Meaning of Customer Activated=Pending

[david_barnhart]

In 'Manage Customers', all customers are showing 'Pending' in the 'Activated' column. WHY?

I've run a test and clicking the link in the registration confirmation email does not change the status to 'Yes'

[Vimal Kumar]

Hey @david_barnhart 

status => "pending/activated" is not default feature on magento. 
It seems there may be custom module/extension to use activated feature. 
Customer will unable to login without activation if your extension is enabled and configured properly. 

Customer confirmation email is default feature of magento, it is not linked with it.