![[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 685155 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 535420 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 460999 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 409290 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 388102 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 322415 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 320543 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 8 315090 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 313538 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 298781 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 11 252984 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 246750 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 13 226672 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 222884 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 207891 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 16 195938 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 187649 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 18 184696 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 19 175683 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 20 171407 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3333078 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3306992 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 3 1287822 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 4 1272048 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 1269918 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1203095 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1156625 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 8 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 1017788 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 990308 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 980175 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 12 971895 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 896903 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 895526 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 846675 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 16 818440 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 17 802974 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 772615 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 767442 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33270 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30182 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23808 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 12621 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12026 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 8556 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7781 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6746 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 6602 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 12 6473 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 6161 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 5725 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5509 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 5164 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 17 4507 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 4117 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 3976 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3911 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 668717 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 530155 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 448398 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 393228 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 378248 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 320556 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 7 314072 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 8 311672 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 309448 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 293933 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 11 251533 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 242451 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 13 215542 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 204653 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 15 196242 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 195468 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 185019 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 18 181963 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 19 171296 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 20 167025 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 242504 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 73667 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 5 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 69751 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 63616 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50074 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 46588 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 40920 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 15 37851 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36933 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34945 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 20 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)