![[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 551839 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.12.1.el5xen) 2 531057 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 473438 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 421166 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 389520 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 338236 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 331223 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 311326 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 297085 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 288806 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 266102 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 243939 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 242912 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 237901 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 228201 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 223990 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 17 219323 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 216347 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 19 211819 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 210314 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3333432 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 3151111 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1381296 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1263121 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1195027 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 7 1107264 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 1094650 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 1023404 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 1009268 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 978595 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 13 973879 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 936017 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 909808 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 893112 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 885640 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 873379 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 800961 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 800221 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 35488 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 31003 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 22340 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11913 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 10540 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 9152 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7425 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6441 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6344 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6256 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 6225 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5840 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5756 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5068 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4810 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9) 18 4779 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 4338 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 4091 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 524992 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 460547 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 405109 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 379943 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 329092 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 328421 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 307555 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 292656 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 285723 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 259435 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 242497 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 230481 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 224210 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 14 223694 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 214715 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 212438 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 17 210940 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 209997 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x) 19 200791 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 20 184105 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 223745 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 75279 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66549 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 63434 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 7 62656 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 50895 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 10 48825 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 47260 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 44748 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 44280 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 43852 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 37487 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 37173 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 36942 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36651 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36469 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 35683 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)