Here is an actual superb (long but worth it) article on conspiracy that provides historical background yet touches on the reason Q and 8ch exists and grows. Q and 8ch are not mentioned, but this is definitely a mirror

http://www.unz.com/isteve/conspiracy-theorists-vs-an-actual-giant-conspiracy/

pull quotes: ". . . In other words, what’s the critical mass needed for a story (whether it’s the truth, or a conspiracy theory, or the exposing of a conspiracy, or whatever) to break through The Narrative’s powerful defenses, and enter the popular consciousness?. . . There is a lot of Information out there, and what people notice depends a lot upon the zeitgeist. . . . But each age gets not the hero-worship it needs, but the hero-worship it wants . . ."