There were always fans who obviously thought themselves more important to the process than they really were. Mostly these were readers who were not really aware of what that process was—who had no idea that the issues were finished months before they saw them. That their letters of complaint or compliment had zero effect on the next issue.*

Also there were those who saw getting a letter chosen for publication as a form of empowerment, not realizing the writer or editor had chosen that letter as part of his/her own agenda.

Make no mistake, feedback from the fans was important, but nothing like as immediate as some thought. If the creative team decided to act on some fan’s suggestion, it would be months before it would be seen in the books.

Unfortunately, in this internet age where every “letter” gets “printed”, that artificial sense of empowerment has exploded.

Oh, well. At least we no longer have to put up with green ink on yellow paper!!

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* One such wrote to Chris and me on X-MEN, actually commending us for following his advice and abandoning the obviously lame plotline of the previous issue.

This is a not uncommon turn with some fans, finding themselves unable to think of a good solution to the latest dilemma and assuming we couldn’t either.

 If the creative team decided to act on some fan’s suggestion, it would be months before it would be seen in the books.

Unfortunately, in this internet age where every “letter” gets “printed”, that artificial sense of empowerment has exploded.

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Emphasis in JB's quote mine, because nowadays, even with the immediacy of the internet, that same suggestion would instead take years to come to fruition due to delays delays delays. 

"I've got so many projects I'm juggling right now" "My commissions are piling up" "I have a script Hollywood is looking at" "I'll see you on the convention circuit" "we'll have to coordinate it around the next company event series" etc.

One of Stan’s biggest mistakes was creating the No-Prize. Not only did it very quickly become misunderstood, it encouraged readers to seek flaws!