[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – September 2014


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 (SEP14, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     784559  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     621564  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     364549  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     359274  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     349371  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  6     341879  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     332919  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  8     329363  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  9     324746  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     319293  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     291096  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 12     279003  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13     248970  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 14     232277  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 15     231381  NEWSMAIL.WYANOKEGROUP.COM (Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16     226190  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 17     216226  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5)
 18     213216  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64)
 19     211936  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20     209945  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (29 Sep 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     4676475  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  2     4460937  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     1640146  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  4     1490434  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     1415762  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
  6     1373515  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     1367033  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  8     1326973  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  9     1207079  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 11     1022424  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12      998326  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
 13      953192  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14      920581  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 15      846428  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 16      803287  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 17      793050  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.82)
 18      751295  LISTS.ASU.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19      721956  LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 20      654943  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (29 Sep 2014)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 41529  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  2 34208  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 31509  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
  4 13092  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5 11735  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
  6  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  7  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  8  8328  LISTSERV.CC.KULEUVEN.AC.BE (Linux 2.6.18)
  9  7159  HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6899  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
 11  6290  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 12  6225  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5882  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 14  5711  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 15  4919  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.18)
 16  4849  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Solaris 2.9)
 17  4259  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18  3909  LISTSERV.ND.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
 19  3711  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 20  3176  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (SEP14, 1-29)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     762581  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     616476  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3     362405  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  4     351462  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  5     345120  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
  6     338424  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
  7     332306  LISTSERV.MED.CORNELL.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
  8     320764  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  9     312817  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     290406  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-358.2.1.el6.x86_64)
 11     288286  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 12     276240  H-NET.MSU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13     232085  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 2.6.18)
 14     224463  LISTSERV.VT.EDU (Linux 2.6.9)
 15     216997  LISTSERV.UMD.EDU (SunOS 5.10)
 16     215938  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.18-348.16.1.el5)
 17     212595  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.el6.x86_64)
 18     209997  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 19     203656  LISTSERV.DARTMOUTH.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20     202808  LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-431.20.5.el6.x86_64)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (29 Sep 2014)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      280714  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)
  2      110480  COMNET@HERMES.GWU.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  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       66551  HEALTH_FUNDING@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  7       63056  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  8       62026  PND-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
  9       59707  GLOBAL-LINKS@LISTSERV.ELCA.ORG (Windows Server 2003 + LSMTP V1.1b)
 10       52803  FDNCENTER-L@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 11       50072  FOLKWAYS@SI-LISTSERV.SI.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       49379  ESCRIU-ME@LISTSERV.UV.ES (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       44053  JOB-ALERT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 14       40259  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (AIX 7.1)
 15       38047  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Enterprise Server 2003)
 16       37250  CONNECT@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 17       36702  WORLDWIDEWORDS@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG (Linux 3.0.101)
 18       35744  FC-NYLIB@LISTS.FDNCENTER.ORG (Solaris 2.10)
 19       34586  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2003)
 20       33968  ASMSU@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.0.34)