![[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 800730 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 511096 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 479255 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 393790 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 384455 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 337587 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 325220 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 307030 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 292268 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 259124 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 242700 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 235146 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 228289 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 227889 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 220953 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 16 192304 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5PAE) 17 186672 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 185619 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 19 178370 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 20 172290 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3584402 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3407977 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 3 1352998 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 4 1320746 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1206519 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1190865 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1137847 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 8 1126543 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 10 987799 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 967071 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 12 958117 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 13 954397 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 14 903319 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 879104 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 16 857164 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 17 798208 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 755238 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 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 38661 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 28018 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 24128 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 4 12504 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 12322 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 7989 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7849 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6713 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6712 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6317 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 13 5765 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5632 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 5540 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 5394 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 17 4637 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 4217 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 4014 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3963 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 781569 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 505497 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 465586 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 377034 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 373940 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 329195 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5) 7 321545 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 301055 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5) 9 288827 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 233581 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 233362 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 232961 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 227618 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 227207 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 206165 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen) 16 191717 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5PAE) 17 185336 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 184304 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 19 174214 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default) 20 168263 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 248220 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default) 2 91987 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 3 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 69505 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64911 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 47088 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 44582 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 14 44572 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36927 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36007 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 35623 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)