![[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 739865 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 677887 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 473835 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 256311 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 5 246611 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 6 241075 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 7 236132 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 8 220593 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64) 9 220565 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 219391 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 212330 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 12 209928 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 13 209131 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64) 14 199005 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 185229 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 175051 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 168752 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 157755 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 155010 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 150229 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5298304 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3676547 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 2086946 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1366051 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 1287181 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 7 1266491 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1180589 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 1146538 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 987335 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 830841 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 14 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 814633 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 785816 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 770786 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 768722 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 753858 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 734436 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27171 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 16907 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14196 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 7 7560 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 8 6838 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 6644 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6622 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5541 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5520 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5113 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4446 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 4333 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 17 3936 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3900 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3846 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3678 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 738606 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 651398 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 469015 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 246486 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 5 243540 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 231598 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 7 219869 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64) 8 214628 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 212284 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 208931 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64) 11 208344 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 12 196422 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 184188 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 182170 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 172679 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 16 154933 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 152023 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 150084 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 145407 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 20 144425 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62399 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 41978 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41762 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 6 35699 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33605 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 29243 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 29146 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28321 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27405 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 27079 HINDU-D@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 25130 CANVASSTUDENTS_AUTO@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)