![[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 1668725 LSRV01.PRETNEUCK.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 818331 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.3-1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 724417 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 526786 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 458489 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 427016 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 417615 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 8 374403 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 373134 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 352181 LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 287726 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 283877 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.4.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 276631 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 14 267090 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 256065 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 16 245314 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 17 223041 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 197170 LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.8) 19 194690 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 188743 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3699445 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 2062046 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.8smp) 3 1485756 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 4 1209139 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1118564 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 7 1083991 LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.12-0.1) 8 1052020 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 9 1034117 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 940583 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 11 932141 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 724470 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 14 719175 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.4.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 700892 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 652520 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 17 629975 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 18 610538 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 19 585958 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 20 552270 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 28999 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 22518 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.20-29.8.8smp) 3 21740 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 5 9918 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 6 8266 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 7 6404 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.3) 8 5785 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 9 5308 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 10 5112 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 4755 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.4.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 4352 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 13 4272 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 14 4255 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 15 4062 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 16 3879 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 17 3749 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 18 3507 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 3418 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 2508 LISTS.VCU.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-5)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 748848 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 526824 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows NT 5.2 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 421195 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 408700 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 382080 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 357557 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 343219 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 8 287849 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 9 285933 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 279825 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 11 267785 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-27.0.4.ELsmp + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 238983 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 13 216508 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 193055 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 189959 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 169960 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 161560 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-27.7.xsmp) 18 153222 LISTSERV.ACOR.ORG (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 147415 BAMA.UA.EDU (Solaris 2.9 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 143810 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 346264 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 2 282485 GARTNER_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 160651 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 4 142542 CTWFAMILYNEWSLETTER-L@GROVER.CTWONLINE.COM (Solaris 2.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 124855 MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 123567 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 7 122843 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 8 111227 BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT Workstation 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 80975 CL-ANNOUNCE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.5-7.151-smp) 10 76087 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 11 72803 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 12 65180 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 13 62317 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 14 59373 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 15 58834 L-PSU-TRAVEL-PROGRAM@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 16 58359 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 17 57907 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 5.1) 18 56190 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 52822 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.8) 20 39797 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec)