![[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 821704 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 625164 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 436024 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 389680 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 337312 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 322165 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 7 257809 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 8 224239 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 220471 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 10 216159 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64) 11 203422 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 199657 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 13 192221 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.23.1.el6.x86_64) 14 177548 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 168715 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 167448 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 162511 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 18 156413 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 19 151538 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 20 136301 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5040880 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 2 3966638 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 3 2229614 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 4 1432099 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 5 1373349 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 6 1303957 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 7 1282581 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 8 1235919 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 9 1143286 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 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 851013 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 14 849522 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 15 842856 LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 16 818258 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0) 17 813137 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 798133 LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 19 778159 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 20 736589 LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 27602 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 2 16713 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 3 11984 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9) 4 9788 LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18) 5 9649 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 6 9599 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 7 8344 MARIST (VM/SP 2.0) 8 8079 LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32) 9 7210 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 10 6702 LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition) 11 6071 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 12 5467 LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 13 5050 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 14 4789 LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32) 15 4372 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 16 4185 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 17 4041 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 18 4026 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 19 3998 LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 20 3548 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 790947 JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 2 624726 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101) 3 432036 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 4 388810 LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 337154 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0) 6 312969 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32) 7 219459 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 8 215970 DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64) 9 215584 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 10 203341 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition) 11 200277 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 12 196930 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64) 13 189937 LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.23.1.el6.x86_64) 14 175558 LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 15 168529 LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 16 159242 LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition) 17 151616 LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14) 18 151231 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64) 19 133450 LISTSERV.AAP.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 20 128213 LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 300656 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 2 59430 CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32) 3 54050 AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0) 4 43481 SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition) 5 41763 OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14) 6 37567 CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0) 7 34587 TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition) 8 33600 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 28311 L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1) 13 28002 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 24455 EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)