![[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 721233 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 403584 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 331200 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 302052 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 252479 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 6 249122 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 245074 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 244888 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 9 203418 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 183152 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 181887 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 12 180724 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 13 170073 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 14 164353 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 163344 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 16 153617 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 147196 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 18 144622 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE) 19 138181 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 135117 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3686527 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3340287 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 1396610 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5) 4 1392552 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 5 1304333 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 6 1253304 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1245814 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 8 1234540 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 9 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 11 1008093 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 12 955314 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 859606 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 822726 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 15 810417 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 16 773518 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 754409 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 19 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 702234 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 40443 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 24550 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 16919 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 12957 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 12680 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 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 8 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 8045 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6829 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6612 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6415 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 6055 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5595 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5555 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 16 4761 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4061 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3819 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3711 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3590 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 703199 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 391304 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 322624 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 296859 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 248719 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 247940 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 7 241215 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 233397 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 9 193562 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 181745 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 11 177968 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 162618 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 160853 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 14 157024 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 153401 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 16 151206 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 144128 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE) 18 141819 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default) 19 133066 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 133014 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 260292 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 108752 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 69302 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 61868 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 46991 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 44633 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 41105 MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36925 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36247 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.74-0.6.8-default) 19 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34585 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)