I never said bitcoin needs backing. I'm saying that I think that bitcoin will coexist along with other cryptocurrencies backed by precious metals. Because people are most likely going to prefer having a physcial asset backing their currency, if given a choice.
Yes, and I'm suggesting that digital currencies backed by commodities are foolish. Invest in gold and BTC separately. Attaching a commodity like gold to a digital currency suggests you don't quit understand what makes Bitcoin so valuable.
As soon as you back a digital currency with a commodity you are introducing counter-party risk which Bitcoin has proven to be unneeded. The only thing that should be backing a digital currency is the resource that supports the protocol like an ASIC with POW or a harddrive and network connection in POR. Anything else is superfluous and doesn't add value but introduces risk.
Additionally, gold would be better off used for what its actually good at: a conductor and heat reflector, than what it is obsolete at: a currency.