Every improviser has done, seen or at least heard of the Harold. Long form was developed as a response to short in the way that Punk was a response to Disco. There was a time when Disco was heard in loud thumping clubs by an inside group in the know. Everything old is new. I feel the same way about the current climate in the improv community.
Short form is about to be reinvented.
Currently groups are reexamining what it means to do two to ten minute improvised pieces. Pushing the limits of the limits. Part of me hopes that audiences just won't get it, in the same way they had to be acclimated to the Harold. I look forward to seeing how this neo-short form will be like a lightning bolt to the improv world. Perhaps it will come as the two schools merge taking the best elements of each.