![[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 698508 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 253146 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 3 242847 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 4 240326 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 5 222194 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 6 185714 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 183918 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 173476 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 148226 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 143011 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 128644 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 126410 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Linux 3.13.0-49-generic) 13 124762 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 122057 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 117827 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 16 116809 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 115872 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 18 114096 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 104263 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.14.2.el6.x86_64) 20 103305 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5144123 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3674453 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2168253 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1453890 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 1440107 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1414129 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 7 1294518 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1130711 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 982099 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 800896 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 15 798880 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 782998 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 757460 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 748914 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 745905 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 717914 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27425 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16797 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14348 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13983 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 7579 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 7055 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6679 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5859 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5079 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4569 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4425 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3998 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 18 3982 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3936 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3473 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 670564 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 252921 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 3 231778 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 217678 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 184860 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 6 170830 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 7 143837 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 8 139662 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 126278 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 125899 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Linux 3.13.0-49-generic) 11 123031 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 117612 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 13 115699 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 14 115293 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 111701 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 103749 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.14.2.el6.x86_64) 17 99673 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 98919 LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 98416 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 98138 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 61647 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 45064 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 6 36548 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33602 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28632 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28316 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 14 27710 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 15 27401 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 26390 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 25008 2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 24992 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24766 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)