![[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 782459 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 519864 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 508107 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 432686 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 395544 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 6 361491 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 354592 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 342128 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 331979 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 10 325562 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 295437 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 291890 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 283275 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 14 282133 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 232587 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 214032 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 206136 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.3.1.el5xen) 18 197051 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 196289 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 189694 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3894355 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 2 3523016 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1388284 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1340768 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1239415 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1214968 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1201631 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5) 8 1174232 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 1168814 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 11 1004757 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 12 981077 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 914985 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 912761 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 15 904832 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 16 852516 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 834891 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.el5) 18 773383 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.3.1.el5xen) 20 730390 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 39452 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 32105 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 27154 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 12639 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12566 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 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 8 8252 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 8000 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6756 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6678 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6606 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 6380 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 14 5572 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5538 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 16 4715 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4354 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 4035 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3923 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3675 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 762234 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 505417 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 502658 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 415794 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 384169 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 6 356799 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 344427 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 338595 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 326149 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 10 322749 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 293701 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 279917 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 272996 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 258683 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 231881 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 211222 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 194283 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.3.1.el5xen) 18 193969 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 19 190706 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 188180 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 254650 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 103342 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 69349 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 61266 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 47069 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 44549 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 14 44232 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 36925 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36165 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 35979 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.6-default)