![[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 626262 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 514633 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 363061 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 341595 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 250457 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 238428 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 218190 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 206722 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 191468 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 179207 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 11 177426 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 168110 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 164301 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 14 161227 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 155808 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 152041 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 17 138647 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 129207 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 19 128226 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 20 126123 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3992973 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 2 3384296 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1212792 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 4 1206056 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1163616 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1142537 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1114049 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 10 1025911 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 949856 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 899100 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 13 877953 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 872047 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 856874 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 838570 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 17 803432 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 772555 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 771495 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 20 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32186 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30117 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 28965 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12599 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 6 11465 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 8 8478 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7677 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6640 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 6513 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 12 6161 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 6073 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 5753 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 4920 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 16 4898 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 4412 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 4059 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 3914 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9) 20 3912 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 610583 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 510402 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 351911 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 332162 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 242972 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 228625 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 214181 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 198216 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 191102 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 175815 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 11 174556 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 164198 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 13 153433 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 146529 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 137985 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 16 136084 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 133515 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 124743 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 124413 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 20 123879 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 241336 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-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 64902 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 57625 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 51385 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 50074 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 43507 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36937 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 34584 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 18 34559 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 19 34482 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 20 33628 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)