if bitcointalk and CMC lose influence over the market everything can happen a new market can be introduced, dropping all others into nothing that new market might then hold the entire economic attention, or even more, that new market will have its own index understanding.
I don't believe there is any meaningful influence of bitcointalk or coinmarketcap on the market prices that you are trying so hard here to prove. but if what you say is true and sites like coinmarketcap and bitcointalk lose their influence the first thing that will happen is that altcoins that are currently on top of CMC will get dumped real hard because main reason for them to be on top is because these sites say they are on top. so expect coins like ETH and XRP to go down at least 80%
I mostly agree that bitcointalk may not have so much influence on prices now (provided it ever had) as it is more about spreading awareness, and today most people are already well aware about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general, so this is no longer relevant anyway. I mean as a primary source for crypto-related news, of course. But I don't agree with your stance on CMC as I've personally been asked a few times recently to help out with listing a few coins there. I would agree that this site is shady (mildly speaking) but that doesn't mean that it has lost its grip on the market. But I definitely wouldn't regret if it did
As that would be a good thing for the market