![[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 694982 XB1.BOOKSAMILLION.COM (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5xen) 2 565651 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 510683 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 4 432912 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 430193 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 6 388693 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 7 385966 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 8 328507 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 9 300501 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 269819 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 268033 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 12 257596 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 249265 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 247637 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 15 245683 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 16 243328 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 17 234198 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 18 218264 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 19 209964 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 20 207971 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3314083 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 2 3310054 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 1318723 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 4 1250511 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1180910 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 1150006 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 8 1096053 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 9 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 10 1049372 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 11 1028606 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 12 948233 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 13 915214 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 14 888119 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 880404 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 16 873730 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 17 872893 LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 869912 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 19 829150 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 20 801293 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 32283 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 2 29712 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 3 22695 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 12015 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.29.ELsmp) 6 11168 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 7 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 8 9243 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5) 9 7563 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-238.1.1.el5) 10 6580 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 11 6499 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 12 6374 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 13 5961 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 14 5870 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 15 5825 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 16 5215 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 17 4824 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003) 18 4337 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9) 19 3958 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 20 3956 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 558675 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2) 2 495755 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem) 3 419223 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003) 4 412933 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 5 385352 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003) 6 372912 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.35.1.ELsmp) 7 324140 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 8 297441 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-194.11.3.el5) 9 267559 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 10 257404 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 11 243731 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 12 240863 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.12-0.7-xen) 13 239006 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 238463 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 234955 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.9) 16 234080 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-164.el5) 17 209932 LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5.xs5.5.0.51xen) 18 209385 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.33.1.ELsmp) 19 204376 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp) 20 196323 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 229836 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.27.54-0.2-default) 2 86994 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 3 74965 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 4 72327 ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 5 66551 HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 6 62026 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 7 61397 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 54198 GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 52803 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 10 52103 UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp) 11 51463 COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.16.54-0.2.12-smp) 12 50077 FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 13 46883 JAGNEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 14 44053 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 15 43649 STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 16 37250 CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10) 17 36938 SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp) 18 36638 EVENTS-NEWSLETTER-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 19 36454 DIVERSITY-NEWS-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows Server 2003 R2) 20 36286 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)