[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – October 2006


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 (OCT06, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     571828  LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8)
  2     551046  EMAIL.EBGAMES.COM (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3     525948  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
  4     438088  LISTSERV.FOXNEWS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  5     422473  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp)
  6     415035  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29)
  7     361106  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  8     341618  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  9     335247  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003)
 10     331988  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server)
 11     325016  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
 12     306200  MAILER.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13     284061  EMA3LSV01.CNN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 14     256703  DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9)
 15     242512  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16     239012  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8)
 17     229312  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3)
 18     222958  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
 19     221484  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20     216049  LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (31 Oct 2006)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     3787966  LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8)
  2     2091260  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp)
  3     1922845  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  4     1558720  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  5     1202129  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  6     1031063  LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7      953762  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp)
  8      878731  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3)
  9      840937  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 3.0)
 10      814711  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
 11      796614  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 12      769759  GUAVA.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
 13      752450  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec)
 14      752166  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
 15      731437  PUBLISHER.SSRN.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16      714685  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17      703369  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 18      674469  LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
 19      627032  LISTSERV.VERSUS.COM (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 20      618123  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (31 Oct 2006)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 47605  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Solaris 2.8)
  2 24895  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3 19335  CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  4 18923  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.4.21-47.ELsmp)
  5  9411  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec)
  6  7508  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3)
  7  6469  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
  8  6097  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Solaris 2.8)
  9  5997  TECHUNIX.TECHNION.AC.IL (Solaris 2.9)
 10  5646  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 11  5181  MARIST (VM/SP 1.0)
 12  5089  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 13  4715  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Solaris 2.7)
 14  4708  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 15  4587  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp)
 16  4416  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 17  3984  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 18  3931  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows 2000 Advanced Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
 19  3045  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 20  2879  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (OCT06, 1-31)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     575806  LS.TIMEINC.NET (Solaris 2.8)
  2     506718  PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
  3     412921  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-40.ELsmp)
  4     409786  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.4.29)
  5     364002  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  6     363156  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows 2000 Server + LSMTP V1.1b)
  7     334871  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
  8     321705  HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows Server 2003)
  9     318782  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2003)
 10     290916  APPLE.EASE.LSOFT.COM (Windows 2000 Server)
 11     259500  DTIC.MIL (Solaris 2.9)
 12     239755  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 13     233203  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Solaris 2.8)
 14     224506  LISTS.UFL.EDU (AIX 5.3)
 15     216049  LISTS.CAMPMOR.COM (Windows NT 4.0 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 16     215966  LISTS.AIESEC.NET (Linux 2.6.8-2-686)
 17     215936  LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 18     205889  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-22.ELsmp)
 19     201391  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
 20     180688  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (31 Oct 2006)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      376781  SSA_ENEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  2      139492  SOCIALSECURITY_W2NEWS@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  3      122840  POSTMITA@LISTSERV.NIC.IT (Solaris 2.9)
  4      104050  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.11.4-21.12-smp)
  5       80093  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
  6       79818  TEMPLETODAY@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-20.ELsmp)
  7       67626  FEDINFO@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  8       65102  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
  9       63188  CARE2@MILEPOST1.COM (Linux 2.4.20-31.9smp)
 10       59103  EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
 11       53051  L-ADMISSIONS-WIRE-A@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 12       52908  VTNETLETTER@LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.ELsmp)
 13       52812  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
 14       51870  ARTINFO-L@LISTSERV.DFN.DE (Solaris 2.9)
 15       48069  ALUMNI@LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.4.27-grsec)
 16       44149  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
 17       44093  ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)
 18       42470  L-SMEALZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 19       41859  L-LAZINE@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 4.3)
 20       40062  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.9)