![[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 430549 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen) 2 424769 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 3 414908 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 410449 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 383187 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 6 358615 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 273158 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 265159 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 257853 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 253083 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 239822 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 12 223163 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 218710 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.323-s390x) 14 217974 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 217347 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 213904 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 197163 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 192542 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 19 190580 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 190398 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2633391 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2557423 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 1255290 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 4 1204811 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1130938 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1083935 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 8 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 981439 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 953693 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 11 920523 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 12 908618 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5) 13 898963 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 852317 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 834187 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 16 826263 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 824558 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 784053 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 782283 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 752492 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 40851 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27702 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 20489 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11259 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 7 8876 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 8847 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5) 9 7099 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6821 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6166 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 5983 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5877 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5627 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5318 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5036 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 17 4596 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4205 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4068 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3875 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 412812 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 2 407988 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 392980 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 372363 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 5 347679 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 270515 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 262175 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 253185 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 245884 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 234065 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 11 218501 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 218160 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.323-s390x) 13 216791 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 213902 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 194519 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 192574 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 17 188396 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 188135 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 185956 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 163671 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 205443 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 2 122701 MARKETPLACE@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 87237 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 76564 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 73545 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 66941 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 63778 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 51702 MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 10 49221 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 48998 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 44609 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43044 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 14 40559 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 15 38967 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 37682 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 37429 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 36946 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36738 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36557 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)