[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – February 2014


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 (FEB14, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     943701  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     561938  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     453161  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  4     438877  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     391876  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5)
  6     365432  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  7     356072  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     345363  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     322162  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 10     302849  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     301404  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.1.2.el5)
 12     277361  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 13     264433  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default)
 14     255115  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15     251686  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
 16     249315  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17     230068  LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
 18     227685  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 19     209908  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen)
 20     209521  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (28 Feb 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     3781143  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5)
  2     3600505  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     1544924  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  4     1494032  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5)
  5     1467300  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
  6     1348239  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
  7     1321461  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  8     1244162  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 2.6.18-371.1.2.el5)
 11      979164  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)
 12      965667  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default)
 13      939264  LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 14      937185  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 15      913907  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5)
 16      823225  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      764726  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5xen)
 19      740392  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 20      733815  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82-0.7-default)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (28 Feb 2014)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 65797  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 33190  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 24970  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-348.1.1.el5)
  4 12781  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
  5 11135  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 2.6.18-371.1.2.el5)
  8  8629  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
  9  8328  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
 10  7037  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
 11  6547  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 12  6404  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  6010  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default)
 14  5945  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5)
 15  5771  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 16  4850  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 17  4196  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18  3813  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 19  3785  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.3.1.el5)
 20  3065  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32-52-generic)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (FEB14, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     920994  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     556647  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     442285  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  4     428930  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     384852  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.4.1.el5)
  6     361132  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  7     352319  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     325698  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     302177  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 10     292983  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-371.1.2.el5)
 11     289857  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 12     276695  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 13     261776  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.93-0.5-default)
 14     251501  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-348.6.1.el5)
 15     248673  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16     247557  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17     229331  LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (SunOS 5.9)
 18     222251  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 19     208688  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 20     204934  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (28 Feb 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      269019  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)
  2      110394  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       66551  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  7       63121  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  8       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  9       60837  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       47833  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686)
 13       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 14       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 15       36725  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101-0.8-default)
 16       36033  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 17       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 18       35229  ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6.x86_64)
 19       35173  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)
 20       34586  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)