Conversely...
If people are prepared to repeat the short forms over and over to approximate the health benefits of the original long forms, then why not just learn the long forms in the first place?
For instance, if you do the 108 and you don't have allot of time, then you can easily just perform the first or second third leaving out the last third, and guess what? You have your short form!
There is no reason to alter the original long forms because you can just perform any chosen third of the 108 and break those up into your short forms, while still preserving the original long forms intact.
I still don't get the logic of altering the long forms one bit. it was the alteration of the original long forms that various Masters were alluding to when they mentioned the watering down of Taijiquan.
Anyone who believes that the Chinese Governments standardisation of Taiji for sport and the making of Taiji easier and shorter for business reasons, don't have anything to do with the watering down of Taiji might just be a part of the problem rather than the solution.
Respectfully...
I am Jacks Dan Tien
"The last sound he made was like a sparrow whistling"