![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](/images/HDR-LISTSERV-sm.gif)
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).
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).
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 511922 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.18.el5xen) 2 405107 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 3 396563 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 4 354419 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 5 325339 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 6 272064 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 7 249976 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 8 243988 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 9 237675 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 10 207554 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 203475 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 178597 MAIL.ACTIVEIDEA.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 175596 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 14 172510 MAILER.AOPA.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 165879 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 161982 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 17 154904 LIST.CINECA.IT (SunOS 5.7) 18 153670 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 19 146848 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 20 144545 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 2665376 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 2 2281551 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1231300 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 4 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 1087843 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 6 1060414 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 1.0) 7 1016924 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 8 1010712 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 850603 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 10 830697 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 11 794890 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 771806 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 13 762390 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 14 755255 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 752213 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 16 709114 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 671160 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.EL) 18 653977 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 19 647913 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.13.ELsmp) 20 636754 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27208 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 23227 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-57.ELsmp) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 10864 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.1.ELsmp) 5 10057 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 6 9888 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 7 8746 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 8 7295 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 9 7206 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 10 6569 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5) 11 5719 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 12 5615 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 13 5408 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.8-smp) 14 4990 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 15 4941 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 4720 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 4578 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 18 4425 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 19 4393 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 20 3818 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 389906 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 2 385862 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686-bigmem) 3 330335 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-78.0.5.ELsmp) 4 320393 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 5 249976 NERDALERT.THENERDS.NET (Linux 2.6.18-92.1.22.el5) 6 240130 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 7 239350 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 R2 x64 Edition) 8 233330 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 9 206446 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 199965 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 160692 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows NT 5.2 Server) 12 159997 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 13 156243 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 152811 LIST.CINECA.IT (SunOS 5.7) 15 142768 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 16 139536 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 139526 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003) 18 139286 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 19 137557 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 20 135994 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 127083 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18.8-0.9-default) 2 122840 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 87880 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.22.18-grsec2.1.11-vs2.2.0.6) 4 77309 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 74042 E-ARTACADEMY@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 6 70748 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 64661 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 8 64179 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 9 52804 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 46195 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-58.EL) 11 44848 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 12 44386 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 13 42109 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.ELsmp) 14 38338 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 15 36837 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 16 36669 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 17 36303 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 18 35516 EPLUS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV (VM/SP 3.0) 19 34582 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 20 34474 MEDPROS-L@DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.10)