Rules is a four letter verb?

As I've been whoring my blog in various forums, I've noticed that girls often use the word "Rules" as a verb, as in "This guy I am Rules-ing" or "I Rules-ed my ex boyfriend when he tried to get back together with me." (Aside: it is also linguistically amusing to me that the singular form of the underlying noun "rule" actually is a verb, but "This guy I am ruling" is of course inappropriate)

The implication of the use of "Rules" as a transitive verb whose object is a guy is that women apply the Rules selectively in their lives. The Rules leave this question sort of open-ended.

The Rules can be applied to other people so that you have good, healthy relationships, are well-liked, and not taken for granted. --Chapter 27, Rules for Girlfriends, Bosses/Coworkers, and Children

But what about platonic friendships with men? The book implicitly suggests that you do not have to Rules your male friends. In other words, it has a chapter "Rules for Turning a Friend into a Boyfriend." (By extension, you weren't Rules-ing him before.)

It is easy enough to be "normal" with your old friends, but what about new male friends - single men you are still getting acquainted with but are not interested in?

Rule #25, Practice Practice Practice, suggests:

Try The Rules on all men at all times. Don't even say hello first to your doorman or the butcher at the deli. Let them say hello to you first and then just smile. Don't ignore them or anyone else, just practice responding rather than starting any conversation.

The use of "try" here indicates some flexibility, that is, that one does not technically break the Rules by not Rules-ing men one is not interested in like, apparently, your "doorman or butcher" (I have neither of these, for the record).

Or, hopefully, your dodgeball team. I no longer even make an effort not to start conversations with the guys on my dodgeball team - I'm probably the most socially apt of them all, so it just helps pass the time if I start talking first. They're my buddies and I'm comfortable with this, even though I think there could be some potential with one of them. The applicability of The Rules to individuals are less clear:

a) ex boyfriend's best friend
b) guy I tried to rebound hook up with who flat rejected me and may think I'm still interested
c) guy who just broke up with my friend but who is in my social circle

I confronted all of these situations recently, and did not Rules any of them. I said hey and hugged them, like friends do. I chatted with them openly. I approached them when I wasn't talking to others. I even (gasp) asked one of them to DANCE - a facial violation of Rule #2 if The Rules indeed apply in this context.

I think all of this remains above board. But what if I ignored The Rules altogether with respect to these men and made out with someone I wasn't interested in? It's a slippery slope - if you're not applying The Rules, you might be tempted to end up in that situation. It would certainly be violative of the spirit of The Rules, if not the letter. It is also part of how I ended up doing this blog; I was having this ridiculous urge to no strings attached make out with some dude just to do it, and was doing ridiculous things to further this end.

Conclusion: I will try harder to be Rules-y with all "new" men (except my dodgeball team, because that's just good clean fun), but will not apply The Rules strictly to them.