![[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 849928 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.12.1.el5xen) 2 528048 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 456644 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 426356 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 352634 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 345216 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 268993 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 257550 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 257094 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 255569 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 233331 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 228745 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 220470 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 14 219914 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 215468 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 194064 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 193125 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 187629 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 19 184927 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 20 180144 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3400479 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3351121 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 3 1312197 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 4 1299969 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1162347 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1137513 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 1039954 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1039053 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 11 1038530 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 997366 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 13 926187 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 916013 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 915190 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 910416 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 847799 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 18 811413 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 19 802612 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 20 791780 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 35843 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 31608 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 22464 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11493 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 10682 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 9261 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7472 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6827 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6532 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 6439 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6331 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5893 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5847 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5114 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4802 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4339 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4083 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3870 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 522872 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 444898 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 405613 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 339220 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 333671 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 264712 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 7 255487 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 8 252805 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 252114 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 229390 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 224227 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 219695 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 210849 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 191307 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 190914 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 187554 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 17 187069 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 184840 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 19 180461 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 20 172514 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 226004 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 74979 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66550 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 62265 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 60382 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 52586 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 10 51127 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 51074 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 48320 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 47027 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 44146 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43753 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 38193 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 37197 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 36939 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36637 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36455 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)