[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – June 1996


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 (JUN96)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    1399757  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2     321940  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  3     316767  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  4     281980  MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  5     217325  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  6     193381  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
  7     188270  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
  8     186560  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  9     176649  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 10     169504  LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU (Ultrix 4.2)
 11     142735  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 12     132523  OBSLAVE.UCS.INDIANA.EDU (HP-UX A.09.05)
 13     129058  UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 14     125454  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.5)
 15     122091  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 16     118208  HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17     108122  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5)
 18     102855  LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 19     101660  LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 20     101177  LISTMAIL.SUNET.SE (BSD/OS 2.0 + LSMTP V1.0a)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JUN96)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     354411  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  2     351494  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  3     349752  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4     341349  SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7)
  5     288942  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
  6     241926  MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  7     226364  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  8     202779  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
  9     189075  BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1)
 10     180072  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 11     179316  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
 12     164173  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 13     155104  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 14     145361  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 15     141614  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 16     139536  UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17     136304  IUBVM (VM/SP 7)
 18     122301  TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 19     112173  CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
 20     105370  LISTSERV.KENT.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (29 Jun 1996)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1   920  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)
  2   851  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  3   796  LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4   644  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  5   566  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
  6   464  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 3.2.5)
  7   459  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
  8   404  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
  9   396  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 10   391  ULIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.4)
 11   388  IRISHVMA (VM/ESA 1.1)
 12   386  HEARN (VM/ESA 2.2)
 13   385  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 14   359  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 15   354  EMUVM1 (VM/ESA 1.1)
 16   354  ULKYVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17   352  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 18   341  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.1)
 19   339  LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 3.51)
 20   323  NERVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JUN96, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     363198  UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  2     359178  PSUVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
  3     354678  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4     345457  SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (VM/SP 7)
  5     293181  MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
  6     242719  MAIL.EWORLD.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  7     230839  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  8     205531  AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4)
  9     194671  BROWNVM (VM/ESA 1.1)
 10     190239  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Solaris 2.4)
 11     184492  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 12     166913  UGA (VM/ESA 2.2)
 13     158051  TAMVM1.TAMU.EDU (VM/HPO 6.0)
 14     148346  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 15     144356  MSU.EDU (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 16     143100  UAFSYSB.UARK.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
 17     140058  IUBVM (VM/SP 7)
 18     125355  TREARN (VM/XA SP 2.1)
 19     113446  CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)
 20     105701  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.1)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (29 Jun 1996)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      454286  DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  2      107320  SHAREWARE-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  3       72732  IN-TOUCH@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  4       44481  MS-WINDOWS95-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  5       41758  TECHLINK@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  6       38246  TIDBITS@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2)
  7       33578  TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
  8       32132  PC-GAMES-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
  9       28465  MS-WINDOWS3X-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 10       28124  SCOUT-REPORT@LISTS.INTERNIC.NET (SunOS 4.1.4)
 11       27342  MS-WINDOWS95-TOP@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 12       21652  MS-WINDOWS-ALL--NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 13       18492  NEW-LIST@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 14       18297  MS-WINDOWS3X-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 15       17682  DOS-NEW@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 16       15374  NETGIR-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 17       14817  ONLINE-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.0a)
 18       14197  OMRI-L@UBVM (VM/ESA 2.2)
 19       13387  MAC_ED-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX A.09.04)
 20       13280  TESL-L@CUNYVM (VM/ESA 2.1.0)