![[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 872150 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 531253 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 353968 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 4 348712 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 336937 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 325596 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 321368 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 315711 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 312166 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 290788 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 273675 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 272987 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 253669 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 252397 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 230057 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 217876 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 217059 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 18 201734 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 194300 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 193998 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4374941 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3665497 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1613328 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1560918 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 1523141 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 1449584 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 1320504 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 1009073 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 14 931391 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 880619 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 846791 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 801750 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 749418 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 726725 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 54494 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 34614 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 25154 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 12496 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 12163 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 6589 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6424 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 6225 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5920 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5854 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5800 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 3967 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 3844 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3309 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 848942 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 526287 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 342209 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 332134 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 324991 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 318837 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 312345 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 304632 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 269043 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 253064 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 250099 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 248892 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 244071 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 223437 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 15 217651 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 216898 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5) 17 198649 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 192575 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 189142 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 20 185476 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 291334 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 81320 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 62953 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 59595 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 50127 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 35971 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 19 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 33892 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)