![[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 786728 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 487996 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 363776 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 339923 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 305586 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 296899 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 271984 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 269297 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 267043 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 10 251806 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 11 217242 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 12 216404 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 207790 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 196177 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 188294 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5xen) 16 178530 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 177868 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 18 173080 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5PAE) 19 170749 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 165016 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3620601 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3309797 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 1394892 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1303149 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 5 1259463 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1232995 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 8 1188222 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5) 9 1175064 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 11 978557 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 12 959277 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 912533 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 848083 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 827561 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.el5) 16 817547 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 17 763533 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5xen) 19 730556 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 39467 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 24450 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 16770 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 12741 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12620 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 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 8005 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6792 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6654 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6393 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 5887 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5577 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5572 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 16 4737 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4386 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 4053 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3902 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3684 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 767451 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 473273 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 354280 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 335183 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 292441 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 288138 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 268863 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 262354 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 9 261592 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 246821 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 11 217103 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-274.18.1.el5) 12 215795 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 194435 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 183051 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 177222 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 174159 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 173638 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5xen) 18 172555 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5PAE) 19 168077 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 162111 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 257763 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 109194 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 69312 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 61635 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 47040 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 45095 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 44529 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 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 36924 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36107 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.6-default) 20 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)