I'm guessing we've all done this (okay, I'm guessing those of you who actively use location based services like FourSquare & Gowalla have all done this) - you exit your favorite restaurant, coffee shop, etc. and when you're a block away, you realize you probably should have checked in.

Maybe you were in conversation with someone, maybe you had your hands full. Whatever the case, you forgot.

So you log on and check in. (At least with FourSquare - if you're more than a block away, Gowalla's hypervigilant GPS may prevent you from doing so.

So is that cheating?

If you consider LBS to be a game, then, yeah, it probably is. But what if it's just a location based social media tool? Do the merchants benefit from your cheat? Probably - they  get the benefit of check-in. Is there a time limit, some LBS-version of the "Five Second Rule" for food dropped on the floor?

What about being able to check in retroactively at the end of the day? Does that defeat the whole purpose of knowing who is where and when?

Curious as to your thoughts.