![[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 821229 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 472880 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 457627 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 367423 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 328557 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 303718 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 303092 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 279931 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 266268 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 265901 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 11 253829 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 252086 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 238503 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 14 218559 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 15 205968 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 202055 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 198790 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 193820 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 19 189697 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 184366 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3802386 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3519849 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 1445356 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 4 1382792 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1374234 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 6 1346956 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1270726 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 1171119 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 11 1030432 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 966123 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 959069 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 14 951433 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 897976 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 16 805626 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 773077 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.1.2.el5xen) 19 749047 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 737121 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 53316 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 34116 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 24732 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 4 12150 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 10686 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 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 8 8412 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 9 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 10 6943 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6821 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6500 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6414 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 14 5829 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 15 5753 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 4834 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4160 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3786 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3743 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5) 20 3045 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 800520 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 459936 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 452623 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 357905 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 324701 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 292088 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5) 7 286723 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 278841 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 262908 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 261077 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 11 250732 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 237724 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 13 221069 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 219286 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 15 199273 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 197120 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 196923 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 193676 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5) 19 189065 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 20 183478 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 264265 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 110910 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 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 63262 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 63180 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 47839 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 38535 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36893 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 17 36563 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.93-0.8-default) 18 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 35229 ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64) 20 35196 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)