![[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 878420 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 453483 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 405012 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 292649 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 283922 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 282678 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 273734 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.40-1-pve) 8 251357 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 249458 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 235916 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 11 226664 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 12 209248 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 202115 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 14 199445 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 15 191257 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 16 190966 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 187099 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 18 182618 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 169541 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 20 168092 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4952735 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3644220 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1742711 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1725421 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1445037 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 1322763 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 1272926 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1210897 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1089010 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1053783 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 988654 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 13 936849 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 915999 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82) 15 902222 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 799955 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 785132 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 779205 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 757326 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 26791 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 19150 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14068 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 7519 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7424 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6602 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6480 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 5877 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5719 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5468 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4335 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4007 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3884 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3835 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3714 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3560 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 850790 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 447937 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 403533 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 288358 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 279820 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 272498 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 7 243346 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 235488 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 9 226382 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 207505 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 207495 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 12 199256 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 13 185980 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64) 14 182310 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 180710 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 166316 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 166301 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 165512 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 162777 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 162218 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300690 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 62531 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 56298 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54051 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41600 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 37589 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 34093 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 29601 L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 28928 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 16 28365 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 17 27715 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 27418 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26419 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26106 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)