Using VBO to modify node field fails

I am trying to use VBO to update user profile fields. When I save the view, the preview says:

"An error occurred at /admin/build/views/ajax/preview/edit_bag_start_date.
Error Description:"

When I go to the page with the VBO view, it is blank.

I am using views 6.x-2.16.

i've tried using VBO 6.x-1.x-dev. i can preview the view and view the page, but the actual node update fails. on the processing result page it says no nodes were selected.
here is the exported view:

$view = new view;
$view->name = 'edit_bag_start_date';
$view->description = '';
$view->tag = '';
$view->base_table = 'node';
$view->core = 6;
$view->api_version = '2';
$view->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default view disabled initially */
$handler = $view->new_display('default', 'Defaults', 'default');
$handler->override_option('fields', array(
'name' => array(
'label' => 'Name',
'alter' => array(
'alter_text' => 0,
'text' => '',
'make_link' => 0,
'path' => '',
'absolute' => 0,
'link_class' => '',
'alt' => '',
'rel' => '',
'prefix' => '',
'suffix' => '',
'target' => '',
'help' => '',
'trim' => 0,
'max_length' => '',
'word_boundary' => 1,
'ellipsis' => 1,
'html' => 0,
'strip_tags' => 0,
),
'empty' => '',
'hide_empty' => 0,
'empty_zero' => 0,
'hide_alter_empty' => 1,
'link_to_user' => 1,
'overwrite_anonymous' => 0,
'anonymous_text' => '',
'exclude' => 0,
'id' => 'name',
'table' => 'users',
'field' => 'name',
'relationship' => 'none',
),
'field_bagstartdate_value' => array(
'label' => 'Bag start date',
'alter' => array(
'alter_text' => 0,
'text' => '',
'make_link' => 0,
'path' => '',
'absolute' => 0,
'link_class' => '',
'alt' => '',
'rel' => '',
'prefix' => '',
'suffix' => '',
'target' => '',
'help' => '',
'trim' => 0,
'max_length' => '',
'word_boundary' => 1,
'ellipsis' => 1,
'html' => 0,
'strip_tags' => 0,
),
'empty' => '',
'hide_empty' => 0,
'empty_zero' => 0,
'hide_alter_empty' => 1,
'link_to_node' => 0,
'label_type' => 'widget',
'format' => 'default',
'multiple' => array(
'multiple_number' => '',
'multiple_from' => '',
'multiple_to' => '',
'group' => '',
),
'repeat' => array(
'show_repeat_rule' => '',
),
'fromto' => array(
'fromto' => 'both',
),
'exclude' => 0,
'id' => 'field_bagstartdate_value',
'table' => 'node_data_field_bagstartdate',
'field' => 'field_bagstartdate_value',
'relationship' => 'none',
),
));
$handler->override_option('sorts', array(
'created' => array(
'order' => 'DESC',
'granularity' => 'hour',
'id' => 'created',
'table' => 'users',
'field' => 'created',
'relationship' => 'none',
),
));
$handler->override_option('filters', array(
'type' => array(
'operator' => 'in',
'value' => array(
'profile' => 'profile',
),
'group' => '0',
'exposed' => FALSE,
'expose' => array(
'operator' => FALSE,
'label' => '',
),
'id' => 'type',
'table' => 'node',
'field' => 'type',
'relationship' => 'none',
),
));
$handler->override_option('access', array(
'type' => 'none',
));
$handler->override_option('cache', array(
'type' => 'none',
));
$handler->override_option('items_per_page', 0);
$handler->override_option('style_plugin', 'bulk');
$handler->override_option('style_options', array(
'grouping' => '',
'override' => 1,
'sticky' => 0,
'order' => 'asc',
'summary' => '',
'columns' => array(
'name' => 'name',
'field_bagstartdate_value' => 'field_bagstartdate_value',
),
'info' => array(
'name' => array(
'sortable' => 0,
'separator' => '',
),
'field_bagstartdate_value' => array(
'sortable' => 0,
'separator' => '',
),
),
'default' => '-1',
'execution_type' => '1',
'max_performance' => 0,
'display_type' => '1',
'hide_selector' => 0,
'preserve_selection' => 0,
'display_result' => 1,
'merge_single_action' => 0,
'operations' => array(
'node_assign_owner_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'views_bulk_operations_delete_node_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-a27b9efabcd054685a549378b174ad11' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'system_message_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'views_bulk_operations_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'views_bulk_operations_script_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'imagecache_flush_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'imagecache_generate_all_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'imagecache_generate_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_make_sticky_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_make_unsticky_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-c4d3b28efb86fd703619a50b74d43794' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'views_bulk_operations_fields_action' => array(
'selected' => 1,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
'settings' => array(
'php_code' => 0,
'show_tokens' => 0,
'display_fields' => array(
'field_bagstartdate' => 'field_bagstartdate',
),
'_error_element_base' => 'style_options][operations][views_bulk_operations_fields_action][settings][',
),
),
'views_bulk_operations_taxonomy_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'views_bulk_operations_argument_selector_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_promote_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-14de7d028b4bffdf2b4a266562ca18ac' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-9c585624b9b3af0b4687d5f97f35e047' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_publish_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'system_goto_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_unpromote_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-8ce21b08bb8e773d10018b484fe4815e' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_save_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'system_send_email_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_mass_update-0ccad85c1ebe4c9ceada1aa64293b080' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_unpublish_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'node_unpublish_by_keyword_action' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'auto_nodetitle_operations_update' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
'pathauto_node_update_alias_multiple-620e193b20ba9caa374fea9ca0ad38f0' => array(
'selected' => 0,
'skip_confirmation' => 0,
'label' => '',
),
),
));
$handler = $view->new_display('page', 'Edit bag start date', 'page_1');
$handler->override_option('path', 'admin/setbagstartdate');
$handler->override_option('menu', array(
'type' => 'none',
'title' => '',
'description' => '',
'weight' => 0,
'name' => 'navigation',
));
$handler->override_option('tab_options', array(
'type' => 'none',
'title' => '',
'description' => '',
'weight' => 0,
'name' => 'navigation',
));