See Reply #5 here from Arduino Team re: powering from external 5V:
Yes, interesting; the original thread relates to problems not with the regulator, but to the FTDI chip.
My reading of it all is that
some people have had
some problems
some times with
various boards, but they really do not have the foggiest idea as to what is happening.

I repeat - if there
was a problem with back-feeding the on-board regulator, how come the
USB supply (which may well be capable of 2 amps) causes no such problem?
The problem is of course, second-hand reports. Who knows what "external regulated 5V supplies" were in fact used? The "take home message" is that using the on-board regulator - which is in fact quite rugged in itself - is at least predictable and reliable, as
largely, is a USB port.
{Aside: I have not been getting the forum "Broken!" page for a day or two!}