![[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 945415 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 659779 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 409838 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 235467 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 5 233473 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 6 226222 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 7 223055 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 8 218929 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 9 216361 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 10 213211 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 209914 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 196243 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 191786 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 184567 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.17.1.el6.x86_64) 15 182766 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 177150 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 169145 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 158369 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 19 145794 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 137239 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5240300 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3849486 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2226848 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1478469 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1387437 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1379256 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 1302751 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1238554 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 982099 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 855418 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 855320 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 843848 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 795988 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 791377 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 782949 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 20 707537 LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27383 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16677 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14093 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 11375 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7918 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 7106 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6695 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5983 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5059 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4633 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 16 4263 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4019 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3998 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 19 3996 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3532 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 944025 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 632428 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 405507 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 233233 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 5 226095 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 218711 LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64) 7 215191 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 8 213722 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 9 207504 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 207404 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 191357 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 183557 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.17.1.el6.x86_64) 13 181831 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 176584 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 164207 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 158080 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 17 156161 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 145653 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 19 134946 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 118930 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 61481 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 43325 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 6 36541 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33603 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28313 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 28025 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 15 27399 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 26419 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 17 25008 2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 24992 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 24766 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24482 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)