![[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 565106 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 501500 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 397201 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 330375 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 5 326331 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 316777 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 312538 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 298143 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 9 279715 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 215071 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 11 203107 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 197769 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 13 197079 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5PAE) 14 188827 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 187330 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 185994 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 17 174047 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 18 170484 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 161487 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 152170 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4090969 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 2 3442074 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1262829 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 4 1248463 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 5 1233856 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1190151 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1113846 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 8 1059219 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 10 963133 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 961704 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 940616 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 13 918793 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 14 875823 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 15 851034 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 16 807147 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 17 792476 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 791277 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 19 786515 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32936 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30062 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 29697 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 12615 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 11839 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 8 8524 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7753 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6676 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 6544 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 12 6217 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 6099 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 5738 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5497 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 5481 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 5069 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 18 4419 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 4084 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3900 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 549743 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 495931 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 385683 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 320506 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 5 316531 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 309051 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 305606 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 8 286946 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 9 276384 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 214943 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 11 201292 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 196538 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5PAE) 13 193823 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 185714 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 170111 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 168610 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 17 164976 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 18 163055 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 152340 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 150480 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 242232 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 71020 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 6 69852 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 60556 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 51245 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 50072 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 37647 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36934 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 34766 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 19 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 34482 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10)