![[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 551899 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 402870 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 302022 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 282130 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 276569 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 227342 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 221359 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 218377 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 214509 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 209776 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 197308 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 184643 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 176948 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 163053 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 15 157592 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 155687 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 152601 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 150852 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 145454 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 20 144900 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4308646 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 4218848 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 1630493 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1536825 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1424201 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 1230892 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 1003403 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 953192 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 932818 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 814934 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 803773 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 17 757370 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 725448 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41573 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 35153 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 31679 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 12181 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 11845 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 6531 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6371 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 6266 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5903 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5711 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5196 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 16 5007 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4319 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3939 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3799 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3288 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 533420 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 397817 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 296012 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 281168 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 272073 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 219247 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 215542 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 205214 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 198197 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 193787 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 158627 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 158233 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 13 155905 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 153956 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 150251 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 144403 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 17 143750 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 18 139108 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 131666 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 128205 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 285325 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 79886 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 62998 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 59684 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 50986 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 13 50075 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 40259 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 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 33924 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)