Online chat rooms are known to be impersonal. Quirky screen names promise anonymity, and casual dalliances are mere mouse clicks away. But a group of African-American chatters assembled this weekend to prove that meaningful relationships can thrive online and --- even more rare --- offline.

Such is the case for Rhonda Price, 37, and Joe Devore, 42, who met over 2 1/2 years ago on PalTalk.com, an online chat room with video and sound capabilities. Price and Devore got engaged in January and moved from New Jersey and Savannah to Memphis.

"There was always an attraction from Day One, " said Devore, wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey that matched his fiancee's.

About 150 other PalTalk users got together this weekend at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Powers Ferry Road. PalTalk, a 6-year old Web site with about 3 1/2 million active users, is organized into groups from religious affiliation to race. The site's video and audio options, users said, make it easy to form strong online relationships and bring them offline.

This is the second --- and biggest --- offline gathering for the African-American group.

Margaret Winston of Lawrenceville organized the Atlanta gathering in honor of her 40th birthday and planned events like a '70s costume party and dominoes tournament for her online friends. Singles, couples, mothers and daughters flew to Atlanta from across the country to be with each other. One even came from Iraq.

"It's almost like a big family reunion, " Winston said. "You form relationships and friendships. It's not just based on some cyber-image of 'six feet fall, 136 pounds and look like Vanessa Williams.' You actually see who you meet."

Barron Lowe, 37, and Helen Ellerbe, 41 --- or, as they're known online, D.J. Up-Rock and Sexy Red 20041 --- met at last year's offline gathering. The couple now communicate long distance from Lowe's desktop in Waco, Texas, and Ellerbe's in Rockingham, N.C.

"I just went up and gave her a hug, " said Lowe, describing the first time they met. "I asked her who she was. She said her name was Sexy Red. I said, 'Hello, my name is D.J. Up-Rock. I've never seen you before.' "

"Love is destiny, " he said.

Users often form long-term relationships on PalTalk, but the site has other uses. D.J. Up-Rock mixes club music from his Texas studio and broadcasts it online, while PalTalk users "chat dance" using the backslash and frontslash keys.

Qattarah Reeves sells plus-sized lingerie through PalTalk and brought some to sell offline. A self-described jack-of-all-trades, Reeves also does improv in her hometown of Charlotte.

"It's just a vehicle for communication and meeting really cool and interesting people along the way. It's a great thing. Everybody online is not a wacko. People here are very hardworking, " said Reeves, 34.

Mother and daughter Renee Groves, 45, and Shonda Berry, 25, both chat from their home in Montgomery. Groves, who online is MsMidnite, is going to meet a man who lives in the United Kingdom next week. They have known each other for six years on the site.

"It's just like going out somewhere in a bar, " Groves said. "You know who you really want to talk to and who you don't want to talk to."

"And you don't have to get all dressed up, " said Berry, who online is known as Rare Essynce. "And when you're tired of looking at them, and you're tired of them looking at you, you cut your cam off."