![[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 594376 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-274.12.1.el5xen) 2 476944 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 446078 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 383755 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 378564 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 320823 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 281911 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 278976 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 268873 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 237673 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 230933 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 215738 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 201355 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 192370 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 192060 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 191301 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 17 183388 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 176136 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 170732 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 167218 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3252555 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3238751 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 3 1310025 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1267545 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1176418 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1147743 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1076934 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1063758 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 11 1048811 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 1013132 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 13 911439 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 14 902131 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 883264 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 873464 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 873457 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 18 871897 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 830745 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 20 794333 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32204 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29680 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 22752 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 11969 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11126 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 9137 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7489 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6568 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6484 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6374 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5945 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 5824 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5780 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 16 5216 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4822 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4334 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 3953 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9) 20 3945 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 471219 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 434098 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 372786 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 357620 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 309513 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 277965 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 275658 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 263105 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 234060 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 228825 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 201183 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 190017 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 187515 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 185621 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 175469 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 174710 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 17 167620 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 18 165246 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 161607 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 160165 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 229497 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 61345 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 53625 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52176 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 51413 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 50079 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 46967 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43670 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36939 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36638 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36455 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36269 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)