I am a Foursquare dork. I got hooked very early and it has become a playful joke among my friends regarding how addicted I am to the service. I embraced this label and made a flag to mount when I camp to let people know that "The Mayor is here." Although not worth a penny in the real world, I am sad to see badges go away. Each one has a story behind them, although not all of them are interesting.

This month Foursquare announced it was spinning off the check-in feature into a separate app called Swarm. For many people, this marked a milestone where the company was shedding its adolescent check in past and had its eyes firmly trained forward for the future. It's clear, at least to me, that it wants to go mono-a-mono with Yelp.

I for one will be a little sad and wistful towards this change. I signed up for Foursquare a month after it launched in 2009. I was among the first 11,000 to join the service that now counts over 45 million users. From what I understand, badges are going to be less important in this next chapter of the company. With that in mind, I can't help but think about the badges I've picked up over the years.