![[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 789866 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 412300 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 3 386838 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 338786 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 334055 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 301391 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 255304 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 240902 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 238885 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 236077 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 228849 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 227421 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 225816 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 14 216368 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 192798 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 16 192358 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 188894 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 18 186986 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 172678 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 154217 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4424906 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3550474 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1638319 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1523141 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1436305 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1320430 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 925337 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 900212 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 859759 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 841166 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 785768 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 17 756727 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 728026 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 54494 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 25219 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 13521 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 12753 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 6555 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6342 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6225 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6040 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 13 5933 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 14 5854 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 15 5007 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 4304 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 3981 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3899 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 3841 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3341 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 767369 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 381527 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 337446 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 329815 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 295171 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 248340 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 237696 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 236528 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 225150 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 223105 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 218724 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 12 204164 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 192653 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 14 188225 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 186504 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 185404 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 167928 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 152501 LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 152249 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 151638 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-400.1.1.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 299431 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 2 296864 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 80492 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 62754 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 59548 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 40717 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 33876 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)