Empty date field edit json bug

It seems that when editing an item using the json template method, any empty date fields (no value set) are still having that empty value parsed and coerced, and after the fact get their value set to "1969-12-31" (epoch time 0). In practice I usually remove these extra fields that are generated on the "API Credential" type template, but I'm sure many folks leave them there, considering the empty fields do not show anywhere.

More generally, providing a json style update that will merge your changes rather than having to provide the entire thing would be more ergonomic and could help clarify the user intent.