![[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 849269 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 496788 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 453793 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 321876 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.21-1-pve) 5 297550 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 282449 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 7 275434 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 264505 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 258837 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 253821 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 11 250079 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 243277 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 231762 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 216139 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 15 208078 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 16 202385 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 198977 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 18 180416 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 178400 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 176939 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5046989 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3662481 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1884348 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 4 1763349 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1721066 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1274166 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 1272926 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1244967 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 1067765 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1055957 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 12 971814 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 13 962536 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 14 952116 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 15 939149 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 797629 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 794684 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 784410 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 746272 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26602 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 18957 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14027 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 4 12295 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 7365 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7140 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6585 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6440 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5656 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5535 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4314 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4009 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3916 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3755 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3670 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3660 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 20 3519 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 822963 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 491849 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 451932 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 293211 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 255407 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 253617 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 7 249539 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 8 246432 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 237525 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 231402 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 218831 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 215108 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 13 198796 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 14 198025 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 177292 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 16 176041 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 17 175008 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 170954 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 157976 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 157832 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300694 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 75781 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 62573 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41471 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 39755 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 39295 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 34927 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 29528 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28836 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 28361 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 17 27717 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 27417 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26420 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26106 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)