Echelon[1] and Room 641A[2] (and others) were well known among niche circles a long time before Snowden. These "conspiracies" were the kind of thing that people would call you a crackpot for if you told normies though.
A reason others may refer to conspiracy theory supporters as "crackpots" could be attributed to the fact that there's now so many wild theories out there (UFOs, aliens, 9/11 inside job, etc). So if you support a few, then you'd be more likely to be considered a crackpot.
In other words, while those two examples were true, many are likely not.
Just because you see them all presented as equals on /r/conspiracy doesn't mean that every conspiracy researcher considers them all equal.
I hope everyone here can internalize that. We need engineers in these communities.
Yes I do remember opening the news that day and my reality completely changing.
Up until then the “party van” parked outside your house taping your conversations was a joke perpetuated by schizos. Turns out they didn’t need a “party van” parked outside of your house.
then Snowden happened