This article presents a theoretical approach to examining professional knowledge practices on online platforms, employing the concept of epistemic objects and their incompleteness, and analysing how objects are actively produced and negotiated through interactions among users and the platform. We illustrate this approach by conducting an interaction analysis of two threads from Stack Overflow, a prominent online platform where millions of software developers ask and answer programming-related questions. The findings demonstrate that the incompleteness of epistemic objects is central to understanding how professionals collectively engage with and produce knowledge online. They also highlight the role of specific technical features of platforms and the embeddedness of objects–and, thereby, the platforms themselves–in the broader professional domain. The article discusses the potential of the theoretical approach for investigating online platforms as sites for professional learning and calls for educational programs and platform designs that support professionals’ engagements with epistemic objects. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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