![[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 937851 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 556323 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 538903 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 411463 NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 5 313685 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 291363 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 290129 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 8 287946 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 9 281841 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.35-2-pve) 10 274214 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 273635 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 261897 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 234768 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 225556 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 15 221661 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 221167 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 218692 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 18 218280 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 19 194989 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 193861 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4953202 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3649836 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1751924 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1744495 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1481351 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1288967 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1272926 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1212469 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1042734 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 11 1042255 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 12 936659 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 926664 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 14 921204 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 917117 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 795381 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 794261 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 780250 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 759072 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26782 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 19104 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14107 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 7536 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7195 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6589 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6468 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5719 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5703 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5461 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4327 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4009 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3842 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3825 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3701 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3546 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 908619 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 550603 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 537223 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 309025 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 285147 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 277671 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 7 267255 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 260017 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 251570 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 10 245832 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 234486 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 12 225371 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 13 220487 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 218327 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 15 216545 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 16 216253 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 191957 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 190372 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 183993 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 20 180869 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300692 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 62532 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 56993 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41561 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 37057 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 34925 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 34136 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 33619 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 11 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 29461 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 28897 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 28366 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 26420 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26106 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)