Dating Game Goes Online as Cyberlove Nets Couples

There was electricity flying between Marion Beck and Don Shelman before they saw each other or even spoke on the phone.

Forgoing the chemical attraction of pheromones, the couple grew closer to each other exchanging anonymous e-mail at an Internet personals web site and today, will marry in Laguna Hills.

Just call it cyberlove at first type.

Internet personals are elbowing into a dating niche that had been the exclusive domain of print personals. There are now dozens of electronic dating companies on the Net, enough to spin off Web sites that rate the companies.

Beck, 43, and Shelman, 42, met last April at one of the largest Internet personal companies, Match.com, which claims more than 100,000 members. The company charges $12.95 monthly to browse its listings.

“We met on the Net and we’re quite open about that,” Beck said. “Everyone knows someone who has used the personals, and this is no different. You just get more information about someone.”

The couple started by sending electronic letters--loooooong e-mail messages.

“It was like we were in competition with each other over who could send the longest letter,” Beck said, kiddingly.

After a week, they exchanged phone numbers. Like the electronic mail, the conversations were lengthy and exploratory. They found out each had been a computer professional for more than a decade. Beck had been married once, Shelman twice. Neither had children.

Finally they set a date to meet at a Woodland Hills restaurant near Beck’s home. It was supposed to be a short date. They wound up talking over cheesecake for seven hours.

“I knew when I met him on the first date there was something special there,” Beck said. “I was looking for integrity, honesty and a sense of humor and he has all that.”

Added Shelman: “We found a lot of compatibility between us. We were both looking for the last relationship we’ll ever have . . . and we found it.”