![[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 596028 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 403602 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 373347 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 345356 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 324706 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 6 308508 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 304207 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 8 272777 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 268443 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 246250 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 228527 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE) 12 216577 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 212673 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 14 199004 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 15 190206 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 179161 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 17 173853 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 163416 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 156100 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 20 155943 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3970804 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3340287 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 1445049 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1396610 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5) 5 1332726 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1251889 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1239310 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1238848 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.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 964730 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 952620 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 14 941081 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 15 837737 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 16 835663 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 18 735128 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 734851 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 51602 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 31118 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 24550 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 4 12964 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 10499 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 8051 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6859 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6590 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6415 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 6345 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 5727 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 15 5692 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 4777 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4107 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3759 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3689 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 20 2995 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-44-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 578225 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 397713 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 369628 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 336660 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 315966 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 6 297541 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 292178 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 8 270488 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 254498 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 245722 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 228065 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE) 12 213962 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 13 212503 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 14 190143 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 15 166429 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 165452 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen) 17 161206 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 154435 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 19 152016 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 141352 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 261153 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 108450 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 3 95352 PRESIDENT@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 69302 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 62075 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 50071 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 46967 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 44632 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 37952 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 36924 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 20 36312 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.74-0.6.8-default)