Whose rule is this anyway?

A: you cant date your friends ex..you just cant
B: sorry i don't get? even if they've been broken up for years?
A: it doesn't matter.
C: yes it doesn't matter, once our friend dates someone, they date that person for all of us
B: WTF??? whose rule is this anyway??

Does this sound familiar? don't lie i know it does. 

I heard the conversation above a while ago, i think sometime last year in Nottingham, between a friend of mine and her friends, i thought it was funny and i didn't think more of it until i read an article about it recently, so i decided to write on it as well.
 When i decided to write about this i took into consideration that not everyone thinks like me, and also that there is no right or wrong way to approach this topic, so this is just the way i see it (and the way i wish everyone saw it too).

First off let me just say i think that rule is STUPID!, had to capitalise for emphasis. Exactly what gives anybody the right to say someone else is 'out of bounds'?. Now I'm not completely retarded so i understand that after a breakup there has to be a reasonable amount of time for both parties to heal and move on, after this time i consider both parties fair game. 

I once had a boyfriend who used to date my best friend, yes i know how that sounds but i am not the reason they broke up..(moving on to the point!). Before we started dating we were really close friends for a while and then things started to change, i panicked cause i didn't know how my friend was going to react to this, and i was dreading the day that i had to tell her. 

The day came anyway and her reaction surprised me, she looked at me and laughed cause i looked worried and then she said,

 "i have no problem with it at all and i see how happy he makes you" . After which she went on to tell me exactly why their relationship didn't work and that if i could deal with all that then i should go for it.

How amazing was that?

I'm not saying everyone should go and look for their friends ex and try to date them cause that's very sticky territory (trust me i know), plus not everyone is as smart and mature as the friends i have but if it so happens that you find yourself in that situation, as long as your friend is over that relationship you should be fine. Unless your friend is a selfish child, in which case i cannot help you...lol.

I personally see no problem with any of my friends dating any of my ex's, i don't even think i have the right to have a problem with it, but like i said earlier, this is entirely my opinion and i have no intention of imposing this on anyone.