![[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 823355 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 522097 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 499998 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 440601 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 427158 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 381555 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 338321 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 326575 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 324418 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 10 320278 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 275432 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 272918 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 262459 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 247830 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 241943 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 16 232843 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 17 216675 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 18 215668 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 213040 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen) 20 210252 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3418214 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3413863 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 1364330 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1321063 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1216232 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1200451 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1162017 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1137333 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 9 1090065 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 11 985889 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 962182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 13 920070 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 917064 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 909757 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 896813 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 17 845735 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 18 753718 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen) 20 743275 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 38914 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 28102 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 24168 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 12653 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12505 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 8 8175 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7960 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6737 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6702 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6319 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 13 6049 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5551 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5448 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 16 4651 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4287 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 4033 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3930 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3671 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 802796 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 516355 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 485820 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 419962 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 416299 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 375515 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 335589 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 322676 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 317470 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 10 289634 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 273436 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 12 271537 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 262209 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 239526 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 238878 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 16 232721 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 17 215510 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 18 215044 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 19 207218 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 201076 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 249834 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 96581 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 69485 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64928 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 47081 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 44564 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 14 44409 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 15 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 41105 MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 17 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 36927 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36099 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 35781 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)