Yes. Usually there's either two lists, one for discussion and one for patch submission and review; or users use filters to divide them out (if $h_Subject contains "PATCH" -> send mail to "patches" dir). For large projects, you can use deeper filters to entirely drop mails in areas of the project that you don't care about.
Yes. The way to make it work is to use fiters in your mailclient. All mail to dev@ goes to its own folder, all mail to discussion@ to its own folder, all mail to support@ to its own folder. You only look there when you feel like it. Your inbox is not having all this noise.