909 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 701290 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 19 700428 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 692161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 38962 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 25651 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 10994 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 5 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 6 8722 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 8576 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 8548 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 9 7000 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6090 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 5998 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5913 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5863 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5761 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5492 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5484 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 4868 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 18 4553 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 3999 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3805 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 387097 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 353643 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 3 345393 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 297756 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 258446 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 240690 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 227967 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 204142 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 198155 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 10 196029 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 11 192881 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 12 182008 LIST.SA.GOV.AU (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 13 177767 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 173924 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 15 173010 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 16 172616 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 167852 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 148365 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 146420 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 145924 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 203507 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 87274 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76374 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 73547 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66968 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63623 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 49526 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 9 48677 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 10 44548 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 12 42851 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 13 39368 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 39131 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 37188 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36947 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36752 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36570 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 35539 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)