Steps to replicate the issue (include links if applicable): I don't use ve so I don't know how it was done; Diff
What happens?:
ve created this {{cite book}} template:

• {{Cite book |last=1945- |first=Smythe, John, |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/474403154 |title=Downstage upfront : the first 40 years of New Zealand's longest-running professional theatre |date=2004 |publisher=Victoria University Press |isbn=978-0-86473-489-1 |oclc=474403154}}

in that template:

• |last=1945- – 1945- is not an author surname so does not belong in |last=; this adds the article to Category:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• |first=Smythe, John, – Smythe, John, is not the author's given name; ve also left behind a trailing comma; this adds the article to Category:CS1 maint: extra punctuation

What should have happened instead?: no birth/death dates in name-holding parameters (no assigned values that are composed of only digits and/or punctuation); no trailing commas, colons, or semicolons (,:;) in any cs1|2 parameter value; no assigned value should begin with the assignment operator (=)
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