![[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 720117 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 412056 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 329777 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 301910 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 247941 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 6 235567 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 218607 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 216773 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 9 193782 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 184142 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 158678 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 155243 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 150579 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 146382 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 15 143763 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 143469 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 17 140137 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 133685 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5xen) 19 128002 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 127834 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3785933 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 3333086 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 1436524 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1391449 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5) 5 1305184 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1250389 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1245889 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1241372 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 9 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 11 1002198 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 12 956842 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 845986 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 822054 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 15 812043 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.el5) 16 792543 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 774787 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 731769 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 40428 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 24544 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 3 16861 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 12903 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12627 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 8031 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6815 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6630 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6412 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 5974 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5639 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 15 5586 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 4745 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4408 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 18 4054 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3816 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3704 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 700051 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 399456 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 324882 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 4 292633 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 243745 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 6 231293 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 218068 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 210635 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 9 182004 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 181043 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 146258 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 12 142450 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 140483 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 14 140190 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 15 138539 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 136526 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 136495 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 127676 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 19 125864 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5xen) 20 125189 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 259444 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 109059 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 69309 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 61727 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 47039 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 46997 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 44628 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 36926 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36267 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.6-default) 20 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)