![[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 808142 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 583820 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 453627 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 313403 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 298061 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 297152 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 296885 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 294426 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 282420 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 277562 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 241888 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 12 240870 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 240439 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-46-pve) 14 234234 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 224820 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 16 223214 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 221466 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 18 203303 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 197142 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 20 191632 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4896923 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3500303 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1780644 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1751405 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1649516 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1243070 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1231116 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1205184 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1054396 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 11 1046601 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 955290 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 939476 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 14 932194 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 863430 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 793882 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 789236 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 778691 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 742760 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26551 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 18904 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14042 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 12201 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 7315 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7044 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6545 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6432 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5638 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5582 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4290 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4012 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3916 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3731 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3646 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3609 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 20 3503 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 782010 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 578176 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 451681 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 310702 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 5 293117 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 290222 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 279293 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 274869 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 241413 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 10 232089 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 11 228514 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 224890 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 13 223028 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 219755 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 15 197956 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 193887 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 188721 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 181432 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 19 179479 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 173787 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300704 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 76002 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 62591 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41430 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 39817 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 39466 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 34934 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 9 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 33620 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 11 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 29011 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28914 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 16 28360 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 17 27718 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 27419 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26420 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26107 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)