The current will divide between the wires in parallel proportional to the relative wire resistance back to the supply, thus all wires will carry current regardless of which boards are powered. But obviously the percentage that each carries depends upon the board that's powered since the relative resistance of the ground current back to the supply varies with the actual board source location of the ground current and the length of the three paths back to the supply. Does that make sense?
Your "someone" may (or may not) know more than you, but he doesn't understand resistance and parallel current flow.