![[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 827198 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 492547 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 358735 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 351795 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 5 341276 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 6 337744 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 336815 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 335775 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 281452 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 10 276702 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 11 276626 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 273532 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 257901 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 254245 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 15 244286 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.3.1.el6.x86_64) 16 239753 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 227139 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 204049 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 19 202395 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 197500 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.6.1.el5PAE)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4222379 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 2 3609985 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1579124 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1573175 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 5 1535758 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 1358691 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1340451 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 8 1246416 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 982412 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 12 956029 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 13 933539 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 923090 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 15 827342 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 791537 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 17 760166 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 751456 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 65863 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 33785 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 28134 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 4 12762 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 11209 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 8666 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 7079 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6774 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6352 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6018 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 14 5820 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5610 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 16 4860 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4207 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3829 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 19 3821 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3105 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 806246 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 487365 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 355366 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 343126 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 5 338685 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 6 334183 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 326670 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 311694 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 276582 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 10 275972 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 275958 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 12 266985 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 248002 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 14 243418 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.3.1.el6.x86_64) 15 237904 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 224441 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 201443 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 18 197004 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.6.1.el5PAE) 19 191232 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 181494 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 275159 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 110777 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 63113 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59794 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 47753 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 36690 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101-0.15-default) 16 36144 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 35148 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 20 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)