The Wall Street Journal offers advice on Facebook relationships – thanks.

Not content with being a leading financial authority on issues like – should I sell or buy 10,000 BP shares today? The Wall Street Journal is now doling out Online Relationship Advice – so listen up netizens.

However, after a little read of the article “When Old Flames beckon on Facebook” we feel that perhaps the Journal doesn’t carry the same weight in this area as it does in the zone of the stock markets. Seriously, What Would the Wall Street Journal Do? is not and should not be the question on your lips when that old boyfriend from college adds you as a friend on Facebook.

But in investigating the fraught question of whether to accept friendship requests from old flames, the WSJ makes a few interesting points… and comes up with some Rules.

As writer Elizabeth Bernstein recounts:

“We went years without reconnecting, and everything was fine. But now, thanks to social-networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn, our old lovers are essentially popping up in our own homes. It’s like having a secret stash of ice cream in the freezer. Even if it’s a little stale, it can be hard to resist.

“After all, we’re talking about the first person we had a crush on, or kissed, or cried over, or had sex with, or took home to Mom, or maybe even married. No wonder we’re curious.”

Can we just pause a second – LinkedIn (??) would you ever connect to an ex on this dry as dust business networking site? Sneakily checking out the latest additions to your former squeeze’s CV? I don’t remember there being a category for “we had a one-night stand” on the friending options there either.

Moving on. Often you just find out that your ex got a bit pudgy, or have gone bald, or turned out to be gay, the article reveals. But sometimes – you make friends with the old flame on Facebook then one thing leads to another and you end up ditching your partner of ten years and running off with them. Gulp.

Their conclusion: make some Facebook rules:

“We need new rules now. How about these? You can look, but don’t make contact. Strike an agreement with your current partner that you will each disclose any Facebook friends you have slept with. Or, like Katie Robinson, limit your online “friends” to people of the same sex…”

This seems a little radical.

As Jezebel asks: “seriously, is this a thing? And not just amongst those weird couples who seem to get off on the delusion that their partners are wildly desirable and everyone’s constantly hitting on them? I’d always understood these sites to be more-or-less public information..”

It’s one of those things that always bloody happened but, yes WSJ, Facebook speeds it up. Yes it might be a problem, but this is the silliest way – Just don’t go on Facebook if you’re going to act so weirdly.

Related: The T-Shirt that denotes your relationship and Rulered Sheets save relationships