![[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 874368 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 489925 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 381677 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 4 338966 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 294243 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 6 289883 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.35-2-pve) 7 281302 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 280460 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 9 264770 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 10 253445 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 251014 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 12 235513 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 233235 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 232732 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 15 217377 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 207693 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 200615 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 187988 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 19 186006 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 20 173163 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5017831 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3631198 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1766454 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1686594 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1471471 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1272926 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1267173 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1232883 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1168326 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1056957 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 1044598 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 13 944224 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 14 925583 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 920141 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 792149 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 781242 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 778162 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 763860 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26660 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 19029 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14089 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 7494 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7188 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6586 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6455 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5688 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5634 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5466 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4320 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4009 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3816 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3771 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3679 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3529 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 848750 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 485036 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 337228 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 276363 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 5 276061 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 274936 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 262430 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 239682 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 9 232937 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 232935 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 229820 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 12 212729 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 211145 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 202257 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 187607 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 16 184491 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 17 171504 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 162242 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 150626 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 150088 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300692 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 73571 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 62548 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41538 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 36954 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 35147 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 8 34926 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 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28854 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28754 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 16 28367 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 17 27716 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 27418 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26421 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26106 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)