![[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 768043 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 590535 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 512023 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 342672 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 327062 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 6 315334 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 295645 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 294822 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 294220 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 273589 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 273335 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-46-pve) 12 263435 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 13 256284 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 225790 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 15 225272 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 217129 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 17 213335 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 208713 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 198759 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 20 196784 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4924234 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3626861 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1777330 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1720793 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1712836 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1416515 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1247828 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1228283 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1052876 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 11 1042776 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 967078 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 945302 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 14 934880 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 850511 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 794246 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 783105 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 739901 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 711521 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26485 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 18844 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14069 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 13256 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 7276 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7020 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6535 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6416 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5659 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5512 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4278 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4013 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3915 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3785 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3656 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3578 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 20 3488 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 743032 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 585101 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 510224 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 337836 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 312205 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 291101 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 288331 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 262956 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 9 256075 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 252704 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 251886 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 225656 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 13 219444 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 207992 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 206798 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 193736 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 190778 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 18 178422 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 173323 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 162785 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300713 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 76140 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 62601 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41355 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 39395 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 34940 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33619 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 28943 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28352 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 28253 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 16 27719 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 27419 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 26420 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 26110 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 20 24989 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)