There are many alternatives, of which a few have already been
mentioned.  Others include:

INDEX distribution

NOMAIL option (and use the WEB interface to SEARCH for recent postings)

Daily Thresholds (total, and per subscriber)

REPLY-TO set to default to SENDER and not the list

List etiquette ("please no 'me toos'," nor survey responses sent to list
(but to requestor))

No attachments

SIZELIM (250 lines seems appropriate on many lists)

Judicious use of quoting in the REPLY back to the list (may just the
SUBJECT: RE: topic:)

FYI, there is an off-list facility called QuickTopic which might be useful

http://www.quicktopic.com/intro.cgi?detail=1
http://www.quicktopic.com/faq.html

Pete