depending on your isp, ip-hopping can happen without any effort at all. most anons can just ip hop by jumping from home wifi to cellular data.
it's only really obvious when it's used to evade a ban, or like you say, they start talking to themselves.
https://archive.is/o8093
this is the earliest printed article i can find with the term "qanon" in it, is from a December 2017 article in New York magazine (which was also in the news recently didn't Elon want to buy it) and they note the term is trending on Twitter.
its interesting because they include one of the earliest Q proofs, using photos which appear to be from AF-1.
yeah that's the point though, first media use of the term "qanon". not a nod to what it would become or taking about Q or /pol/… Jim is saying that the term "qanon" was probably coined by a soros owned media outlet/manipulator.
so the actual first printed use of that specific term by a "journalist" is what i looked for.