[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – January 2016


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 (JAN16, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     917157  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     478071  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     308506  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  4     295744  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  5     287568  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     280553  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     273097  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-44-pve)
  8     272813  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  9     269936  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 10     267242  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 11     243062  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 12     242409  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     237605  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14     221963  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 15     220657  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     219710  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     205931  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 18     203909  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 19     190084  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 20     181246  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Jan 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4838882  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3565843  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1652554  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  4     1608827  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1570803  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     1473106  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7     1281597  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  8     1188293  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     1058441  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     1024134  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 12     1023681  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13      954230  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 14      912166  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 15      879598  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 16      876293  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 17      830812  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19      742065  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20      710614  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Jan 2016)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 56770  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 33739  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 26098  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  4 12433  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7  6897  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6450  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  9  6394  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6261  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 11  6165  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12  5975  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  5185  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 14  4301  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15  4014  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  3760  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17  3465  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 18  3370  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3357  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 20  3324  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JAN16, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     892863  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     472879  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     303774  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  4     295046  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  5     281315  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     275101  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     268382  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  8     263881  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  9     259565  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 10     239366  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     235642  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12     214323  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     213392  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 14     205693  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 15     198592  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16     187160  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 17     180829  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 18     170335  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 19     168336  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64)
 20     166874  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Jan 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300753  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2      299770  NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  3      109575  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4       78834  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5       62685  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  6       41137  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       41081  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  8       34961  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  9       34588  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 10       33621  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 11       33588  EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 12       30849  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 13       29906  L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 14       28261  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 15       27916  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16       27726  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 17       27428  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 18       26414  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 19       25426  CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 20       25081  CCS-CEVAL@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA (Linux 2.6.18)