From this answer,
collectstaticis a ready-made script that prepares this directory for you, so that you can connect it directly to your deployment script.
After running the collectstatic command, all static files in my apps are copied to a static folder in the root of my project.
Can I delete the static folder in my apps? Since they are copied already. I kind of felt like it's just duplicating and costing me file size or am I missing something?
I deleted the static folder in my apps but it does not work anymore. Why duplicating my static files then or can I delete them after going live?