![[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 807214 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 553817 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 411280 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 304779 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 284563 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 261788 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 234461 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 8 227581 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 9 224402 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 10 214079 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 207138 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 204429 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 204152 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 202278 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 15 193019 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 185881 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 185774 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 18 181932 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64) 19 152565 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 144613 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5287783 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3695827 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2125933 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1380332 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 1367073 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1346943 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1314631 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1159212 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 995940 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 829030 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 14 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 817016 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 800740 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 780125 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 18 770013 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 753518 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 738903 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27358 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16997 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14235 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 11871 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 8 6873 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 9 6625 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 5604 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 5520 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5111 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 13 4928 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 14 4467 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 4407 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3943 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3935 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3874 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3714 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 778897 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 552799 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 406966 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 304585 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 5 273178 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 6 261182 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 224211 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 8 212914 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 9 204131 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 202470 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 197577 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 189741 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 184496 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 183143 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 15 180704 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.6.3.el6.x86_64) 16 170429 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 152308 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 144324 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 19 141613 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 140439 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62369 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 62093 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 5 44374 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 7 39493 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33604 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 29295 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 28320 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27402 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 25177 CANVASSTUDENTS_AUTO@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)