![[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 565186 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.26.1.el5xen) 2 446272 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 429441 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 423426 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 5 408316 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 389152 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 7 258183 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 249701 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 239061 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 233639 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 230718 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 214163 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 210966 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 14 202304 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 196178 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 16 191433 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 17 188576 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 174848 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 19 173747 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 166915 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2896770 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 2698014 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 3 1316730 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1192865 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 6 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 7 1034192 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1016689 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 1011906 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 10 1002519 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 11 939156 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 933390 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 13 926128 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 14 861768 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 843131 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 830369 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 803067 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 18 793388 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 742860 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 20 737511 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 31408 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27487 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 21204 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11490 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 9416 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 8882 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 9 7129 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6267 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6060 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6036 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 6024 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5676 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5445 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5068 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 17 4652 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4103 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4060 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3934 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 435436 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 423063 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 411852 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 385829 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 376366 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 6 253714 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 244053 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 231490 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 230528 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 227974 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 202010 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 196434 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 13 189045 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 14 188797 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 15 185974 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 16 184241 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 168021 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 166951 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 19 162062 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 160376 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 211206 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76347 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66539 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63663 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48572 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 44654 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 43714 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 43044 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 12 41730 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 40056 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 37582 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36947 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36710 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36526 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 35653 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 35261 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 34870 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)