On the complexity of diagram testing

In 1987, Neetil and Rödl [4] claimed to have proved that the problem of finding whether a given graphG can be oriented as the diagram of a partial order is NP-complete. A flaw was discovered in their proof by Thostrup [11]. Neetil and Rödl [5] have since corrected the proof, but the new version is rather complex. We give a simpler and more elementary proof, using a completely different approach.