![[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 856404 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 397023 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 3 325687 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 302253 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 276577 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 275135 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 7 224608 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 218664 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 218526 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 199113 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 183959 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 183057 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 13 178072 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 177752 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 169539 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 163331 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 158817 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 18 150871 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 123965 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 123135 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4438428 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3537761 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1606944 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1514168 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1449502 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1320793 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 9 1085671 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 999667 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 928511 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 873573 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 871260 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 777237 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 16 774859 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 755120 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 725446 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 721956 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 56612 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 25236 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 13545 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 12944 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 6568 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6492 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6119 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 12 6117 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 6062 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 5943 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 15 5007 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 16 4297 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 3989 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3908 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 3844 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3355 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 833902 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 320666 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 300626 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 4 270932 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 5 270676 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 218173 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 216103 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 215202 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 196724 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 182935 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 11 174866 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 164021 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 13 162834 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 159667 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 141286 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 133842 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 17 119098 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 18 117938 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 19 117266 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 117160 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 299221 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 2 298485 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 80390 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 59555 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 40775 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 33875 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)