![[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 748828 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 524567 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 335115 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 324537 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 324316 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 6 313992 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 297918 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 296539 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 267629 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 257890 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 238838 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 223893 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 221635 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 14 219799 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 215671 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 208666 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 17 197355 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 192711 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 190754 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 186933 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4197493 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3838897 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1547696 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1420450 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1403278 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1349653 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 1259332 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1133148 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 1023714 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 1005995 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 14 926941 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 800479 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 16 793859 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 745231 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 742209 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 734482 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 41669 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 32564 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 25178 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 12465 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 12105 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 7236 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6373 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 6330 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 6225 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5883 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5854 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5586 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 16 5007 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 17 4304 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 3949 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3843 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3300 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 727495 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 519524 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 328216 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 320001 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 306714 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 296906 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 267885 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 263900 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 254934 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 221149 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 218558 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 12 217631 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 209637 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 209589 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 208061 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64) 16 186667 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 186616 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 18 177064 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 174991 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 171308 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 287019 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 109672 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 81510 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 62987 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 59629 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 49952 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 13 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 14 40419 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 15 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 16 36668 WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101) 17 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 35573 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 33912 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)