[LISTSERV - the mailing list management classic]

LISTSERV Top 20 statistics – March 2019


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 (MAR19, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     883397  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     545264  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     423963  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     306791  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     281590  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  6     274590  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
  7     243912  DIGITAL.ANNEXBUSINESSMEDIA.COM (Linux 3.13.0-32-generic)
  8     233149  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     231480  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 10     227940  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11     218297  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 12     217604  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     213523  LISTSERV.ACM.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 14     204251  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 15     171116  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 16     169276  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64)
 17     164414  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 18     163578  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 19     157727  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64)
 20     157497  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)

Top 20 sites by number of subscribers (28 Mar 2019)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1     5058281  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  2     3785459  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  3     2179436  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
  4     1424795  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5     1396951  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6     1375212  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7     1298766  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  8     1282581  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  9     1119492  LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     1059036  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11      982099  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12      944029  LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 13      840018  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 14      829918  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 15      820998  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16      818258  CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU (VM/SP 4.0)
 17      815048  LISTSERV.UA.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 18      810979  LISTSERV.ECU.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 19      803737  LISTSERV.UH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
 20      758967  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)

Top 20 sites by number of lists (28 Mar 2019)

Pos Lists  Site
--- -----  ----
  1 27338  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  2 16943  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  3 14284  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  4 13567  LISTSERV.TAU.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.9)
  5  9788  LISTS.CLEMSON.EDU (Linux 2.6.18)
  6  9599  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  7  8079  LISTSERV.TECHNION.AC.IL (Linux 2.6.32)
  8  7622  MARIST (VM/SP 2.0)
  9  7001  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
 10  6673  LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 11  5758  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12  5467  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 13  5097  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 14  4518  LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 15  4432  LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 16  4372  LISTSERV.UTORONTO.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
 17  3988  LISTS.QUEENSU.CA (Solaris 2.10)
 18  3978  LISTSERV.MILLERSVILLE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 19  3922  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 20  3747  YORKU.CA (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 sites by volume generated daily (MAR19, 1-28)

Pos Recipients  Site
--- ----------  ----
  1     853657  JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  2     543927  LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
  3     419104  LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
  4     294099  LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK (Linux 2.6.32)
  5     281379  LISTES.ULAVAL.CA (Linux 3.10.0)
  6     274355  DISCUSSIONS.EQ.EDU.AU (Linux 2.6.18-404.el5)
  7     228462  LSV.UKY.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  8     227788  LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  9     226049  LISTS.UFL.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 10     213356  LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU (Solaris 2.11)
 11     203707  LIST.ETSI.ORG (Windows Server 2016 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 12     176514  LISTSERV.SYR.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 13     168372  LISTSERV.REDIRIS.ES (Linux 2.6.32-504.3.3.el6.x86_64)
 14     167841  LISTS.HAWAII.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64)
 15     162784  LIST.UVM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 16     160639  LISTSERV.ICORS.ORG (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
 17     157471  LIST.UNM.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-754.11.1.el6.x86_64)
 18     157148  LISTSERV.UIC.EDU (Linux 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86_64)
 19     154657  LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 20     150500  LISTS.UMN.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)

Top 20 lists by number of subscribers (28 Mar 2019)

Pos Subscribers  Site
--- -----------  ----
  1      300656  COMPUTING@LIST.MSU.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  2       62355  EXCEL@LISTSERV.UTA.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
  3       61790  CAREERCENTERUPDATE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
  4       54050  AMIS-CNRS-INTERNATIONAL-L@IN2P3.FR (Linux 3.10.0)
  5       44654  SAFETYNOTICE@LISTSERV.UC.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition)
  6       41763  OPSWNEWS@LISTSERV.NYSED.GOV (Linux 4.4.162)
  7       36553  CMU-BASKETBALL@LS2.CMICH.EDU (Linux 3.10.0)
  8       34587  TCUATHLETICSDIRECTOR@LISTSERV.TCU.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
  9       33601  L-SMEAL-REPORT@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 10       30835  FOCIS_GROUP@LISTS.WAYNE.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 11       29489  HALLCOLIBRARY-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 12       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 13       28918  BEDRIJVENLIJST2@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)
 14       28316  L-THON-NEWS@LISTS.PSU.EDU (AIX 6.1)
 15       27709  RECREATION@LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU (Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 Edition)
 16       27400  VOLUPDATE@LISTSERV.UTK.EDU (Solaris 2.10)
 17       27079  HINDU-D@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition)
 18       26418  PARENTS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU (Linux 3.0.101)
 19       24991  NCHPAD-NEWS@LISTSERV.UAB.EDU (Linux 2.6.32)
 20       24790  ISMA@LS.KULEUVEN.BE (Linux 2.6.32)