![[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 731754 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen) 2 455166 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 440794 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 423676 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 390857 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 6 355500 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 247827 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 236496 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 235331 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 225634 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 11 225547 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 220011 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 219072 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 14 218962 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 201204 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 191161 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 17 184871 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 175044 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 19 173689 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 20 168573 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2493067 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2416042 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 3 1293964 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1168992 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 6 1144772 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 990956 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 9 978644 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 958681 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 11 940835 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 12 922114 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 915211 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 14 850737 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 842353 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 840738 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 17 832567 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 777364 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 749758 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 20 720268 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 40917 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27701 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 20542 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11279 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 8918 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 8880 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 9 7108 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6192 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6002 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 5921 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5878 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5645 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5337 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5044 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 17 4619 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4205 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4083 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3911 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 449150 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 428746 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 3 404539 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 375134 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 5 345857 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 243281 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 233963 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 228014 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 226077 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 10 222259 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 219083 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 215758 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 13 196690 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 190710 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 182318 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 175076 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 17 171065 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 166395 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 19 162635 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 161308 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 207395 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 2 117263 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 76761 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 73551 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66001 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 65775 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 63736 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 55806 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 49244 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 11 49019 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 12 44632 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43044 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 14 40514 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 39521 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 38921 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 37738 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 37528 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 36947 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 20 36734 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)