![[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 640739 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5xen) 2 477568 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 443442 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 414095 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 406027 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 6 369103 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 302040 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 296907 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 279352 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 276010 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 273452 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 12 267718 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 13 262952 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 253724 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 226113 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 193843 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 17 191710 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 184614 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 184142 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 20 182184 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3383593 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 2682707 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1266503 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 4 1228225 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 1051928 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1047119 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 9 1035217 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 1026857 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 11 963130 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 12 936070 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 906882 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 14 903804 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 15 894384 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 871833 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 863209 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 830512 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 780653 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 765870 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33122 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 27719 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 24387 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11524 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 9648 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 8975 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7287 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6322 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6271 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6174 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6095 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5746 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5555 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5272 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4694 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4232 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4064 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3999 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 470966 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 426171 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 402489 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 4 394332 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 5 359589 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 298750 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 294449 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 275106 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 271697 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 267091 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 11 256956 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 253365 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 242159 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 14 221705 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 184028 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 16 184011 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 182227 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 18 181497 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 172244 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 171897 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 217802 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76368 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66542 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63544 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48861 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 44735 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 42949 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 42690 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 40132 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 37741 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 36946 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 36685 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 36502 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 35136 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 34845 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34762 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 34593 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)