![[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 826261 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 485777 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 483579 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 342546 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 5 319718 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 306650 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 303879 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 295710 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 287415 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 10 261240 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 11 260246 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 259057 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 255648 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 223895 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 15 222605 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 222490 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.18.1.el5) 17 201764 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 189343 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 19 188807 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.6.1.el5PAE) 20 187462 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3748937 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 2 3742787 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1551323 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1526036 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 5 1511196 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 1351980 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1343865 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 1250695 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 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 11 976275 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 12 966892 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 958935 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 14 936886 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 889617 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 16 811838 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 761292 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default) 18 759248 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 20 743296 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 65818 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 33332 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 24982 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 4 12751 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 11172 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 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 8 8660 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 7059 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6648 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6388 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5994 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 14 5957 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 15 5789 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 4849 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4195 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3818 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3800 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 20 3076 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 803876 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 478411 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 476296 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 333599 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 5 313147 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 302468 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 300518 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 283321 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 9 271537 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 260513 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 11 257520 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 255053 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 232108 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 224248 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 15 222324 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.18.1.el5) 16 220679 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 196748 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 188291 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.6.1.el5PAE) 19 187482 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 20 184357 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 271251 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 110528 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 63121 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 60867 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50074 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 47833 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36728 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101-0.15-default) 16 36139 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 35229 ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64) 19 35163 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 20 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)