![[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 683289 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 433649 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 297148 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 4 295628 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 266180 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 231874 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 221019 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 205706 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 203489 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 10 203305 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 11 199599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 198647 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-46-pve) 13 197556 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 195818 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 193826 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 189543 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 17 149436 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.22.1.el6.x86_64) 18 132930 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 130154 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 126613 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4969746 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4294139 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1737127 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1699877 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1472257 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1421776 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1244603 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1235613 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1045799 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 11 1034191 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 992185 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 911643 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 910785 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 15 889166 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 772896 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 739454 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 722731 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 697113 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32925 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 14913 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14029 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 13232 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 7209 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 6882 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6473 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6398 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5668 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5482 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4256 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4015 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3745 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3545 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3456 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 3418 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32) 20 3214 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 660827 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 428368 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 291482 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 259561 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 228795 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 215207 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 203927 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 203143 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 9 195889 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 189008 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 181598 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 161414 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 148809 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.22.1.el6.x86_64) 14 130113 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 125139 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 124906 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 120900 PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 119018 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 118488 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 20 118179 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300731 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 76830 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 62607 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 54052 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41362 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 38555 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 34947 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33620 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28817 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28348 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27723 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27422 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 26420 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 18 26116 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 19 24989 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24934 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)