Yes, this is correct. The typical user registration flow is:
- User registers with username, password, email.
- CMS sends email with a random key (which is also stored on the user row).
- User goes to their email to click activation link that contains the random key (and sometimes user id) in the URL.
- CMS detects "user activation" link, takes the activation link and user ID and checks it against the database where "user is not active".
- If found, set the user row to "user is active" and delete the activation key column.
- (Optional) send welcome email.
- Prompt for user login.