I fully agree about the need for having the death index online, but I suspect that ancestry.com is the wrong target. They have merely put up databases that others have made available, mainly LDS or in some cases the states themselves. See, for example, two that you don't cite, but which are in some ways superior to the others -- CA and TX at http://searches.rootsweb.com/, which were compiled officially but given to Rootsweb to put up online. The CA model is the one to go for, since it gives maximum information (stateor CA county of birth, mother's maiden name, county of death) from death certificates. See also the IN early marriage index, the IL marriage index, which are put up by state agencies or historical societies (as is OH's death index). Those who have direct or indirect contacts with the WV Vital Records Office may need to expose it to what other state officials are putting online or allowing to be posted by others. Perhaps the WV Historical Society is one route for lobbying. John