![[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 922000 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 628039 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 369284 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 354118 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 351685 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 345670 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 328791 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 320592 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 301310 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 296447 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 285668 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 268540 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 264648 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 258991 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 15 257490 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 234920 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 17 228592 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 218497 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 205947 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 204866 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4676475 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 4277722 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1640146 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1554534 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1414324 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1375097 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1367033 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 9 1180419 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1020674 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 1000022 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 953192 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 930602 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 841873 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 806593 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 17 763899 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 675437 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41573 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 34762 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 31509 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 12088 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 11793 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 6950 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6307 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 6266 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5894 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5711 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5094 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 16 4963 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4259 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3925 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3711 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3206 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 898420 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 622478 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 368561 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 352157 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 343729 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 324898 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 316238 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 300226 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 294878 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 291876 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 258406 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 12 258140 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 254849 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 235418 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 233803 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 16 226297 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 17 216732 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 202570 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 19 201041 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 20 199307 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 281872 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 63008 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 59684 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 50574 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 12 50073 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 40259 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 15 38651 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36668 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 33942 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)