OLC revisited: a critique of ‘the rationale of OLC’ as creating a future vision of web-based communities – looking back on the research of web-based communities (WBC), which has been published in IJWBC for a period of ten years, it provides an impressing compilation of both depth and extent of scientific knowledge, and a fascinating rapid and exceptional development of web-based tools, and not least, a deepened understanding of the increasing digital competencies among people in networked societies. In my capacity as one of many researchers who have followed the progress of the journal, I am honored to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of International Journal of Web Based Communities(IJWBC) by writing a letter to you about my vision of the future research field. My vision of WBC takes its departure in a socio-cultural perspective that deals with three intertwined areas; the research approach, the development of tools, and themes of digital competence that concern online participation. My suggestions of future research of WBC are founded within the interplay between individuals and collectives of people communicating and using various tools situated in social practices, which I consider requires further examination. But first, I would like to take the opportunity to briefly reflect upon the article ‘The rationale of online learning communities’, published in 2005, volume 1 number 3 (Carlén and Jobring, 2005). We used the term online as it offered a mix of communication forms rather than exploring web-based environments only. However, in this letter, I intend to revisit the text and give some critique that will generate ideas for the research carried out in the future.