![[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 509329 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.12.1.el5xen) 2 355196 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 352617 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 321207 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 266491 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 233097 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 195428 LIST.CARWALE.COM (Windows Server 2003) 8 193828 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 186121 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 10 184025 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 11 175849 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 12 167122 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 154614 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 153050 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 151728 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 151515 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 17 150561 MAIL.MYVALOTTERY.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 148423 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 143407 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 139849 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3039083 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 2972191 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1239073 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1158484 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 1097968 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 7 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 1005253 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 9 1004302 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 983609 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 981769 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 965046 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 904226 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 902894 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 15 877025 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 856383 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 852202 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 812232 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 756993 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33918 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 21929 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 11876 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 5 9901 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 9609 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 8984 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7337 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6352 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6268 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6181 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 6049 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5736 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5619 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 4838 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4688 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4291 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4043 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3686 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 344600 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 2 344068 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 316043 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 254075 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 224578 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 189386 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 186167 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 8 171039 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 162126 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 161773 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 11 152551 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 150093 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 148711 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 148359 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 146355 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 16 137451 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 17 130643 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 123607 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 115585 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 114087 MAIL.NACBA.ORG (Linux 2.6.26-2-amd64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 222081 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 75536 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66548 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 62893 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 49388 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 44558 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 44428 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 42616 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 41447 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 40135 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 37537 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36944 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36669 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36486 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 35714 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 35077 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)