[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – March 2017


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 (MAR17, 1-27)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     878420  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     453483  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     405012  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     292649  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  5     283922  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     282678  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     273734  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.40-1-pve)
  8     251357  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     249458  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     235916  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 11     226664  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 12     209248  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 13     202115  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 14     199445  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 15     191257  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
 16     190966  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     187099  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64)
 18     182618  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19     169541  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 20     168092  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (27 Mar 2017)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4952735  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3644220  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1742711  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1725421  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1445037  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6     1322763  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     1272926  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  8     1210897  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  9     1089010  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     1053783  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 12      988654  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 13      936849  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14      915999  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 15      902222  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 16      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      799955  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 18      785132  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 19      779205  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20      757326  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (27 Mar 2017)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 26791  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2 19150  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 14068  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  4 12295  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  7519  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  7424  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  9  6845  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 10  6602  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 11  6480  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 12  5877  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5719  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14  5468  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4335  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16  4007  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 17  3884  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 18  3835  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3714  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3560  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (MAR17, 1-27)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     850790  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     447937  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     403533  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     288358  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  5     279820  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  6     272498  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     243346  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     235488  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     226382  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     207505  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     207495  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 12     199256  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 13     185980  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-642.6.2.el6.x86_64)
 14     182310  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 15     180710  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16     166316  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 17     166301  LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     165512  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19     162777  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     162218  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (27 Mar 2017)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300690  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2       62531  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3       56298  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4       54051  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (AIX 5.3)
  5       41600  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  6       37589  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       34925  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  8       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  9       34093  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10       33619  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 11       30848  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 12       29601  L-FACSTAFF-NEWSWIRE-UP@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 13       28928  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 15       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 16       28365  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 17       27715  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18       27418  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 19       26419  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 20       26106  CSTORE@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)