![[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 599981 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 335785 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 269316 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 4 262973 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.24-1-pve) 5 253786 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 216549 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 7 193732 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 182916 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 176915 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 176556 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 166617 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 12 162313 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 151418 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 139122 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 137706 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 132034 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 17 131105 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 18 130515 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 19 124005 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 20 123451 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5051847 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4126078 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1794131 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1769546 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1473967 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1272926 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1251024 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1243727 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 1063959 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1054495 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 12 1052320 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 13 941371 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 940937 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 938899 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 785561 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 768578 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 756960 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 754457 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 33385 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 19014 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14057 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 7478 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7169 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6591 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6448 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5681 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5522 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4316 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4009 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 3918 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3770 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3697 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3673 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3525 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 578006 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 331023 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 249419 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 200793 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 191076 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 181421 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 172315 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 164033 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 155589 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 146823 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 144088 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 136877 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 13 126894 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 126669 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 15 122834 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64) 16 121957 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 120106 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 119122 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 19 114051 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 112321 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300691 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 75738 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 41502 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 36147 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 34927 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 32917 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 29317 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 28900 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)