Ridley was very wanted for Brawl, but there was a really long line of highly requested newcomers for that game, so amongst the likes of Sonic, Wario, Dedede, Diddy Kong, Lucario and Meta Knight, plus other popular characters that didn't get in like Geno and Krystal, he didn't quite stand out as much as he would end up doing for later games. Not really basing this off of anything but the feeling I remember from back then, but it felt like the general consensus was a bit 50/50 whether he'd be in or not, there was a lot of confusion as to whether ZSS was counted as a proper newcomer aswell.
For Smash 4 he was very much expected to be in, because of the competition not being as fierce he was around the top of almost every poll both in terms of chance and want, fans had practically already rolled out the red carpet. Ridley, K. Rool, Mega Man and Mewtwo were also dubbed 'The Big Four' for a while due to how wanted and expected they were, until Mega Man's early confirmation dissolved that little cliqué of course. When it began looking like he wasn't in things turned incredibly sour, a large part of the vile reaction to his exclusion was because most people really thought he'd be in, so it came as both a shock and a disappointment, and on top of that detractors (of which there were many) were flaunting their stuff as much as they possibly could.
This time it's very different, it's far more low key and less hysterical. Almost nobody expects him this time (pre-leak at least), so Ridley fans have just been left alone so they can hope for the best, and none of his fans are really jumping the gun either. I like how it is atm, it's far more peaceful and level-headed, and you practically never see any discussions about his size on here anymore either, which used to be one of the most common and vile discussions in the Smash fanbase, so in that regard I'd say the vibes are better than ever. I don't think the Ridley fanbase is anywhere nearly as optimistic as it used to be though, a lot of us have been bitten too many times to really believe the leak, but considering the circumstances I only think that's a good thing.