![[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 892473 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 762068 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 383895 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 4 324805 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 5 273123 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 262984 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64) 7 230242 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 229541 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.31.1.el7.x86_64) 9 205259 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 10 203616 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 193847 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 183946 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 13 179735 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 14 170676 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 15 164513 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 16 163468 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 17 162395 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 151107 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64) 19 120795 LISTS.ROCHESTER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 120750 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5084737 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 4608972 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 1777535 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 1649175 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 1325843 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 1247397 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 1069753 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 1040843 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 1023784 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 11 925597 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 12 909696 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 876268 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 853488 LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 844757 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 16 840432 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 17 825628 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 18 816571 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 19 666328 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 20 641837 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27783 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16444 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 3 14174 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 7 7628 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 8 6756 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 9 6033 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 10 5088 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 11 4992 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 12 4829 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 13 4367 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 14 4198 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 3840 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 3752 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3478 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 18 3390 LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 3366 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 2775 LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 884390 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 2 730167 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 3 380826 LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 4 317334 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 3.10.0) 5 272970 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 262079 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.36.2.el7.x86_64) 7 229286 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-1160.31.1.el7.x86_64) 8 226273 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 203198 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 192088 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 180611 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 12 177318 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 170445 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 162184 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 15 159905 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 153268 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Standard x64 Edition) 17 148809 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 3.10.0-1062.9.1.el7.x86_64) 18 117584 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 19 117452 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 20 111676 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 59192 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 2 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 3 41911 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2019 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 41813 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 5 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 6 33984 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 31621 TAU-STU-ACADEMICSEC-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 28887 TAU-INNOVTL-ALL-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 9 28686 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 10 28286 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 11 27707 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 12 27479 TAU4U@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 13 27381 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 27348 UTENNSRP@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 15 26421 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 24992 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 17 24556 ECF-MIWD@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 3.10.0) 18 24288 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 22770 STUDENT-TRAVEL-SURVEY-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 21994 PRESIDENT-WELCOME@LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)