Indeed.
Becomming a new reader of the comics back then also often required the mindset of being willing to just go with the flow and a piece together what happend in the past via snippets of informations from editor notes, dialoges and the occasional flashback scene.
After all back issues or trades weren't always available and handbooks were expensive to those who merely decided to give those things a try. The publishing system and market simply made it very difficult for anyone who only had a casual interest in the comics, to start out with the number 1. Perhaps it could be argued that actualy puzzeling together past plots this way, was a form of reward for those being new.
Hence Stan Lee's philosophy: "Every comic book is someone's first."
Nowdays things are a way much more easier but also much more difficult.
Because while a newly interested reader is now only a single google search away from finding the entire history of the X-men comics and their characters in a currated form, they will also right away be exposed to just how massive and byzantine the entire thing is.
Was it Margaret Loesch perchance?
Though good point on how fan mail back then actualy carried some weight. Likely a lot more than stuff being posted online these days, since writing and sending a letter involved a lot more commitment, especially by children.