![[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 837290 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 337451 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 306617 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 296993 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 238760 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 225120 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 7 219305 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 205772 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 9 194542 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 190062 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.18.1.el5) 11 188499 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 12 187849 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 184284 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 166859 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 161304 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 152398 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5PAE) 17 149134 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 18 147646 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 146667 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 20 130744 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3981900 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3655830 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 1551122 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1463843 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 5 1449626 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 1343915 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1341553 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 8 1252426 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 971548 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 924802 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 879839 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 14 879673 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 15 838636 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 777453 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 18 737358 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default) 19 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 706411 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 66478 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 24924 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 18176 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 12997 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 11265 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 8662 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 7112 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 11 6685 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6318 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6023 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 14 5832 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5652 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 16 4824 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4233 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3860 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 19 3835 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3134 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 816279 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 329621 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 306102 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 292169 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 234297 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 221296 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 7 203602 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 8 191301 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 189896 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.18.1.el5) 10 184743 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 11 165671 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 151939 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5PAE) 13 148565 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 14 143465 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 15 135537 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 134903 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 17 129360 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 124834 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 124231 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 20 123802 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 278537 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 110511 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 63090 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59812 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 48481 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 36809 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101-0.15-default) 16 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 35145 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 18 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 33625 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 20 33588 EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen)