![[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 851316 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 509323 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 346973 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 310419 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 309867 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 309320 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 299755 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 281564 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 276017 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 273188 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 272527 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 12 263232 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-44-pve) 13 247936 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 243093 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 235278 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 231325 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 222454 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 18 207481 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64) 19 203947 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 195790 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4828617 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4090297 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1721145 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1580293 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1413370 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1333463 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1225947 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1181697 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1025965 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 11 991599 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 973381 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 13 906030 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 894550 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 15 889621 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 811074 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 765144 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 751295 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 710375 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 672129 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33845 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 28469 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 13937 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 12914 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 6986 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 6710 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6368 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6184 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5713 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 5337 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4305 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4021 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3873 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3425 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3402 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3390 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32) 20 3353 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 826916 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 503677 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 342116 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 308876 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 306974 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 302252 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 280842 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 272304 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 9 253156 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 238523 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 11 237236 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 232591 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 231405 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 221979 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 15 206651 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64) 16 201956 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 193859 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 174746 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 174074 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 172705 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300747 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 299895 NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 3 77228 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 62673 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 54457 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 6 41620 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 41173 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 8 34952 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 9 34588 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 33622 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 11 33588 EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 30813 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 14 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28279 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 16 28213 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 27724 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 27426 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26413 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26118 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)