![[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 782234 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 499790 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 490225 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 374345 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 374048 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 333692 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 298525 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 292032 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 283169 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 278269 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 11 264052 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 251514 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 243796 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 14 232959 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 228349 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 198941 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 17 194288 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 18 177481 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 19 174881 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 20 174352 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3610318 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3397493 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 3 1351601 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 4 1301232 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1209618 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1191812 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1109765 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1109300 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 10 1041632 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 11 997922 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 987075 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 980402 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 850106 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 849963 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 16 834126 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 17 813653 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 19 741720 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 730450 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33406 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30360 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 23932 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 12149 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 11947 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 8908 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7826 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6956 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6733 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6661 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 13 6271 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 14 5691 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5519 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 5323 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 17 4619 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 4175 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 4023 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3925 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 763267 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 486490 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 484950 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 364343 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 356641 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 321934 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 293752 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 286467 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 279810 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 274069 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 11 249912 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 243648 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 13 232188 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 231697 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 227870 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 199179 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 17 193105 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 18 173780 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 173686 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 171505 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 244599 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 2 142779 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 83067 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 5 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 69620 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 64521 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 47119 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 46104 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 44633 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 16 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 37918 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 36933 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 20 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)