![[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 907390 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 577278 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 437073 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 4 364431 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 328448 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 322644 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 315299 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 310580 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 291925 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 288574 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 273741 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-39-pve) 12 270157 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 268655 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 247481 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 241536 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 241205 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 231721 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64) 18 228049 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 19 221906 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 20 203919 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4830131 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3609476 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1644649 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 1573039 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1522195 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1249795 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1207079 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18) 8 1178832 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1058441 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 1037807 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 12 1023325 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 978688 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 14 928491 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 924337 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 845213 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 832300 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 750311 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 669157 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 56765 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 35394 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 25739 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 4 11971 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 6800 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6792 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6367 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 11 6226 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 12 6129 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 13 6036 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 5150 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4257 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4005 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3898 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3347 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3317 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 20 3314 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 882966 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 571815 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 360439 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 325399 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 315032 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 314280 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 287124 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 286488 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 270101 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 268087 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 253101 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 241108 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 238872 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 236076 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 230475 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64) 16 221370 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 17 218587 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 18 203271 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 196966 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 188201 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300770 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 299501 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 3 109575 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 79755 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 62705 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 40956 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 7 40811 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 34967 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 9 34588 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 33621 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 11 33588 EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 31227 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 30849 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 28254 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27804 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 27728 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 27427 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 26415 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 25432 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 20 24988 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Solaris 2.9)