[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – February 2018


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 (FEB18, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     844365  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     700343  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     499940  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     313753  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     309655  LSERV.CARDSYS.AT (Linux 4.4.98-5-pve)
  6     266518  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7     260573  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  8     258733  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     257594  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     257221  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     245021  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 12     228614  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 13     220819  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 14     214974  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
 15     213337  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16     204032  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 17     198391  LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     197647  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 19     193623  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.16.1.el6.x86_64)
 20     184018  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (28 Feb 2018)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5292619  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3639778  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  3     1964333  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1568319  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1417191  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     1348993  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     1348520  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  8     1338133  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  9     1224165  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     1041547  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 12      997834  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13      944029  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 14      819993  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 16      812761  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17      780768  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18      766370  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 19      743699  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 20      733995  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (28 Feb 2018)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 27038  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2 16863  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 14050  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4 13323  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  7938  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  6995  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  9  6816  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 10  6594  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 11  6289  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  5716  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5483  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14  5264  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4403  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16  4333  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 17  4109  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 18  3879  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 19  3752  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20  3576  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (FEB18, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     815095  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     698943  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     495085  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     300011  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     263706  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     257044  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  7     255787  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
  8     251904  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     226170  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     222189  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     220623  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
 12     219120  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     208204  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     201048  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 15     198334  LISTS.UCDENVER.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     192211  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-696.16.1.el6.x86_64)
 17     183454  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18     174697  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19     171247  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     168646  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (28 Feb 2018)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300656  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  2       62441  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  4       41755  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
  5       39091  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  6       38348  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  7       35788  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  8       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  9       33611  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 10       30848  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       28908  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       28339  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 15       27710  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16       27413  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17       26419  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 18       24990  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19       23786  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 20       23329  ECF-EDNY@NYED.USCOURTS.GOV (Linux 2.6.32)