![[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 742908 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 525716 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 510738 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 363394 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 362277 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 347103 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 340590 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 324078 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 309123 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 10 289860 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 11 287675 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 12 253385 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 247478 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 227101 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 15 216555 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 16 212896 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5xen) 17 208116 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 208076 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 185966 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 181981 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3678807 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3596496 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 1469167 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1375990 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1314027 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 6 1296847 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1290661 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 8 1257210 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 1034162 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 12 983840 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 957630 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 948061 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 15 864930 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 16 837251 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5xen) 18 747367 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 734858 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 20 722553 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 53292 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 33186 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 24711 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 4 12979 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 10616 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 8130 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 10 6895 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6621 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6554 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6488 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 14 5739 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 15 5712 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 4694 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4128 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3780 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3726 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 20 3029 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-44-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 724003 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 520557 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 497655 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 358602 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 353710 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 340707 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 324213 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 321082 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 304424 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 10 286906 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default) 11 284517 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 12 246744 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 223328 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 14 222459 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 217228 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 16 206135 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 201289 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 198091 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5xen) 19 185444 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 176359 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 261527 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 108327 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 77528 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 63133 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50072 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 46959 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 46035 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 38135 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 36923 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 36356 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.80-0.7-default) 20 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)