The key to most conspiracy theories comes down to one statement:

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66. How about the 'West Memphis 3'...

I realize its not a conspiracy theory, but a lot of people believed that they were guilty because of the information that was released.

I worked with a former law enforcement officer and he KNEW they did it.

I think it's representative of all conspiracy theories because the government controlled the information. The prosecutor's office was the entity that decided what to pursue and what not to pursue. They had a lot of control over what the press covered.

In my mind this brings into question the conclusions that the government came to in the 911 investigation and the JFK assassination. Not that I believe necessarily that the conclusions that they came to are incorrect, but that there is room to suspect that perhaps they didn't pursue all possible avenues before the trail went cold, and their statement (the government's) is the official statement. Yet, the West Memphis 3 are free today because they didn't do it.

Then there is Hurricane. Spent all that time in prison when there wasn't any proof. I like conspiracy theories because they demonstrate that if the government does a half ass job of investigating something - it never goes away.

Conspiracy discussions belong in a certain place as the OP stated, but there are cases where history has shown that things were ignored in investigations and innocent people suffered - I don't think it's much of a stretch to suspect that the federal government isn't always diligent in its efforts. The unfortunate thing about it is that conspiratologists aren't under any obligation to be honest either, so they are even more likely to spew BS than the government, and there's only so much fact checking a person can do sitting in front of their computer.

I think that there is more good that comes from questioning everything than bad. I will always be suspicious of the twin towers collapse because its not consistent with my experience with concrete and steel failure, but that discussion belongs elsewhere.