![[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 524345 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 487046 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.32.1.el5xen) 3 443118 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 437483 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 421115 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 6 394060 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 297022 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 282802 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 282363 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 10 276570 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 11 268362 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 267205 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 257437 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 14 230689 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 15 225149 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 223934 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 205363 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 202471 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 19 198541 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 186366 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3271781 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 2 2594948 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1369447 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 4 1226091 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 7 1045912 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1033455 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 9 1029593 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 10 1019670 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 965215 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 12 934520 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 907191 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 14 884313 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 860148 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 854792 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 852823 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 822203 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 19 779066 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 20 748988 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32838 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27637 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23508 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11448 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 9584 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 8968 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.4.el5) 9 7271 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 10 6302 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6271 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6101 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6074 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5725 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5520 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5201 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 17 4680 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4218 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4063 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3959 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 517813 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 430586 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 3 417019 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 410877 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.28.ELsmp) 5 383843 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 293710 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 279662 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 278790 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 275983 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 10 261610 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 253174 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 12 238531 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 230775 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-194.17.1.el5) 14 224539 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 219336 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 202808 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 17 202659 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 184011 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 19 176955 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 20 174268 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 214815 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.48-0.1-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76510 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66540 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63804 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48606 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 44801 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 43022 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 42369 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 40091 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 37775 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 36946 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 36687 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 36503 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 35175 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 34916 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 34480 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10)