![[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 661004 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 571434 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 528566 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 423785 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 413361 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 6 385436 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 7 370840 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 355463 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 9 335380 LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 313647 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 306545 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 12 304772 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 253177 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 252142 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 240469 EMAIL.EBGAMES.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 231206 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 228310 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 220687 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 19 203734 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 20 203092 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-27.7.xsmp)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 3758222 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 2 1819346 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 3 1758219 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 4 1298076 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 5 1202129 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 6 1025093 LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 995456 LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 8 966337 LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 881892 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 847669 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 11 793275 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 788220 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 13 731437 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 699195 LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 15 678570 CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0) 16 677850 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 17 658328 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 18 619016 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 585741 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 20 550859 LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 39819 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 2 22119 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 19335 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 4 18334 LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 5 8832 LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 6 6794 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 7 6313 LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8) 8 5635 TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9) 9 5582 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 10 5475 LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.8) 11 5227 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 12 4679 LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 13 4332 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 14 4316 MARIST (VM/SP 1.0) 15 4276 HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7) 16 4046 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 4034 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 18 3736 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 19 3732 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 2825 LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 645516 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 528602 OXYGEN3.PANDASOFTWARE.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 416418 LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8) 4 379385 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 373187 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 368832 LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-37.ELsmp) 7 348951 H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29) 8 337490 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 306680 LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9) 10 305282 LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 11 250092 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 237611 LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 228310 LISTES.LEMONDE.FR (SunOS 5.6 + LSMTP V1.1b) 14 225398 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 223201 DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9) 16 198896 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.4.18-27.7.xsmp) 17 196908 LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8) 18 184798 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3) 19 174239 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b) 20 169336 LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 368701 SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 2 122843 POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9) 3 119717 SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 4 89114 COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.5-7.202.7-smp) 5 80952 RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 6 78100 FIRSTGOV-L@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 7 71351 TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp) 8 65745 PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 9 65143 FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Solaris 2.8) 10 64171 CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp) 11 55078 VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.0.2.ELsmp) 12 52817 FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 13 51016 ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 14 49042 SUPER-FLUX@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9) 15 43184 QCIINT@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 42931 JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9) 17 41497 ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec) 18 35545 L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 34700 L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3) 20 34140 EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)