[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – July 2013


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 (JUL13, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     721233  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     403584  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  3     331200  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4     302052  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  5     252479  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
  6     249122  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  7     245074  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  8     244888  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5)
  9     203418  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 10     183152  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     181887  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
 12     180724  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 13     170073  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen)
 14     164353  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15     163344  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
 16     153617  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17     147196  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
 18     144622  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE)
 19     138181  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20     135117  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (31 Jul 2013)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     3686527  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3340287  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5)
  3     1396610  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.13.1.el5)
  4     1392552  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5)
  5     1304333  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  6     1253304  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     1245814  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
  8     1234540  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
  9     1207079  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
 11     1008093  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
 12      955314  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13      859606  LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 14      822726  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)
 15      810417  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5)
 16      773518  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      754409  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen)
 19      721956  LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 20      702234  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (31 Jul 2013)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 40443  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 24550  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5)
  3 16919  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4 12957  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
  5 12680  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  6  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-164.11.1.el5)
  7  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
  8  8328  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
  9  8045  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
 10  6829  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
 11  6612  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12  6415  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
 13  6055  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 14  5595  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 15  5555  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5)
 16  4761  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 17  4061  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18  3819  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 19  3711  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3590  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.4.1.el5)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JUL13, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     703199  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     391304  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  3     322624  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4     296859  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  5     248719  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  6     247940  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
  7     241215  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  8     233397  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5)
  9     193562  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 10     181745  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
 11     177968  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 12     162618  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 13     160853  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.58-0.6.2-default)
 14     157024  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15     153401  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5xen)
 16     151206  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17     144128  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.12.1.el5PAE)
 18     141819  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.26-0.7-default)
 19     133066  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20     133014  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (31 Jul 2013)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      260292  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)
  2      108752  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
  3       86994  EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  4       74965  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  5       72327  ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  6       69302  STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  7       66551  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  8       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  9       61868  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 11       50073  FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12       46991  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13       44633  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686)
 14       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 15       41105  MOBCOMNEWSLETTER-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10)
 16       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 17       36925  SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
 18       36247  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.74-0.6.8-default)
 19       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 20       34585  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)