[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – March 2016


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 (MAR16, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     851316  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     509323  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     346973  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  4     310419  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     309867  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  6     309320  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     299755  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  8     281564  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  9     276017  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 10     273188  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     272527  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 12     263232  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-44-pve)
 13     247936  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 14     243093  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     235278  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 16     231325  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     222454  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 18     207481  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64)
 19     203947  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 20     195790  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Mar 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4828617  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     4090297  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1721145  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1580293  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1413370  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6     1333463  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  7     1225947  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     1181697  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     1025965  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 11      991599  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12      973381  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 13      906030  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 14      894550  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 15      889621  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 16      811074  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      765144  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19      710375  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20      672129  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Mar 2016)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 33845  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2 28469  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3 13937  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  4 12914  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  6986  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6845  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  9  6710  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6368  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 11  6184  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12  5713  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  5337  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 14  4305  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15  4021  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  3873  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17  3425  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 18  3402  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3390  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)
 20  3353  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (MAR16, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     826916  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     503677  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     342116  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  4     308876  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  5     306974  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  6     302252  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     280842  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  8     272304  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  9     253156  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 10     238523  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     237236  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 12     232591  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     231405  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 14     221979  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 15     206651  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-573.3.1.el6.x86_64)
 16     201956  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17     193859  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 18     174746  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 19     174074  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 20     172705  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Mar 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300747  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2      299895  NYSTEACHING@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  3       77228  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4       62673  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  5       54457  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3)
  6       41620  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       41173  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  8       34952  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  9       34588  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 10       33622  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 11       33588  EDREV@LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 12       30848  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 13       30813  L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 14       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 15       28279  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 16       28213  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17       27724  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18       27426  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 19       26413  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 20       26118  CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)