![[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 783880 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 319766 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 305314 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 268761 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 254449 DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic) 6 235230 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 7 208677 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 8 202146 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 9 198572 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 188467 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 11 186039 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 12 182654 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 13 180822 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 14 177724 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 15 174060 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 16 170566 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 17 169945 LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.98-6-pve) 18 160726 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 158800 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 154314 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5237731 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3600568 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 3 2081565 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1532198 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1424821 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 1376111 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 1353627 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 8 1331139 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 10 1059036 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 11 1043944 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 12 999651 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 944029 LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 15 790674 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 16 770417 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 767175 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 733880 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 699556 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 693588 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27123 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 2 15966 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 14109 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 4 13500 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 5 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 7 8041 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 8 7210 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 9 6842 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 10 6607 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 6487 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5721 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5496 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 5360 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4424 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 17 4215 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 18 3896 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10) 19 3795 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 20 3628 YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 755144 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 314656 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 291559 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 4 264767 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11) 5 229578 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 6 205431 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 7 197857 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 187185 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 9 185805 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5) 10 180780 LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 11 174662 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 12 173926 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18) 13 166931 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 160631 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 15 155702 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 16 151614 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 17 145106 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 18 139689 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.20.1.el6.x86_64) 19 139599 LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10) 20 138905 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 62427 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 41759 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1) 5 38810 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 6 35720 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33609 L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 9 30836 FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 10 29061 IONIEUWSBRIEF@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 11 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 12 28918 BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 13 28596 HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 14 28335 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 15 27709 RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 27408 VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10) 17 27229 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 26418 PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 19 24990 NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 20 24888 ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)