![[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 835498 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 577831 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 521866 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 452726 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 372384 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 370235 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 336896 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 335551 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 307964 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 306190 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 300138 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 280108 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 272931 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 271613 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 248815 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 233457 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 17 221770 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 18 194618 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 188881 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 20 188001 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3513227 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 2 3439733 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1311260 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 4 1291782 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1214722 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1167799 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1117272 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 8 1079035 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 10 1051520 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 993571 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 988535 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 907718 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 899877 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 847579 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 16 834340 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 17 812371 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 782892 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 20 749114 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33355 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30275 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23945 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 12094 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 11898 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 6 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 8 8733 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7810 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6870 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6749 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6643 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 13 6180 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 5726 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5512 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 5267 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 17 4589 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 4151 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 3979 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3922 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 816935 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 572252 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 507885 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 434204 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 363376 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 6 362571 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 333379 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 329569 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 303969 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 298214 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 279236 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 273120 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 271115 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 268734 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 15 241195 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 229135 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 17 222030 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 18 193070 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 187795 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 20 187695 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 243179 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 78385 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 4 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 69687 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 63230 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 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 47123 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 46324 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43147 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 16 37906 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 36933 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 35077 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)