![[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 568797 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5xen) 2 409282 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 404896 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 365050 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 341498 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 6 308684 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 244568 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 237868 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 199812 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 10 198398 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 196134 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 192279 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 189201 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 14 182690 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 178141 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 16 169668 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 169023 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 164308 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 19 161265 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 156604 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3028687 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 2644460 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1231245 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1223891 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 7 1044026 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 8 996642 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 996444 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 10 993005 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 983861 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 938366 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 905221 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 14 902777 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 891890 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 16 870954 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 17 841268 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 765830 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 764544 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33274 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 28024 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 21802 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11623 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 9766 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 8997 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7874 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 10 7296 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 11 6323 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 6226 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6126 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5885 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 5707 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 5582 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 5295 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 18 4692 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 4236 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 4058 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 397680 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 2 395017 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 348392 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 336232 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 298676 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 240334 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 234661 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 197902 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 187662 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 185646 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 184831 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 12 179926 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 175562 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 174310 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 168940 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 164059 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 17 161774 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 154079 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 19 152508 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 150948 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 219854 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 76024 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66547 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63334 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 48926 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 44590 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 43298 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 42802 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 12 41358 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 37697 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 36946 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 36835 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 36681 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36498 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 35108 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 34857 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)