# How does a web page have an invisible undeletable ad space? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [March 23, 2026, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697 "2026-03-23T01:28:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/1 "2026-03-23T01:28:56Z")
My email host has enshittified my mail page by adding an ad window that overwrites most of my inbox column. In Chrome I can open the page editor and nuke the ad that appears in that reserved window, but I cannot exorcise the window itself. The Select Element feature in the page editor cannot even recognize it; but obviously it’s there. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/2 "2026-03-23T01:45:56Z")
What is your email host? It’s possible that if you switch to the Firefox browser and use the Ublock Origin add-on you may be able to fix it. Anyone know–or recommend another add-on? But there may be a forum on Reddit devoted to your email host which has discussed this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/3 "2026-03-23T01:51:45Z")
I don’t quite understand what a “reserved window” means in this context. Can you take a screenshot / recording of it, both as it originally looks and what you’re doing to it in the browser inspector? If you can read HTML to some degree, you can usually start by selecting the inner thing (like the ad itself) and then work your way up to the HTML tree to see the parent(s) above it and delete something further up the tree instead. (And once you identify the offending object, you should be able to write a selector for it for uBlock to kill it automatically.) PS You can also use IMAP to pull your email into another client, whether that’s Thunderbird, Outlook, or even another webmail like Gmail that doesn’t have ads. > [@PastTense](#): > > Anyone know–or recommend another add-on? For Chrome there’s [uBlock Origin Lite](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/ddkjiahejlhfcafbddmgiahcphecmpfh?hl=en) which _might_ be good enough. For Android there’s [AdGuard](https://adguard.com/en/adguard-android/overview.html). Hard to say what would actually work without actually seeing it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/4 "2026-03-23T02:09:54Z")
PS you can also do that with same thing (navigate up the HTML tree) with the full uBlock Origin. [Video example here](https://fightingignorance.org/48d3785f-732f-40d1-bb1d-5d009196a0b3-how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space-factual-questions-straight-dope-message-board-march-22-07-08-42-pm.mp4). It is harder with the Lite version that Chrome is now limited to. This is the main reason I stopped using Chrome after a few decades and switched back to Firefox again… sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/5 "2026-03-23T02:38:06Z")
My internet provider is [CenturyLink.net](http://CenturyLink.net) (though the company is now renamed as something else via corporate merger). Email is through their webmail. > [@Reply](#): > > I don’t quite understand what a “reserved window” means in this context. It means that even after I have navigated up the HTML tree as far as I can for the ad itself and deleted that element, there is still whitespace on the page overwriting my inbox column; and that whitespace is not selectable by Chrome’s page editor. The next step up the tree is the entire left column of my screen including needed functions. I could try Firefox or Edge to see if their page editors work better. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/6 "2026-03-23T02:47:36Z")
I’m not sure how to post screenshots, and at this late hour I’m too tired to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/7 "2026-03-23T03:59:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Email is through their webmail. What is the domain name for their webmail interface, like whatever page is actually showing the ad? (Just so I can check [EasyList](https://easylist.to/easylist/easylist.txt) for any preexisting rules that deal with this already) > [@Lumpy](#): > > there is still whitespace on the page overwriting my inbox column In that case it’s probably another element (like the inbox column) having a CSS rule that limits its width. There is probably nothing left in the actual whitespace, so there’s nothing to select there. If you select the element itself that’s too narrow (your inbox, not the whitespace), click the CSS inspector (the “Styles” tab in the Chrome inspector) and filter it by “width” to see if there’s a rule artificially limiting it. Try changing it to `100%` to make it fill its parent width, `80vw` to make it fill up 80% of your viewport width, or a raw pixel value like `1000px` if the above don’t work as you expect. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/8 "2026-03-23T04:04:35Z")
Here’s a simple example: Edit: Oops, sorry, here’s the Chrome version: [https://fightingignorance.org/36bfabae-f806-43f0-9054-4b9bd9952024-20260323-0406-33-0533599.mp4](https://fightingignorance.org/36bfabae-f806-43f0-9054-4b9bd9952024-20260323-0406-33-0533599.mp4) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/9 "2026-03-23T04:09:46Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I’m not sure how to post screenshots, and at this late hour I’m too tired to figure it out. It’s a pain in the ass. Images uploads are disabled here, so you have to post them elsewhere. If you want to try in the future, see this thread for instructions: [ImgBB on an iPhone, steps to display images for the SDMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/imgbb-on-an-iphone-steps-to-display-images-for-the-sdmb/1024594) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2026, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-a-web-page-have-an-invisible-undeletable-ad-space/1028697/10 "2026-03-23T04:22:03Z")
And if you do have uBlock Origin, you can make a custom rule to apply that fix automatically, similar to this (adjust to fit your actual HTML tree): ```plaintext website.com##.ad !Remove ad website.com##.content:style(width: 100% !important;) !Resize column ```