[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – April 2011


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 (APR11, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     640739  XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5xen)
  2     477568  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3     443442  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  4     414095  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp)
  5     406027  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  6     369103  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003)
  7     302040  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     296907  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
  9     279352  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5)
 10     276010  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 11     273452  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
 12     267718  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x)
 13     262952  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 14     253724  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 15     226113  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 16     193843  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition)
 17     191710  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18     184614  BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 19     184142  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp)
 20     182184  NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Apr 2011)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     3383593  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
  2     2682707  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3     1266503  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp)
  4     1228225  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
  5     1202129  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  6     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5)
  7     1051928  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     1047119  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  9     1035217  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 10     1026857  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp)
 11      963130  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
 12      936070  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp)
 13      906882  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0)
 14      903804  LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
 15      894384  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 16      871833  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 17      863209  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
 18      830512  LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 19      780653  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp)
 20      765870  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Apr 2011)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 33122  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 27719  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3 24387  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5)
  4 19335  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  5 11524  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp)
  6  9648  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  7  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5)
  8  8975  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
  9  7287  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5)
 10  6322  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 11  6271  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 12  6174  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  6095  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp)
 14  5746  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen)
 15  5555  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 16  5272  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp)
 17  4694  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 18  4232  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 19  4064  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3999  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (APR11, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     470966  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  2     426171  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3     402489  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp)
  4     394332  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  5     359589  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003)
  6     298750  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     294449  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
  8     275106  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5)
  9     271697  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 10     267091  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Linux (S/390) 2.6.5-7.325-s390x)
 11     256956  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 12     253365  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13     242159  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
 14     221705  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 15     184028  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp)
 16     184011  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     182227  NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5)
 18     181497  BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 19     172244  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
 20     171897  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Apr 2011)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      217802  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default)
  2       86994  EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  3       76368  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  4       72327  ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  5       66542  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  6       63544  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  7       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  8       48861  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp)
  9       44735  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 10       42949  TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
 11       42690  FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12       40132  JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 13       37741  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 14       36946  SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
 15       36685  EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 16       36502  DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
 17       35136  STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 18       34845  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 19       34762  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20       34593  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)