Looking at 'lsmod' output you get 3 columns: module, size, used by

in a laptop I see the cardbus socket get 'pcmcia' and 'yenta_socket' which is fine, but these 2 get associated with the 'b43' and 'ssb' wireless modules. The 'pcmcia_core' is "used" by 'b43, ssb, yenta_socket, pcmcia, rsrc_nonstatic'.

Obviously the cardbus socket is empty. If I wanted to use it for something would the association shown affect this electrically?

Can I prevent these modules doing this (except blacklist!) or is it a quirk of their compilation/kernel/distro?

No, and No.
pcmcia is a subsystem, and you can have more than one card, all driven through the same cardbus system.
b43 has code in case the chip is hidden there, that's all. It isn't I take it.

I'm unsure what your last sentence means but essentially your "no and no" indicates just let it go. Funnily enough, using a few magazine cover live distro dvds, some distros manage _not_ to do this!

An example might be best. I once had a crappy 486 laptop with a modem via pcmcia card and an external cdrom via pcmcia card. About three other things wanted part of that pcmcia bus that weren't there (sound, for instance, & network). They didn't disturb it cdrom & modem both worked together.

right, cheers