>
> Back in the olden days, hitting `C-x C-f RET' in a buffer visiting a
> file would reload the current file.  Then this changed to `C-x C-f M-n',
> which is fine.  Then apparently all sorts of ffap code has infected
> `M-n', so whether you get to reload the file or not depends on what's
> under point.
>

Aha! So that is why M-n does not do what I want...

This is really annoying.
>

I agree, and I would almost say it is a bug. As a user, being able to
develop habits in user interfaces is a good thing. A feature like this
hinders that, since the behavior changes depending on a certain content
in the buffer.

Why can't people just do M-x ffap RET?

On the other hand, now that I have actually tried C-x C-v out, perhaps I
will use that instead... :) A very common use case that I have, by the way
is that I want to copy the current file name, not necessarily reload the
current
file.