![[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 551017 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5xen) 2 526572 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 504612 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 425256 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 371019 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 350403 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 336742 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 334040 LST.LICENSE.STATE.TX.US (Windows Server 2003) 9 319343 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 296219 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 263745 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 260129 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 13 250934 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 249391 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 233100 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 16 226226 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 219948 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 215739 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 19 206144 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 205606 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3424087 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3320904 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 3 1302054 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1253355 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1189278 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1145293 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1066073 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 1058351 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 11 1049624 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 12 944256 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 13 927411 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 915898 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 876359 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 16 875914 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 873192 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 18 849960 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 19 837943 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 20 817972 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32366 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29761 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 22972 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12462 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11253 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 7593 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6578 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6515 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6381 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5971 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 5954 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 5831 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5242 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4839 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4351 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 3983 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3959 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 520109 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 490970 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 405632 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 360140 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 339803 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 334676 LST.LICENSE.STATE.TX.US (Windows Server 2003) 7 333699 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 313137 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 291592 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 261620 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 248966 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 245546 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 232985 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 14 227015 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 15 221580 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 212340 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 211183 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 205235 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 19 201563 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 194324 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 231004 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 60306 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 55812 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52002 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 51710 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 50076 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 46728 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43619 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36937 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36637 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36453 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36288 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)