IMO Q is a legit whistleblower who had some info they wanted to share, and started playing around on anonymous forums to see what people were willing to believe. Then various groups who didn't like what Q had to say - perhaps some of it was too close to the truth - started to discredit them with psy-ops, adding a bunch of weird shit to the theories, and influencing the "community" so they seem even more wacko. (remember it's all based on anonymous posts)

And then there's all the natural crazies who organically flock around any conspiracy theory and make it bigger.