![[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 776702 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 557655 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 469727 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 419604 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 5 396782 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 6 373690 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 322685 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 320063 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 319515 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 306948 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 11 273925 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 264696 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 252595 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 248688 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 239529 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 16 225235 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 217528 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 215343 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 208719 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 197395 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4392661 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4173386 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1616351 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1523141 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1444964 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1313368 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 9 1133148 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1023714 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 12 1013782 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 936465 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 842560 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 841166 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 804329 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 17 787612 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 752962 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 745201 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 54494 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 34670 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 28536 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 12601 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 8328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 8 7236 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6674 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6471 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 6225 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 5920 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 13 5854 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 5827 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 15 5007 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 4304 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 3968 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3845 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 3812 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 20 3324 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 754565 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 552255 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 469117 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 394813 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 369427 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 316680 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 314239 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 303455 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 275651 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 260630 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 252010 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 12 242242 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 241227 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 238773 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 15 223058 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 215497 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 212767 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 193898 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 182023 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64) 20 181606 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 317050 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 2 294461 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 3 109672 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 80649 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 62840 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 59547 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 13 50127 ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 40626 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 35983 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 35744 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 20 34586 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)