As a simple guide for simple folks, what are the various combinations, what should people try and in what order to join with a node, in a flowchart style?
I’m thinking:
Cloud VM node
safe node join --network-name NETWORK_NAME --skip-auto-port-forwarding
/// Should ‘just work’ unless the network is not accepting joins or there are problems on the network side
Home node
safe node join --network-name NETWORK_NAME --skip-auto-port-forwarding
If that fails:
safe node join --network-name NETWORK_NAME --public-addr PUBLIC_ADDR:12000 --skip-auto-port-forwarding
/// Get public IP address PUBLIC_ADDR from ipconfig (Windows) ifconfig or iwconfig (Linux, Mac), use port 12000
If that fails:
safe node join --network-name NETWORK_NAME --public-addr PUBLIC_ADDR:12000 --skip-auto-port-forwarding
/// Setup port-forwarding on your router using port 12000
If that fails:
Try home node with a VPN going through first 2 steps.
If that fails:
Your setup is conspiring against you. Try changing ISP contract to get a static domain, investigate switches etc as above 
About right?