Should we add the instrument name to the title if a tag exists?

Question

A question of mine was recently edited to add the "Mandolin:" to the title of the question. I don't think it is that big of a deal but it seems superfluous given that the question is tagged "mandolin" and would come up in a mandolin search w/o the title text.

Is it a good practice to add the name of the instrument that the question refers to if there is a tag for that instrument?

(I was tempted to roll back the edit but I wanted to get some feedback before I did.)

Answer 1

No. If you tag your post with the instrument, and mention the instrument in the post, it should not be necessary to put the name of the instrument in the title as well.

However, if including the instrument results in a better title (as mentioned in the luser droog's answer) then it should be okay to include the instrument.

Answer 2

I would say it depends on whether the word is being used in a tag-like manner. If it fits naturally into the question title -- if it reads well -- then use it.

Eg. Don't write:

Banjo - How to clean up my picking?

• This way simply duplicates the functionality of the tag.

But, this is fine:

How to clean up my Banjo picking?

• It's a better sentence with the relevant word in the appropriate place.

Answer 3

I agree with the existing answer but I wanted to add something about this specific question. The Question you refer to is Is there a set of guidelines to indicate where on the neck to play equivalent notes?, and the edit was to render the title as Mandolin: Is there a set of guidelines to indicate where on the neck to play equivalent notes?

I'd say that in this case the inclusion of the name of the instrument, or some narrowing feature, is important. Like the violin the mandolin is usually tuned in ascending fifths (G, D, A, E from bottom to top) and so any "guidelines to indicate where on the neck to play equivalent notes" will differ from those for a guitar (which is usually tuned E, A, D, G, B, E from bottom to top, i.e. in fourths), or a ukulele (with its reentrant tuning where the strings are not ordered from the lowest pitch to the highest pitch), or a 13 course lute tuned thus:

I don't think this is a general question, asked through the specifics of mandolin playing, I think it is a specific mandolin question, and so narrowing the question title to include "mandolin" or "stringed instruments tuned in four ascending fifths" seems useful.