I think that Bob and even Barb had hopes for him while he was in school. They sacrificed for him to see that he had a chance for regular schooling and pushed him to do things (perhaps a little too much). But at some point they realized there was no hope and kind of gave up. I think that point was when they realized that the trolling was a big problem and it wasn't going to stop. Bob kept fighting for a little bit with his lumberjack ways, but I think he got tired and didn't have any way of stopping the barreling locomotive of autism that his son was producing. He pulled back and just let Chris do what he was going to do as long as he stayed in his room. After Bob died, Barb figured if you can't beat em, join em, and cynically encouraged Chris to cash in on his notoriety. Bob and Barb in the Manchester High days seem to have been actually working toward something for Chris. But that fell apart like a house of cards, and they didn't have a plan B so they just gave up.