![[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 886932 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5xen) 2 428525 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 397609 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 389289 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 5 374103 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 290523 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 280828 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 262037 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 232931 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 222061 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 219182 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 12 213681 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 207127 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 14 206950 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 15 202101 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 191802 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 185839 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 18 169024 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 19 162055 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 161339 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3442089 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3234496 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 3 1248651 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1219819 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1207673 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 1155612 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1123764 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1098389 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1072732 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 939180 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 889005 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 871299 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 15 822623 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 808924 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 799988 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 798311 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 19 787548 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 766998 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32651 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29971 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23134 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12442 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11386 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 9702 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 8 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 7646 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6579 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 6474 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 6035 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 13 6027 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 5890 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 5839 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 4876 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 4875 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 18 4409 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4026 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3910 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 416158 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 2 392723 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 378755 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 351860 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 284568 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 6 276592 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 253349 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 8 229773 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 219055 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 10 211825 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 207379 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 12 201994 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 13 201333 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 195217 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 190590 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 181614 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 17 157737 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 156748 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 19 156378 MAIL.NACBA.ORG (Linux 2.6.26-2-amd64) 20 154477 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.9.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 239052 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 62411 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 53177 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 51630 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 50076 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43522 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36938 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36636 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36452 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34652 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)