[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – July 2015


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 (JUL15, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     779442  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     446477  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  3     307948  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     268873  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     268871  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  6     260662  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  7     210905  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-39-pve)
  8     199662  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
  9     198028  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     195630  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     193340  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 12     187255  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 13     178442  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 14     174209  AOPAMAILER.AOPA2.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     160784  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 16     160694  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17     159273  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18     157206  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 19     143792  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 20     141566  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Jul 2015)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4488270  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3478075  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1569517  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1514168  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  5     1464897  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6     1375117  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     1321332  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  8     1207079  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
  9     1085671  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     1010210  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12      926580  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 13      872104  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 14      846997  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 15      776734  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 16      771547  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 18      741785  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 19      739731  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20      721956  LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Jul 2015)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 56612  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 25262  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3 13623  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4 12987  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7  8328  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
  8  7236  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9  6592  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6533  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 11  6134  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18)
 12  6087  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  6062  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  5943  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 15  5007  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 16  4216  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17  3982  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 18  3890  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 19  3844  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3366  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JUL15, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     758416  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     302997  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     264818  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  4     262912  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     260118  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  6     196251  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
  7     193619  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     192921  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     185044  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 10     173279  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     168356  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 12     157746  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 13     157078  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 14     143165  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15     138602  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     135925  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17     130266  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 18     120629  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19     118520  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 20     106779  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Jul 2015)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      299521  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2      299281  NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  3      109672  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4       86994  EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  5       80288  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6       74965  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  7       72327  ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  8       66551  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  9       62735  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 10       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 11       59551  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 13       50127  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 15       40830  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
 16       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 17       36668  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101)
 18       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 19       34586  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 20       33875  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)