![[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 832145 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen) 2 421284 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 3 356683 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 337525 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 5 333208 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 6 326964 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 7 315720 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 221329 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 201819 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 10 184847 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 181567 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 12 180054 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 180011 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 14 179237 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 15 172423 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 16 168481 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 17 165501 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 18 165234 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 156163 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 154375 MAIL.MYVALOTTERY.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2985559 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 2 2941072 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1337211 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1179818 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 6 1158904 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 1013545 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 983991 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 10 957812 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 11 948837 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 12 932374 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 922108 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 14 883784 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 15 861606 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 841565 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 832972 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 806773 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 764349 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 20 729453 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41592 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27757 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 26516 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11406 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 8961 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 8875 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 9 7118 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6219 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6019 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 5972 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 5960 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5663 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5366 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5062 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 17 4635 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4193 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4091 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 3936 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 418229 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 347532 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 327901 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 327790 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 5 316339 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 6 301445 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 217118 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 179415 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 179275 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 10 178946 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 174787 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 12 174415 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 13 169877 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 14 166158 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 162593 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 159727 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 17 156059 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 18 156035 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 137508 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 20 135301 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 209389 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 2 86414 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76496 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 71983 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66131 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63636 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48801 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 9 48631 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 10 44550 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 43044 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 12 41113 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 39491 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 38902 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 37493 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36947 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36724 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36541 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 34788 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34590 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)