![[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 929742 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 397642 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 386095 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 312635 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 5 290486 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 6 249036 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 248029 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 227806 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 223278 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 220296 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 11 217537 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 208066 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 195841 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 14 191249 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.10.1.el6.x86_64) 15 187613 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 16 168041 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 17 166089 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 18 163379 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 19 163331 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 20 162320 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5061893 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3787521 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2159982 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1407259 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 1390352 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 1373810 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 1299530 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 8 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 9 1135104 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 832778 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 823529 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 15 822146 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 814258 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 810977 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 19 793971 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 20 763456 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27339 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16934 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14284 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13542 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 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 7622 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 6995 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6666 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 5744 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5098 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4507 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4428 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 17 3983 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 18 3974 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3921 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3741 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 898283 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 396257 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 381156 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 298203 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 5 290227 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 6 248330 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 247815 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 224762 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 9 218118 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 10 202715 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 188737 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.10.1.el6.x86_64) 12 185450 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 167681 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 14 164522 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 15 163826 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 160729 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 17 160458 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 160025 LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 159428 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 151035 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62355 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 61860 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 4 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 5 44534 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162) 7 36554 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 8 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 9 33601 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 10 30835 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 11 29608 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 28316 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27710 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27400 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 24991 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24790 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)