[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – September 2018


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 (SEP18, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     739865  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  2     677887  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3     473835  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     256311  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     246611  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  6     241075  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
  7     236132  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  8     220593  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     220565  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 10     219391  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     212330  LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12     209928  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 13     209131  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64)
 14     199005  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     185229  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16     175051  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 17     168752  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18     157755  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19     155010  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 20     150229  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Sep 2018)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5298304  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3676547  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     2086946  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1366051  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     1287181  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     1282581  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  7     1266491  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  8     1180589  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  9     1146538  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11      987335  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12      944029  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      830841  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 14      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 15      814633  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16      785816  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 17      770786  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18      768722  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19      753858  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20      734436  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Sep 2018)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 27171  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2 16907  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 14196  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  5  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  7  7560  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  8  6838  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  9  6644  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6622  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 11  5541  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  5520  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5113  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  4446  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15  4372  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  4333  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 17  3936  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 18  3900  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 19  3846  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20  3678  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (SEP18, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     738606  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  2     651398  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3     469015  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     246486  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  5     243540  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     231598  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  7     219869  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64)
  8     214628  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     212284  LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 10     208931  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.23.1.el6.x86_64)
 11     208344  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 12     196422  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 13     184188  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     182170  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15     172679  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 16     154933  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17     152023  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18     150084  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 19     145407  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 20     144425  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Sep 2018)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300656  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  2       62399  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  4       41978  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5       41762  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  6       35699  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  7       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  8       33605  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  9       30835  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10       29243  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       29146  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       28321  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 15       27709  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16       27405  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17       27079  HINDU-D@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18       26418  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 19       25130  CANVASSTUDENTS_AUTO@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20       24990  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)