![[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 769568 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 503533 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 322770 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 319376 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 310603 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 6 309456 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 288674 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 257910 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 246889 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 243729 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 243539 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 227749 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 224459 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 218378 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 15 216046 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 208222 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 202918 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64) 18 188602 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 19 186142 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 20 186107 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4676475 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 4233994 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1640146 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1562331 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1465573 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 1221505 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 1020674 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 1002428 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 953192 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 934985 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 840175 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 809079 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 17 801345 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 710199 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41573 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 35001 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 31509 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 11995 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 11800 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 7040 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6354 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 6266 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5905 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5711 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5165 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 16 4989 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4259 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3933 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3711 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3230 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 748191 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 498553 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 321417 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 312405 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 309239 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 6 304792 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 252458 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 249928 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 240316 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 239914 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 221937 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 217794 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 13 210185 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 14 208050 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 202079 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64) 16 197223 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 188445 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 18 185108 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 19 184721 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 173525 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 283696 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 62998 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 50559 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 12 50074 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 38656 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 33929 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)