[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – September 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 (SEP16, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     768043  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     590535  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     512023  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     342672  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  5     327062  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  6     315334  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     295645  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  8     294822  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  9     294220  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     273589  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     273335  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 2.6.32-46-pve)
 12     263435  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 13     256284  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 14     225790  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64)
 15     225272  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16     217129  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
 17     213335  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18     208713  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19     198759  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 20     196784  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (29 Sep 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4924234  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3626861  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1777330  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  4     1720793  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1712836  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     1416515  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  7     1247828  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  8     1228283  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     1052876  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 11     1042776  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 12      967078  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13      945302  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 14      934880  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 15      850511  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 16      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      794246  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18      783105  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 19      739901  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20      711521  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (29 Sep 2016)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 26485  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2 18844  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 14069  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  4 13256  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  7276  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  7020  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  9  6845  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 10  6535  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 11  6416  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12  5659  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5512  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 14  4278  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 15  4013  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  3915  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17  3785  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 18  3656  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 19  3578  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 20  3488  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (SEP16, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     743032  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     585101  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     510224  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     337836  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  5     312205  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  6     291101  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7     288331  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     262956  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     256075  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     252704  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 11     251886  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 12     225656  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.3.1.el6.x86_64)
 13     219444  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     207992  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     206798  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16     193736  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 17     190778  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 18     178422  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 19     173323  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     162785  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (29 Sep 2016)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300713  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2       76140  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  3       62601  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  4       54051  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3)
  5       41355  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  6       39395  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       34940  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  8       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  9       33619  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 10       30848  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11       28943  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       28352  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 15       28253  L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 16       27719  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 17       27419  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 18       26420  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 19       26110  CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 20       24989  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)