![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](/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 457580 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-194.3.1.el5xen) 2 371618 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 309402 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 305492 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 289017 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 6 236327 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 211177 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 8 206057 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 9 194514 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 10 188962 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 168724 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 160792 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 13 149914 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 14 148403 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 15 148328 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 16 148139 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 145079 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 144692 MAIL.MYVALOTTERY.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 142889 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 140569 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2829799 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 2 2413645 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 1145663 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 5 1124051 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 6 1123631 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1061616 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 8 964569 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 9 944187 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 895279 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 11 874835 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 12 870259 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 13 866185 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 14 842182 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 15 818204 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 774498 LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 740138 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 727385 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 19 706783 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 693968 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 30435 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 25155 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-63.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 10950 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.8.ELsmp) 5 8988 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 6 8769 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 8472 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 8 8349 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 9 8205 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 10 6993 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5) 11 5979 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 5933 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 13 5889 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 14 5690 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 5449 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 5403 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4752 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 18 4521 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 19 4341 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 4009 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 360483 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 301232 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 299085 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 276192 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.16.ELsmp) 5 229052 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 206082 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 7 191698 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 8 184444 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 184125 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 10 167104 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 11 156775 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.2.1.el5) 12 148400 LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 13 146279 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 14 142915 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 137929 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 135935 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 133141 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 18 131322 BCU.ORG (Windows 2000 Server) 19 130951 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 20 123821 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 202729 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 116141 MARKETPLACE@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 87144 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 76290 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 73549 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 66954 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 63629 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 48649 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 10 44610 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 11 43045 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 12 42875 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 13 39143 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 14 37133 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 36948 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 16 36757 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36576 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 18 34583 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 19 34477 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10) 20 34314 FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)