![[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 779442 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 446477 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 3 307948 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 268873 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 268871 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 6 260662 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 210905 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-39-pve) 8 199662 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 198028 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 195630 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 193340 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 187255 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 178442 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 174209 AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 160784 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 16 160694 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 159273 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 157206 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 19 143792 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 141566 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4488270 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3478075 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1569517 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1514168 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 1464897 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1375117 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1321332 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 1010210 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 926580 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 872104 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 846997 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 776734 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 16 771547 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 741785 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 739731 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 25262 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 13623 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 12987 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 6592 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6533 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 11 6134 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18) 12 6087 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 4216 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 3982 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3890 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9) 19 3844 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 3366 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 758416 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 302997 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 264818 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 4 262912 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 260118 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 196251 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 7 193619 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 192921 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 185044 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 173279 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 168356 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 157746 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 13 157078 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 14 143165 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 138602 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 135925 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 130266 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 120629 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 118520 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 106779 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 299521 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 299281 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 3 109672 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 80288 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 62735 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 59551 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 40830 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)