![[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]](/images/HDR-LISTSERV-sm.gif)
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).
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).
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 3894986 PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 756572 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 745955 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 722181 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 696416 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 553715 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 523475 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 8 515681 SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 467487 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 10 389105 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 11 364230 LISTSERV.GMD.DE (OpenVMS V7.1-1H2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 349315 MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 13 270613 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 269973 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 266143 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 16 244101 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 240009 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 238341 LISTSERV-MAIL.SURFNET.NL (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 228419 DIST.LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 20 220715 LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 5809456 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 4952660 EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 3 3162069 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 4 3069224 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 5 1948527 ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 1357679 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 610663 MM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 8 595704 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 9 457267 LISTSERV.MSN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 450977 LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 431986 LISTSERV.OFFICEMAX.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 12 402508 LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 13 327165 MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 14 272596 PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 249008 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 16 218733 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 193258 ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2) 18 191796 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 19 157277 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 156426 LISTS.DISCOVERY.COM (IRIX 6.2)
Pos Lists Site --- ----- ---- 1 7491 CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 2 4781 LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 2664 LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3) 4 2405 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 5 2174 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 6 1873 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 7 1768 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 1630 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 9 1590 LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 10 1281 LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 1181 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 12 1157 LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2) 13 1144 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 14 1107 UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (VM/ESA 2.1.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 1057 CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2) 16 1042 LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.5.1) 17 1013 LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6) 18 947 LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 19 934 VM.SC.EDU (VM/ESA 2) 20 871 LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 4.2)
Pos Recipients Site --- ---------- ---- 1 993446 HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 2 983187 PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 960016 MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 863356 DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 728222 LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 6 712208 APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 7 616550 LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6) 8 600996 NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36) 9 574610 MITVMA (VM/ESA 2.2.0) 10 422493 LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 408340 LISTS.PSU.EDU (VM/ESA 2.2) 12 323302 H-NET.MSU.EDU (AIX 4.1) 13 319765 LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.2) 14 317653 LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 15 315294 LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 16 264921 DISCUSS.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 17 257184 LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 3.51 + LSMTP V1.1a) 18 253879 ETO.UNTPDC.ORG (IRIX 6.2 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 240775 AMERICAN.EDU (AIX 3.2.4) 20 238076 GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
Pos Subscribers Site --- ----------- ---- 1 245113 EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 2 233827 EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 3 155326 DIETCITY-AOL@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 4 150073 JAVASCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 5 119837 DIETCITY@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 6 99520 SUBSCRIBERS-JAVASCRIPTS-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 7 95830 DEVELOPER-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 8 94571 SYMPOSIUM-WEBCAST@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 9 87569 MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 10 84982 SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 11 76342 CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6) 12 72921 BVDAILYNOTE@MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 13 71463 BVNEWSLETTER@MAILSERV.DIGITALCITY.COM (Solaris 2.5.1) 14 68695 NETGUIDE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 15 66616 ABOUTWORKNEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 16 61886 ADVISOR@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b) 17 56350 TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b) 18 54623 SEARCH-ENGINE-REPORT@LISTSERV.INTERNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 19 54268 MW-WOD@LISTSERV.WEBSTER.M-W.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a) 20 45947 DATAMATION-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
