![[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 585900 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.12.1.el5xen) 2 493878 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 385570 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 4 341809 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 336812 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 328446 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 7 277819 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 250744 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 230063 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 227545 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 11 198722 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 198384 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 179925 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 178979 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 178840 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 174721 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 17 169859 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 18 163949 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 160041 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 20 159761 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3944462 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 2782165 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1253737 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1229757 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1178138 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 1103828 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 1072706 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 1044482 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 978054 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 954619 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 13 911618 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 886858 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 886103 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 884296 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 17 883550 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 876346 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 781850 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 20 773532 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 34426 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29539 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 28022 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11887 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 10363 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 9049 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7397 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6396 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6289 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6208 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 6191 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5768 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5670 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 4964 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4715 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4297 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4068 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 4017 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 488705 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 371087 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 3 333164 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 324290 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 317519 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 6 274122 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 248660 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 227223 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 221013 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 193053 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 192444 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 179580 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 173924 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 163137 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 15 159973 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 16 159712 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 157133 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 155925 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 155400 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 20 152819 MAIL.NACBA.ORG (Linux 2.6.26-2-amd64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 222941 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 75365 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 62756 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 50794 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 47361 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 45929 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 44702 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 44299 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43942 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 39980 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 15 37512 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36944 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36658 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36475 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 35641 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)