![[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 784559 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 621564 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 364549 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 359274 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 349371 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 341879 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 332919 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 329363 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 324746 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 319293 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 291096 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 12 279003 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 248970 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 232277 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 231381 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 226190 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 17 216226 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 18 213216 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 19 211936 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 209945 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4676475 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 4460937 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1640146 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1490434 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1415762 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1373515 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1367033 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 1326973 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 1022424 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 998326 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 953192 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 920581 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 846428 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 803287 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 793050 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 654943 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41529 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 34208 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 31509 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 13092 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 11735 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 7159 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6899 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6290 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6225 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5882 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5711 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 4919 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 16 4849 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4259 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3909 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3711 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3176 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 762581 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 616476 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 362405 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 351462 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 345120 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 338424 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 332306 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 320764 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 312817 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 290406 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 11 288286 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 276240 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 232085 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 224463 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 15 216997 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 16 215938 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5) 17 212595 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 18 209997 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 203656 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 202808 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.20.5.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 280714 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 110480 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 63056 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59707 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50072 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 49379 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 40259 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 15 38047 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36702 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101) 18 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 33968 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)