![[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 832446 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 488376 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 466511 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 421974 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 384347 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 350296 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 342243 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 314977 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 288588 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 278493 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 270248 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 12 258799 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 249891 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 226331 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen) 15 206740 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 16 200394 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 17 193022 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 185639 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 181267 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 180725 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3624543 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3413863 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 1367024 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1333944 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1246794 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1203253 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1170279 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1137333 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5) 9 1095188 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 982170 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 962182 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 13 932309 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 912444 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 900560 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 16 839757 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 17 817662 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen) 19 745987 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 20 745613 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 39403 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 28170 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 24168 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 12852 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12546 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 8230 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7995 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6744 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6684 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6562 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 6319 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 14 5557 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5503 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 16 4665 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4333 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 4027 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3937 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3675 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 812502 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 474804 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 460864 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 402918 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 372460 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 342894 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 339036 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 310261 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 277954 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 265347 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5) 11 257988 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 257368 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 247150 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 210498 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5xen) 15 203218 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.42-0.7-default) 16 200272 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 17 181704 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 181209 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 180555 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 179889 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 252007 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 99716 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 69396 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 47075 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 44554 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 14 44303 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 36926 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36150 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 35923 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)