[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – April 1996


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).

What do these numbers mean exactly?

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).


Top 20 sites by volume delivered daily (APR96, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    1680156  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2     385820  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  3     295433  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4     267429  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  5     252346  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  6     250467  MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  7     234864  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
  8     215281  NDSUVM1 (VM/ESA 2.2)
  9     200094  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
 10     187739  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Ultrix 4.2)
 11     157864  LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 12     151440  OBSLAVE.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (HP-UX A.09.05)
 13     149189  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 14     148250  UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 15     147443  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5)
 16     134493  HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17     132103  LSV-NT.TAMU.EDU (???)
 18     127638  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)
 19     115593  LISTSERV.RL.AC.UK (SunOS 4.1.3)
 20     115406  LISTMAIL.SUNET.SE (BSD/OS 2.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Apr 1996)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      643592  DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2      271111  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  3      260817  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4       94101  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  5       91895  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  6       78039  UICVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  7       77194  NDSUVM1 (VM/ESA 2.2)
  8       68871  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
  9       68481  LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 10       60918  SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7)
 11       60391  UCF1VM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 12       55916  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 13       55058  IUBVM (VM/SP 7)
 14       54472  RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 15       51224  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
 16       49210  ASUACAD (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17       47289  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 18       46251  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 19       44723  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 20       44716  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Apr 1996)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1  2091  LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2   856  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)
  3   820  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  4   629  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  5   588  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5)
  6   543  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  7   516  UICVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  8   491  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  9   433  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 10   411  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
 11   400  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 12   390  IRISHVMA (VM/ESA 1.1)
 13   380  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 14   375  HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2)
 15   358  NIHLIST (VM/SP 5)
 16   352  ULKYVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17   347  EMUVM1 (VM/ESA 1.1)
 18   333  UMINN1 (VM/HPO 5.0)
 19   326  MIAMIU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 20   326  NDSUVM1 (VM/ESA 2.2)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (APR96, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     439824  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  2     412559  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  3     341340  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4     313843  SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7)
  5     273335  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  6     268246  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2)
  7     256727  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  8     232325  NDSUVM1 (VM/ESA 2.2)
  9     218602  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
 10     215794  MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 11     210838  BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1)
 12     200859  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 13     183182  CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
 14     175923  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 15     173132  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 16     156330  IUBVM (VM/SP 7)
 17     155439  UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 18     141683  TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 19     129025  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)
 20     121768  UMDD (VM/HPO 5.0)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Apr 1996)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      409477  DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2      109983  WSJ-ANNOUNCE@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  3       65293  IN-TOUCH@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4       42613  TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  5       37341  TIDBITS@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
  6       36711  MS-WINDOWS95-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  7       31087  TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  8       27275  PC-GAMES-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  9       26995  SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4)
 10       23725  MS-WINDOWS3X-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 11       22153  AOL-EZONE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 12       19857  MS-WINDOWS95-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 13       19097  NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1 (VM/ESA 2.2)
 14       18077  MS-WINDOWS-ALL--NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 15       15197  OMRI-L@UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 16       13599  DOS-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 17       13497  MS-WINDOWS3X-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 18       13413  ONLINE-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 19       12840  UCSMON@IUBVM (VM/SP 7)
 20       12481  TESL-L@CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)