[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – October 2019


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 (OCT19, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     813335  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     654581  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     460576  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     350212  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     301884  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     252842  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  7     236949  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  8     228620  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
  9     223885  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     213629  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64)
 11     211863  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.23.1.el6.x86_64)
 12     206006  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 13     203949  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 14     202719  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 15     201545  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16     196517  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     182311  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 18     181084  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 19     179059  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
 20     158771  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Oct 2019)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5050873  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3874575  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     2203224  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1421759  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1353501  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  6     1302942  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  7     1282581  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  8     1270247  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  9     1234091  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11      982099  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12      944029  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      847854  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 14      847809  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 15      842669  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      812928  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18      798412  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19      779231  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)
 20      737514  LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Oct 2019)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 27563  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16686  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 11568  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  4 10216  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7  8333  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  8  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  9  7199  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6700  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 11  6054  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  5467  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5052  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  4748  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4372  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 16  4190  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 17  4041  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18  4026  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3998  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 20  3539  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (OCT19, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     783873  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     653804  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     456180  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     349415  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     293477  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  6     252734  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  7     219238  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     213396  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.12.1.el6.x86_64)
  9     210463  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.23.1.el6.x86_64)
 10     200144  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     199852  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 12     198952  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13     197809  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 14     193632  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     180841  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     178899  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 3.10.0-957.12.2.el7.x86_64)
 17     178143  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18     152678  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 19     147531  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20     134017  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 4.12.14)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Oct 2019)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300656  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  2       55104  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  3       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  4       43384  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5       41763  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.12.14)
  6       36535  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  7       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  8       33600  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  9       30835  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28311  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 13       27854  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       27709  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2016 Standard x64 Edition)
 15       27399  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 16       26419  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 17       25008  2019-STEM-EVENT-L@LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows Server 2012 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 18       24992  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 19       24765  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 20       24464  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)