[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – April 2003


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 (APR03, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    5617735  LISTSERV.BELIEFNET.COM (Windows 2000 Professional + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2    2345644  PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3    1482138  LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4     742723  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     536006  RLY1.YOUWINMAIL.COM (Windows NT 5.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     511843  OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0)
  7     510943  BART.EASYWINNING.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8     506565  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9     483149  MAILER.INFORMIT.COM (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10     444214  LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 11     415477  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
 12     411866  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13     347294  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 14     307534  LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15     300866  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 16     278107  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     268045  LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7)
 18     242710  DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.8)
 19     242198  MAIL.ABANET.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20     236723  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Apr 2003)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     6445542  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     3067161  EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     2582201  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
  4     2020824  DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     1912377  LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     1496751  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     1120141  GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8     1034117  ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9     1030493  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 10      876903  LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1)
 11      864413  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 12      731437  PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13      656622  LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8)
 14      584736  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 15      580566  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 16      550695  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 17      547522  ACM.ORG (AIX 4.3)
 18      489112  LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19      476185  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 20      473345  LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Apr 2003)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 11458  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  2  9336  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
  3  5649  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.18-14smp)
  4  5437  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  5  4849  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  6  4285  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7  4154  TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
  8  3965  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  9  3894  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 10  3811  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 11  3586  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12  3495  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 13  3456  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14  3166  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 15  2616  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7)
 16  2435  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.18-bf2.4)
 17  2352  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18  2098  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp)
 19  2074  LISTSERV.UNL.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-17.7.xsmp)
 20  1844  LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (OSF/1 V4.0f)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (APR03, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     977303  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     733713  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     523837  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4     511868  OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 4.0)
  5     508211  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  6     494354  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     362087  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
  8     354798  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  9     336297  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
 10     320405  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.20)
 11     320092  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12     284373  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.7-10smp + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13     279935  DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.8)
 14     251269  LISTSERV.ICTNET.ES (SunOS 5.7)
 15     248209  LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1)
 16     240293  MAIL.ABANET.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     239287  LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.4.20)
 18     226813  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19     213549  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20     204523  MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Apr 2003)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      472934  MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2      282485  GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3      249660  SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8)
  4      222483  EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5      178297  EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6      159267  CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6)
  7      142542  CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8      124855  MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9      116874  WINCDR@LISTSERV.ADAPTEC.COM (Windows NT Server 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10      111227  BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 11      106909  OLISPLITALERTS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12       84803  TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13       83195  SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14       79086  VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 15       65161  THEONLINEINVESTOR@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.11.11 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16       61855  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8)
 17       58011  PLIMAIL@LISTSERV.PLI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18       56190  ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19       53694  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8)
 20       46483  GOURMET-ECLUB@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)