![[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 1213563 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 2 553103 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 412935 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 352117 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 217708 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64) 6 211901 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 191138 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 190352 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.31.1.el6.x86_64) 9 174917 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 10 171836 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 164119 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 164029 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 157227 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 145518 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 144499 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 16 138970 LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 17 133526 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 18 132438 L.GOP.COM (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 19 127862 MASSMAIL.VCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 114765 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5188985 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 4847976 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 2239941 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1738660 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1530857 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1358942 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1225702 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 1204447 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1118684 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 1097415 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 11 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 980552 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 912252 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 891443 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 15 854377 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 852202 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 17 837192 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 817871 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 814582 LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 782478 LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 34400 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16569 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14220 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 7 7464 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 8 6735 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 9 6358 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 5683 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 5468 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 12 5117 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5022 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4885 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 4197 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 16 4195 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4161 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 18 3759 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3695 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 20 3308 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 1211694 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 2 528593 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 412298 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 4 349574 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 5 217513 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1127.10.1.el7.x86_64) 6 208069 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 188543 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.31.1.el6.x86_64) 8 173920 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 162240 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 159666 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 11 156993 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 12 143176 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 141307 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 14 141051 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 138641 LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 132438 L.GOP.COM (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 17 127833 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 18 111650 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 19 103936 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 100095 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 59327 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 2 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 3 52531 ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0) 4 42532 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41801 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 6 36442 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33596 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 28309 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 14 27593 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 27390 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 25570 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 18 25009 2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 19 24992 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 20 24343 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)