![[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 698038 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 378149 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 366131 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 257488 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 240770 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 222698 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 7 210754 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 208195 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 9 186890 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 176762 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 11 175007 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 12 169588 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 169387 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 168584 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 165706 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 160106 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 17 156576 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 18 141504 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 136423 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 134051 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4536690 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 2 3998316 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1562036 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1475042 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 5 1429160 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 6 1349120 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 7 1344795 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 8 1252539 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 961098 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 12 924443 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 881515 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 14 879831 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 15 798761 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 17 738986 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default) 18 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 706376 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 634062 LISTSERV.ILLINOIS.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 67708 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 30742 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5) 3 18172 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 13080 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp) 5 11315 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 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7119 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64) 10 6715 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6308 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6030 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 13 5845 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5702 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 15 4831 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 4652 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5) 17 4232 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3869 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 19 3833 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3147 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 677516 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 370115 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 3 361538 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 256968 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 236233 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 218434 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 7 205849 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default) 8 183676 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 172732 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 10 170899 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5) 11 165257 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 159985 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 13 150278 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 144319 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 143249 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen) 16 133433 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 17 131035 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 125001 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5) 19 124092 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 113373 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 279439 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 2 110885 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 63083 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59750 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 48552 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 36762 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101-0.15-default) 16 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 35143 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default) 18 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 33624 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 20 33588 EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen)