![[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 559680 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5xen) 2 485430 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 472326 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 446687 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 380713 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 329920 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 329106 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 313120 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 279639 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 261163 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 260710 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 260461 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 244096 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 218659 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 15 212844 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 201462 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 17 200923 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 200819 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 19 198163 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 20 187210 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3936346 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 3020987 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1328335 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1300627 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1190258 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1156074 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1112832 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1080839 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1066017 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 11 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 12 955881 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 13 932573 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 928072 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 888939 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 875022 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 17 851128 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 827371 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 822585 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 20 813454 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32470 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29815 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 25609 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12239 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11279 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 9364 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7626 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6614 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6585 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 6540 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6410 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5988 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5845 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5299 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4858 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4373 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 3989 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3907 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 479900 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 458991 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 426410 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 371075 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 325555 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 318492 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 7 308238 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 275125 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 260058 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 259036 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 237623 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 228784 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 218550 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 14 207941 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 200789 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 16 194900 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 193495 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 186485 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 182456 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 182259 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 233290 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 62210 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 7 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 57736 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 51878 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 51703 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 50076 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 46668 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43583 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36938 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36636 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36452 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)