If it is a short break you may be able to prime another subscriber to become a temporary list owner and keep it well fed. If it is going to be a long vacation then you should stand down and allow someone else to own it. Other duties for the list owner are preventing abuse of the system through advertising or dubious material being circulated, removing error addresses and trying to keep the discussion relevant to the topic areas of the listing. Also you may have to resolve disputes. Discrete messages can be sent individually to offenders if necessary, whilst more general reminders can be run to the entire listing about the purpose of the list.
Listings are dynamic creatures who evolve through their lifespan.
Members come and go, although the person who joins a list for two hours and then removes themselves is annoying. In conclusion, I hope that this article encourages consideration of the setting up of other lists and assists in avoiding some of the traps that I set for myself on the way. I look forward to holding some interesting discussions with you on my listing soon.