[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – October 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 (OCT14, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     922000  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     628039  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     369284  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  4     354118  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     351685  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     345670  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  7     328791  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     320592  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  9     301310  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     296447  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     285668  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12     268540  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 13     264648  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     258991  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 15     257490  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16     234920  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64)
 17     228592  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 18     218497  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 19     205947  AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20     204866  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (31 Oct 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4676475  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2     4277722  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     1640146  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  4     1554534  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1414324  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
  6     1375097  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     1367033  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     1207079  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
  9     1180419  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     1020674  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12     1000022  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 13      953192  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14      930602  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 15      841873  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 16      806593  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 17      763899  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19      721956  LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 20      675437  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (31 Oct 2014)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 41573  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 34762  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 31509  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  4 12088  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5 11793  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
  6  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  8  8328  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
  9  7159  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6950  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 11  6307  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  6266  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  5894  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 14  5711  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 15  5094  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  4963  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 17  4259  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18  3925  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19  3711  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3206  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (OCT14, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     898420  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     622478  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     368561  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  4     352157  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     343729  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     324898  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     316238  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  8     300226  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     294878  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     291876  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     258406  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 12     258140  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     254849  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14     235418  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 15     233803  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64)
 16     226297  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 17     216732  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 18     202570  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 19     201041  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-371.9.1.el5)
 20     199307  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (31 Oct 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      281872  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2      110480  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  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       63008  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  8       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  9       59684  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 11       50574  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       50073  FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 14       40259  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
 15       38651  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 16       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 17       36668  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101)
 18       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 19       34586  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 20       33942  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)