![[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 809039 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 417795 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.59-1-pve) 3 368023 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 341946 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 5 297662 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 249793 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 248541 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 246950 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 9 226308 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 211384 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 203112 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 191191 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 188769 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 182894 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 15 170268 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 167712 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 163908 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 162488 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 158581 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 20 155088 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 4912671 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4369006 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 1815811 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1575815 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 1364468 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1313918 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 1304788 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1240962 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1026642 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 11 988507 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 12 962004 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 943692 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 14 938471 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 15 904626 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 789909 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 759099 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 753073 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 706505 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32865 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 15199 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14017 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13450 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 7512 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 8 6845 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 6656 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 6508 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 6076 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5721 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5505 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 4938 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4378 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4112 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 3992 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 18 3890 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3762 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3614 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 778779 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 361908 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 291966 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 4 247044 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 246810 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 246718 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 7 222159 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 209039 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 9 186426 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 182841 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 180301 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 167504 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 13 166794 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 164254 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 160317 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 157031 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 152965 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 150027 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 19 135173 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 20 134840 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300671 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 2 62510 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 55891 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3) 5 41738 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 38329 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 34918 ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 34079 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 10 33616 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 11 30848 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 29030 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 28356 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 16 27713 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 27534 TAU-BOGRIM@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 18 27418 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 26421 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 26101 CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)