[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – January 2013


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 (JAN13, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     800730  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     511096  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3     479255  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  4     393790  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  5     384455  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     337587  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5)
  7     325220  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  8     307030  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5)
  9     292268  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 10     259124  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 11     242700  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 12     235146  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
 13     228289  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 14     227889  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 15     220953  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
 16     192304  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5PAE)
 17     186672  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 18     185619  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
 19     178370  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default)
 20     172290  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (30 Jan 2013)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     3584402  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  2     3407977  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
  3     1352998  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5)
  4     1320746  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  5     1206519  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  6     1190865  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
  7     1137847  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.1.1.el5)
  8     1126543  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
  9     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5)
 10      987799  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 11      967071  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
 12      958117  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default)
 13      954397  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 14      903319  LISTSERV.KSU.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 15      879104  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default)
 16      857164  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
 17      798208  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
 18      755238  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
 19      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
 20      721956  LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (30 Jan 2013)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 38661  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 28018  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3 24128  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
  4 12504  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-89.0.25.ELsmp)
  5 12322  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
  6  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
  7  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5)
  8  7989  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18-238.9.1.el5)
  9  7849  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18-308.el5)
 10  6713  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
 11  6712  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12  6317  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default)
 13  5765  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 14  5632  LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU (Solaris 2.9)
 15  5540  LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 16  5394  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5)
 17  4637  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 18  4217  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
 19  4014  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20  3963  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (JAN13, 1-30)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     781569  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     505497  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 5.2)
  3     465586  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem)
  4     377034  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  5     373940  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     329195  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5)
  7     321545  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  8     301055  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.4.1.el5)
  9     288827  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 10     233581  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 11     233362  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
 12     232961  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 13     227618  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 14     227207  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 15     206165  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.8.1.el5xen)
 16     191717  PO.MISSOURI.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-308.24.1.el5PAE)
 17     185336  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 18     184304  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-103.ELsmp)
 19     174214  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.13-0.27-default)
 20     168263  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (30 Jan 2013)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      248220  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32.59-0.3-default)
  2       91987  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64)
  3       86994  EDUCATION_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  4       74965  RFP-BULLETIN@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  5       72327  ARTS_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  6       69505  STUDENT-AT-TENNESSEE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  7       66551  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  8       64911  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
  9       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 10       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 11       50073  FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12       47088  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13       44582  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686)
 14       44572  UICNEWS@LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp)
 15       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 16       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 17       36927  SKILLPORT-UHMAIN-STUDENTS@LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 2.4.21-47.0.1.ELsmp)
 18       36007  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 19       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 20       35623  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.34-0.7-default)