![[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 795987 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-274.12.1.el5xen) 2 363997 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 350145 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 303678 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 298380 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 243542 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 207093 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 8 206966 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 203126 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 197958 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 182050 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 169937 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 167039 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 165198 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 159122 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 148276 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 142091 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 18 137982 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 136530 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 20 134707 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3637599 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 3098431 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1308087 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1292130 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1153855 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1141262 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1073965 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 1057164 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 11 1038461 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 1007968 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 13 943957 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 918571 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 911367 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 889107 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 882444 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 18 879936 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 19 791951 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 776557 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 35875 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 31659 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 28475 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11809 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 10757 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 9325 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7478 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6556 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6463 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6358 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5918 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5916 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5887 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5132 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4820 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4312 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4106 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3913 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 59284014 LISTS.SCHOLARSHIPEXPERTS.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.19.1.el5) 2 358370 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 339037 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 288128 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 287852 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 234860 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 200873 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 198551 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 194934 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 184617 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 11 179458 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 169859 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 163387 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 153899 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 147711 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 146194 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 141393 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 18 136043 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 19 133993 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 131767 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 227718 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 132806 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 74850 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 66550 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 62012 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 60971 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52316 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 51258 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 51151 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 50076 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 47001 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 44033 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 43735 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 37231 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)