![[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 792931 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 303313 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 3 301236 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 273238 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 262298 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 6 254577 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 7 233331 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 213420 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 203783 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 10 199237 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 191644 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 12 187137 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 13 184248 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 176006 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.98-6-pve) 15 167181 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 158422 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 153884 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 152300 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 148463 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 20 146344 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5255737 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3562698 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 2090160 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1533989 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1425646 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1357191 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1340854 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1339480 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1029130 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 999929 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 877792 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 788511 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 762151 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 734168 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 696131 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 693501 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27231 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 16068 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14117 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13528 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 8173 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 8 8049 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 7223 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 10 6840 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 6609 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 6489 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5721 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5498 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 5351 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 4422 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 18 4229 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3898 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 20 3800 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 764003 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 296326 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 289998 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 272407 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 250299 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 6 227610 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 203555 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 8 196112 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 190323 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 184006 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 11 167144 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 154809 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 153734 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 14 149121 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 147268 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 146146 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 142892 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 135459 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 134168 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) 20 129846 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62426 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 41759 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 5 38798 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 35718 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33609 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30836 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 28980 IONIEUWSBRIEF@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28515 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28335 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27787 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 27408 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 18 27080 HINDU-D@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)