[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – February 2000


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 (FEB00, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    3587305  PLUM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (OpenVMS V7.1-1H1 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     992051  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     746659  LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (???)
  4     670116  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     668060  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  6     510838  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     413335  MEMBERS.ALLADVANTAGE.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8     405916  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  9     387023  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2)
 10     381838  JAVA.SUN.COM (???)
 11     376358  SEGATE (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
 12     344838  LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13     317442  MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14     314369  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.12)
 15     244840  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16     228351  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17     223263  LISTSERV.COMPUTERWORLD.COM (???)
 18     217836  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.7 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19     211931  ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20     209496  NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (29 Feb 2000)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4325504  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2     3946159  LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     3067191  EMAIL.ZDLISTS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4     2868839  GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     2020245  DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6     1689570  ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     1333683  LISTSERV.OFFICEMAX.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  8     1305086  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  9     1008014  LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10      882358  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 11      763634  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 12      629043  EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 13      610635  MM.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14      582534  LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15      355329  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2)
 16      338251  ACM.ORG (AIX 4.2)
 17      332346  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 18      280454  LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6)
 19      277698  LEGALMINDS.ORG (Linux 2.2.7-1.15)
 20      275932  PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (29 Feb 2000)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 14338  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  2  4993  LISTSERV.OKSTATE.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3  3292  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  4  2919  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  5  2516  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  6  2337  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7  2115  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8  2056  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2)
  9  1812  LISTS.AIESEC.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
 10  1704  TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.6)
 11  1675  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
 12  1452  CRCVMS.UNL.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2)
 13  1439  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (AIX 4.2)
 14  1438  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
 15  1416  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.0.34)
 16  1393  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17  1380  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18  1339  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19  1313  LIST.NIH.GOV (Solaris 2.6)
 20  1264  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.6)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (FEB00, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1    1169486  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  2     999938  LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     875383  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4     869103  MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU (OpenVMS V6.2-1H3 + LSMTP V1.1a)
  5     744437  LISTS.SECURITYFOCUS.COM (???)
  6     667639  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     482597  LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.6)
  8     428885  LISTSERV.WOMEN.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9     407559  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.2)
 10     400338  MITVMA.MIT.EDU (VM/ESA 2.4.0)
 11     397606  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12     394139  JAVA.SUN.COM (???)
 13     386853  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.2.12)
 14     285832  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15     272737  LIST.NEWSHOTLINE.COM (???)
 16     266782  LISTSERV.PATHFINDER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 17     260136  NETSPACE.ORG (Linux 2.0.36)
 18     253316  ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19     235636  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20     221451  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (AIX 4.3.2.01 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (29 Feb 2000)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      630808  HPJ2@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2      233582  JAVASCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3      222480  EOL-INBOX@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  4      178295  EOL-DISPATCH@DISPATCH.CNET.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5      170822  BURPEENEWS@DISPATCH.GARDEN.ORG (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  6      163537  GARTNERGROUP_INSIGHT@LISTSERV.GARTNER.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7      162804  HPJ@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8      145689  GOODIES-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9      134104  REGARDS@GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10      133271  BVTESTLIST@EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 11      132284  CLICK-IT@PEGASUS.THISCO.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 12      126636  BVNEWSLETTER@EMAIL-SERVER.COM (Solaris 2.6)
 13      126163  SECURITYUPDATE@LISTSERV.NTSECURITY.NET (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14      118242  MSN-UK-NEWS@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 15      117748  MICROSOFT_SECURITY@ANNOUNCE.MICROSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16      108622  OLISPLITALERTS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM (HP-UX B.10.20 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17      108233  SUBSCRIBERS-JAVASCRIPTS-COM@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18      107711  SCRIPTS-L@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19       88710  DEVELOPER-COM1@LISTSERV.EARTHWEB.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20       83683  SELFHELP@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1a)