![[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 542280 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 270134 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 218630 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 170505 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 162084 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 6 148634 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 148165 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 8 147437 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 144468 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 10 143527 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 143326 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 12 133980 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 13 132402 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 122414 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 122016 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.9.1.el6.x86_64) 16 118216 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 106146 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 101937 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 101664 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 20 101518 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5269025 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 4205872 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2132561 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1369092 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 1362903 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1342186 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1302701 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1164182 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 991371 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 14 814575 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 797261 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 794877 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 17 785966 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 18 772211 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 770462 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 744155 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 34000 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 17025 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14238 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 12138 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 7487 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 6881 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6660 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5620 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5462 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5106 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4430 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4419 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3944 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3934 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3877 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3731 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 519705 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 266143 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 207687 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 169504 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 5 145755 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 6 145281 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 144483 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 132386 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 130305 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 129232 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 11 120962 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.9.1.el6.x86_64) 12 119987 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 117176 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 106119 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 103991 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 101718 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 101509 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 18 100065 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 99669 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 20 96552 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62368 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 62049 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 5 42656 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 7 39280 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33603 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 29359 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 28319 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 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24785 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)