![[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 692101 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 414649 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 358862 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 356977 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 269332 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 263444 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 253750 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 248089 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 229653 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 10 219562 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 218491 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 216348 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 215254 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 190692 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 15 182838 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 16 181745 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 17 175702 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 167547 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 163935 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 162134 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4660157 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 4111095 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1568821 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1505216 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 1494197 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1373588 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1356258 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 1307700 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 945072 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 12 918630 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 908432 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 889452 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 15 844292 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 771407 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 737532 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 19 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 666677 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 67759 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 32073 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 31429 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 13086 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 11604 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 6 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 9 7141 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6755 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6291 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6152 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5857 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5699 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 4842 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 4677 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 17 4247 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3865 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3801 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3711 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 672783 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 409631 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 354834 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 348779 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 262907 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 262803 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 251404 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 244661 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 229467 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 10 214816 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 212414 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 194244 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 189340 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 14 182264 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 15 177792 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 16 149536 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 144644 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 137832 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 134347 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 133957 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 280345 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 110727 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 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 63059 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59695 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 (Linux 2.6.32) 12 48556 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 37835 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36765 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101) 17 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 33983 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 20 33624 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)