[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – December 2001


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).

What do these numbers mean exactly?

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).


Top 20 sites by volume delivered daily (DEC01, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    3715888  LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2    2060299  PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3    1159714  MS0.OEN0.NET (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4    1128811  CHEWBACCA5.YESMAIL.NET (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5    1082852  MS1.OEN1.NET (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     882705  LISTSERV.ELOTTONET.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     859665  MAIL1.YOUWINMAIL.COM (Windows NT 5.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8     657492  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9     498764  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10     409388  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
 11     327615  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12     315931  OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0)
 13     291535  LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14     276722  JAVA.SUN.COM (SunOS 5.8)
 15     235978  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 16     232927  MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     213646  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 18     203555  LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.4.14)
 19     194942  LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7)
 20     192051  LISTSERV.GMD.DE (???)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (31 Dec 2001)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5388398  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     4806135  GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     3067161  EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4     2020824  DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     1986496  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     1635925  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
  7     1279360  ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8     1065198  LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6)
  9      845437  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 10      728928  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 11      694789  LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1)
 12      557237  ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3)
 13      514462  PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14      473299  LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15      461722  LISTAS.STARMEDIA.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16      457436  ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17      414167  MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0)
 18      400494  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 19      392361  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 20      357745  LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (31 Dec 2001)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 14819  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  2  4577  TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
  3  3890  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  4  3433  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  5  3277  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6  3231  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  7  2994  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  8  2951  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9  2826  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 10  2456  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 11  2370  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 12  2248  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 13  2151  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.0.34)
 14  2092  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Solaris 2.7)
 15  2025  CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2)
 16  1984  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7)
 17  1958  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18  1957  LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6)
 19  1905  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 20  1808  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (DEC01, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     833085  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     651378  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     505664  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  4     479242  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     431219  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     323515  LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     315935  OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0)
  8     271795  JAVA.SUN.COM (SunOS 5.8)
  9     265133  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 10     246184  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 11     242108  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 12     234435  LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.4.14)
 13     221332  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14     213275  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.20pre11)
 15     191149  LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7)
 16     186843  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     177811  DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.8)
 18     172625  LISTS.MSTAR.NET (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19     172502  MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0)
 20     153972  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (31 Dec 2001)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      428142  HPJ2@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2      424922  FOODTV@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3      342591  MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4      282450  GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5      258250  REGARDS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6      253558  SKIMAPS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7      241519  MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8      222483  EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9      197224  SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.7)
 10      195941  HPJ@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 11      178297  EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12      160792  CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 13      133847  CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14      127227  VULNTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTSECURITY.NET (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15      124852  MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16      116874  WINCDR@LISTSERV.ADAPTEC.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17      116146  OLISPLITALERTS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18      111227  BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19      111212  STREETLIFE2@LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 20       89497  STREAMING_MEDIA@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)