![[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 958628 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5xen) 2 522080 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 436903 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 411589 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 402062 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 353288 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 314224 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 307140 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 291679 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 289707 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 274131 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 263467 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 245858 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 231811 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 222002 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 216925 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 208167 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 18 194043 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 193222 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 191402 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3873216 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 3630874 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1305032 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 4 1301371 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 5 1203029 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 1157293 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1117389 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1070879 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 11 1037330 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 12 972351 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 13 932912 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 922864 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 905898 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 16 898527 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 858782 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 841359 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 19 834400 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 20 804776 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32513 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29911 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 26150 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12334 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11320 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 9571 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7640 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6690 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6562 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6434 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 6372 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 6008 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 15 5855 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5354 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4866 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4362 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4005 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3911 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 516369 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 424948 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 393631 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 391980 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 343858 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 311251 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 302533 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 287815 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 9 287310 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 273001 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 238172 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 230569 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 227565 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 217425 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 211806 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 196292 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 17 193330 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 189557 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 19 189448 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 189317 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 237175 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 65096 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 7 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 59382 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52485 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 11 51747 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 50076 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 43548 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36938 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36636 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 36452 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34804 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)